Provincial Minister Primo P. Piscitello, OFM

NEW YORK - You've probably seen before an image of the Roman god Janus, who the month is named after.  Janus is a transitional figure with two heads, one looking backward and one looking forward.  The image is one that I think contributes to (or is reflective of) our natural tendency at this time of year to likewise do these two things - to take stock and to look ahead.

And, what a year it has been!  First of all, we were glad to make it!  You'll recall the Mayan predictions that people were all-too-preoccupied with at the end of last year about the end of the world.  Yet another apocalyptic moment of doom predicted by some that would be the end of it all.  Of course, I generally look at those things as very silly, after all, I can't count the number of times someone has said that the world would end in my life time - and we're still here.  But, as the more I think about it, I think the Mayans might have been on to something.  As I reflect on the year that is now coming to a close, one thing is clear - while the world didn't end in 2012, in so many ways, it was the end of the world as we know it.

We began 2013 with big things happening in our Franciscan world: the first-of-its kind meeting of the Provincial Administrations of all seven U.S. Provinces to begin to look at greater collaboration and even reconfiguration of our way of life in this country.  And, if that wasn't big enough, we all woke on the morning of February 28 to headlines that made us all do a double take, "The Pope Resigned."  If you were like me, at first, you thought it was a hoax of some kind.  And, as we grappled with that stunning resignation, we were introduced to a new Pope, one who took a name that could not have thrilled us more, Francis.

In less than a year, Pope Francis has taken the Church by storm, has taken the world by storm, has certainly taken me by storm.  The renewal that he has effected in such a short amount of time is astounding and inspiring and a powerful reminder that just when we think we can't have an impact any more, that a new breath of the Holy Spirit can blow through the Church and that breath continues to be strong and transformative and of course "all things are possible with God."

This new Pope had a direct impact on our Franciscan world as well.  The new Pope, in one of his first acts, elevated our General Minister Jose Carballo to become an Archbishop and Secretary of the Congregation for Religious.  With that came the election of Michael Perry to replace him as General Minister, the first time an American has held that post in more than 20 years and only the third American ever.

The year ahead looks as though it will continue to be exciting.  The work that began at that meeting of the U.S. administrations has brought forth much fruit, namely the Report of the Interprovincial Commission.  This will also bring about another first-of-its kind moment - all of the U.S. Provinces will meet in chapter this year to discuss the report and the potential for the future.  It is an exciting time and of course, it is a time that brings a lot of questions, and maybe even some anxiety, along with it.  But, although we are looking at something new in our future, it's important to remember that it isn't the end.

You see the problem that some people face when they look at predictions of "the end" is that they don't view them through eyes of faith.  As believers and follower of Christ, we have learned that "the end" is really just another side of the next beginning.  After all for us, even death itself is not an end, but a beginning of something new and wonderful and eternal. Endings are never times of conclusion, but for us, are always times of renewal and rebirth; they are times that bring forth something new and exciting; something unexpected, unlike anything we could have imagined.

We need not look any further than the year we are preparing to leave behind to know with certainty that this is true. No one could have ever imagined this time last year that the Pope would resign.  No one could predict the absolute wonder that would be Pope Francis and the incredible sense of renewal that he has brought to the Church and really to the world less than a year later.  2012 was the end of the world as we knew it, but it has also been the birth of something so wonderfully new and exciting that we thank God for the ways that He renews us!

And so, my brothers, as we look forward to a year that invites us into something new - new relationships with our brothers in the United States; new ways of seeing each other; new ways of relating one to another - let's embrace this with the same excitement and expectation.  Let us embrace it with the hope and confidence that what God has in store for us is so much more wonderful than we could ever imagine! 

The end is never the end. It is always the beginning of a new and exciting chapter.  Let's embrace this new chapter in our life together with the same faith in each other, with the same excitement for what God can do in us and with us and through us in the year ahead.

Let me conclude with a quote from Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, "[We] must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing." 

Happy New Year my brothers!

God bless,