NEW YORK - Pope Francis took an interesting approach in his homily to priests for the Chrism Mass this year, and it was an approach that I seriously resonated with.  The Holy Father spoke about being tired. Can you relate?

Maybe this resonated with me this week because I just returned from the Spring ESC meeting which was held in Lithuania last week. It was a good meeting and it was very good to be with the other Provincial Ministers of the Conference, but it was a busy meeting. We also met with the Provincials and Custodes of COTAF (the TransAlpine friars from Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania), as well as the General Minister. And following the long week, we had a nine and a half hour flight from Warsaw to JFK. So, when the Pope speaks about being tired, my ears perked up.

Tiredness and even weariness, the Pope said, are a part of the life of ministry of the priest and religious. He said, "Let us never forget that a key to fruitful ministry lies in how we rest and in how we look at the way the Lord deals with our weariness. How difficult it is to learn how to rest! This says much about our trust and our ability to realize that that we too are sheep."

I would add to what the Pope says that we need to realize that we are not only sheep, but, especially for us, we need to remember that we are also brothers. The Holy Father is addressing the wrong ways that we deal with our tiredness - do we rest by the means "provided by a consumerist society" he asks or do we turn to the Lord in our rest? God seeks not merely to give us a break, but He seeks to offer us refreshment and renewal. 

I think a gift for us as religious is that this renewal and refreshment can be multiplied when we seek the Lord together as brothers. We all know that we experience the same kind of tiredness and weariness in ministry that everyone else does - perhaps heightened given our tight numbers; perhaps heightened at this busy time of year. This can add a stress to our life as well as a choice - when we are tired and weary, when we are stressed, do we lean on each other? Do we turn to each other as brothers for support? Do we pray for and with each other? Or do we take our stress out on each other? Do we find our rest somewhere outside of our fraternity and outside of our relationship with the Lord? When we do this, we are leaving behind one of the greatest gifts that we are given as religious - one another. 

"The Lord gave brothers," St. Francis said in his Testament, and that made all the difference. I hope it does for each of us as well.

My prayer for each of us this Easter Triduum is that we can find the renewal and refreshment that our God so eagerly desires for each of us. And, I pray that our local fraternities can be the source and the fountain of that refreshment - the place we go to when we need to be renewed. I pray that we can find new ways to reach out to one another in hope, in prayer and in fraternity; to remember that we can achieve great things if we seek our renewal and refreshment together, as brothers. The Lord gave us brothers, too. Let us treasure this gift.

Each Easter is a moment to hear those words of our Lord again, "Behold, I make all things new." Jesus extends these words even to us. Let Him make you new this Easter. Let Him renew and refresh your vocation, your fraternity, your relationship with each and every brother of our fraternity. This is my prayer for you.

Buona Pasqua!!

Fraternally,