Q. What are the spiritual and thological aspects of assigning friars?
A. Last week this column described the practical realities of assigning friars: the many commitments to parishes and other ministries, the number of friars available, and the "domino effect" that results in moving multiple friars when any one man changes his ministry. There is also a spiritual dimension to assignments. This week's column addresses the spiritual and theological aspects of assignments.
Friars vow to follow in the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience, without property, and in chastity. To follow in the footsteps of Christ means to live as he did: on the margins, without anything of his own, subject to the generosity of others, as he traveled from place to place preaching the Good News. When the people of Capernaum begged him to remain with them, Jesus told them: "To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent."[Luke 4:43]
The friar makes himself available to be sent by his superiors to witness to the Gospel in a particular place because the friar is convinced in his heart that he "has been sent" by the Lord himself to the friars. The Lord calls us to religious life in the Capuchin Franciscan community. In responding to this call, we friars work out our own salvation, and we witness to others the reality of the Gospel. Ultimately, we preach the Gospel by what we do - by how we live - more than by anything we may say. If I were to preach that we should be docile before the call of the Lord, and at the same time resist the call of my superiors to serve the Lord elsewhere, I would be a hypocrite. But if I try to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, however imperfectly I may do so, then at least I have put my feet in the right direction.
This Gospel life allows the friar to attain his deepest, most real, spiritual self: the imitation of Christ. We strive to grasp onto nothing. We hope to love the place where we are and the people who are there, while we are there. But we try to be willing to move on, and to come to love a new place and new people, all in imitation of the Lord. Jesus "emptied himself taking the form of a slave, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death" [Philippians 2: 7-8] If I follow him in the Franciscan way, I must try to do the same. We friars are itinerants. We are always on the move. We move for practical reasons, certainly. But even the most practical of reasons has a spiritual underpinning: we are heading to the new and eternal Jerusalem, in imitation of the One who opened the gates of that city to us. Peace be upon you.
