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Since Brian had his fall(s), many things have changed in the life of the community. We have all been affected by these new circumstances but , of course, he had to carry the burden of coping with the physical problems and subsequent lack of independence. I had to ask myself many times, how I would cope in a situation like that. We all like to be independent and self-sufficient. Maybe it is part of our individualistic western culture to put such an emphasis on being able to do things by ourselves. However, sooner or later it comes a time in our life when we can no longer do the things that we used to do and we become utterly dependent on others.

Sometimes it is a physical or mental condition that set the boundaries of what we are able to do, but it is not so simple, I reckon. Even though we enjoy good health, that doesn’t mean we are totally free to do whatever we want. We all have some limitations in one way or another and after all, we all depend on someone else, even though we might not be aware of that.
Joining a religious order meant for me to give up a lot of things of my former life. It meant to rely on the community for everyday needs like food, clothing and accommodation. I am not in control of my income as I used to be when I was working. My life has become much more regulated through my daily office of prayer, my commitments and responsibilities towards the community and other people. Paradoxically I was probably freer before I joined SSF! But is it really so? Sometimes it is how we perceive things that makes our reality and not how things actually are.
To some extent it is true that I had more chances to make my own decisions before I joined SSF but at the same time I recall quite well, I felt sometimes lost and purposeless. So, the real struggle isn’t probably accepting the new limitations to my personal freedom but to adjusting to this new role and life. As I move along in my noviciate towards the day I am called to actually take the vows, I realize that I have probably given up just the illusion of freedom and that the real freedom lies in fulfilling your own’s sense of calling.

In this fast changing world, it isn’t always easy to discern our own vocation and purpose: we seem to have so many roads ahead of us, everything seems to attainable in due course and time… I have to admit that sometimes I recall choices I made in my past and find myself wondering what would have happened if I had done something else. Have I always made the right choices? I don’t believe so. I know I made many mistakes in past . I know some people say that they would do everything again if they had the chance to turn back time. I am not so sure. There are things I probably wouldn’t do again. But you never know what comes next. Maybe religious life is also there to teach you how to let go. By living this life we learn that we are not in control and as we get older, the margin of our intervention in our and other people’s lives narrows more and more. Probably we should make good use of the time when we are in good health to prepare ourselves for the time of difficulty, when even our body will seem a stranger to us, and that will almost certainly happen one day to most of us. There is a famous prayer that goes roughly like this:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference

Still a very powerful prayer that is worth remembering in good and bad times.

Once again, I believe Franciscan spirituality has a lot to teach us about that. Not on sexuality especially but on how we regard the world and ourselves in it. We have probably lost a sense of wonder and therefore of respect towards the nature. Science and technology have dramatically improved the human condition (even though not in the same way throughout the world) in the last few centuries and we should be thankful for that. But also we have come to the point of believing that we have now the right to use and abuse everything to our own interest. We seem to have no boundaries whatsoever and we keep wanting more and more. We think to be in control and we can do whatever we like. But the frailty and contradictions of our human nature are still there. We are not invincible and sometimes we have a rude awakening in our life.
I have spent some time at the hospital to assist Br Brian through his post-surgery recovery. Living in a world desperate to erase any trace of illness, old age and death, it was quite a strong experience to get in touch with suffering and pain. I saw in there how really vulnerable we are and how important is to face up the reality of our own human nature. Our society has created new idols to worship instead of God: physical appearance, sex, money, power, success, youth. But when the reality catches up with us all these illusions fall apart and for some people mean really a nose-dive into the most sever desperation and depression. No-one is really helping us to learn how to let go of things, how to cope with our own limitations, how to be real and honest to ourselves. That is when spiritual guidance would be most needed. And this is why spiritual discipline is still so important even in this century. Because it puts things in order and in perspective. We realize that we are not self-sufficient but we are creatures who are born, grow and eventually die. This thought is not meant to depress us but ,on the contrary, to encourage us not to waste time, to look at ourselves and our world with gratitude, to live life to the full, to enjoy everything without attachment and to keep our eyes on Christ, our source of life.
Franciscans try to see this world as a sacred space. We do not run from it, we embrace it. There’s always a degree of risk in it,because we expose our own vulnerability: to touch the world we need to be touched by it. We can also experience disappointment, loss, fear like everyone else. But that is what we pray every day when we say “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done”. Acceptance of what may come. We can express the joy of living by being open to the grace of God, by holding everything in great respect and taking care of what is in this world, which is not, by the way, “ours”. It can be hard for us  to go through our own demons and trials and sometimes we can get lost along the way. We know we can’t get back on track  through our own efforts but we need to follow the light of Christ, who reminds us who we really are,  just like the ships in the open sea used to follow the stars to find their way in the darkness of the night. Illuminated by this grace, it will be possible to us to experience real beauty behind all illusions and deceptions. Through love and compassion, the greatest gifts from the Spirit, we’ll see the matter and spirit are not in opposition but form a unity in God.

This year they held their festival on Sunday 25th April with visitors from the Auckland and Wellington churches. After the service in the chapel they all moved to the friary lawn for the feast in a joyful atmosphere. The weather stayed fine for the more than 50 guests.

The photo shows;

Brenda Trim TSSF, Rose Christie-French TSSF, Br Simone ssf, Alison Molloy TSSF, Rosemary Blackwell, Br Clark Berge ssf, and Fr Terry Molloy TSSF.

Missy, the friary cat also got into the picture.

Today, Easter day we celebrate this truth: that each one of us is precious in the eyes of God. We were reminded of it by the evangelist John on Maundy Thursday when, before washing the feet of his disciples, “Jesus knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to end” (Jn 13:1).
Whoever we are, whatever situation we are in, once again the Resurrection of Christ is telling us God loves us and his love for us is so great and so real, that he did not hesitate to send his Son , his only Son for our sake.
It was the experience of this incredible love thing that often made St Francis of Assisi cry before the Crucifix of San Damiano. As Francis said, he was there almost touching the love of God but realizing with great sadness that too many times this love wasn’t mutual. But what made him strong was the certainty that despite the fact that love of God is not always understood by men and women, this love doesn’t stop loving!
And so that this strength, the strength of love, becomes a source of new life, the source of the Resurrection, but still the question that is asked today comes to us: “Why do you see the living among the dead? Remember what he told you ² when he was still Galilee” (Luke 24:5-6).
This is what we are asked to believe, that is, even when love is crucified cannot die. “Remember what he told you he was still in Galilee …” in the light of this invitation how can we not recall, in this day the gospel that the Lord Jesus told his disciples when he said: “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24)?
. This is the logic upon which Christ founded his preaching, a preaching that is not limited to words but that has gone through the reality of his life, through his passion and resurrection.
We, too, every time we celebrate Easter, perhaps we are just as the apostles, full of questions before such an extraordinary event, eager but at the same time fearful to believe.
We would like the Gospel to give us evidence, scientific data, some analysis. On the contrary, it doesn’t offer any of this. What it offers us instead is the witnesses, men and women who have announced from that Sunday on, that Jesus is risen!
And we also have had all over the world witnesses of the Risen Christ for 2000 years that have shown the truth of their testimony with their lives, the strength of their faith through own forgiveness, the power of their love through the gift of themselves. This is also evidence, maybe not the kind we want, but it is proof that always leaves us amazed and moved. On this bright and vibrant day of new life, we are also sent to proclaim today, the announcement that we have received, that announcement that has traveled through time, that announcement that changed the world history and can change the history of each person, now and forever. It is a simple announcement, a sentence that has an unlimited power: Christ is risen!.
But it is the proximity of these men and women with Christ, their concrete knowledge of Jesus and his teachings, the only thing that opened the way of the faith to them. And men and women of this day and age are also receiving the gift of the Spirit, promised by Jesus to his disciples to give them a new heart and new eyes, to allow them to be witnesses of the love of God to the four corners of the earth.
We, too, the day we were baptized, when we were made one with Christ in the mystery of his death and resurrection, we received that same Spirit, and in light of this gift, like the first disciples, we are called to live as resurrected , as new men and women. Celebrating Easter will then mean to enter with Christ the mystery of a love that goes to the end, without reserves, starting from those people who are close to us. This is resurrection: love. Love yourself, other people, the world , and above all, love Jesus Christ.

Brother Clark Berge, our Minister General, arrived last Thursday to spend a couple of weeks with us. He has just come from Papua New Guinea, where he spent time living with the brothers and also participating in the Ministers’ Meeting. This week he and Br Simone are taking part in the Holy Week devotions in Cambridge parish and also at St Peter’s School. Next week Br Clark will have some speaking engagements and will conduct a Quiet Day at the Friary.

Brother Brian is assisting with the Good Friday services at Melville during an interregnum.

Brother Clark and Brother Brian will then go to our Provincial Chapter meeting at Stroud, NSW, Australia.

Friary guests at the moment include a family recently arrived from the United Kingdom to settle in New Zealand. So we are a full house!

    Brother Clark Berge ssf