A joy-filled day to you! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this note. We're a little late again. We had a busy weekend, hosting an art exhibit on Saturday and Sunday and joining the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rock Tavern for worship Sunday morning. Off to the left is a little blurb about the art show as well as a Song of the Week, and an update on the Our House fundraising effort. Right below us is a note about the compassion workshop and further on down the line is Steve's reflection on St. Francis and next Sunday's gospel lesson. Enjoy! |
Compassion workshop filling fast
It has only been about 48 hours but already ten folks have signed up for the November 2 workshop to be held here at the Hope Center from 9:30 to 3:30. Led by Br. Don Bisson, will explore compassion as the face of God healing the soul, and will help attendees see what gets in the way of offering compassion to themselves and others. There will be time for input, reflection, sharing and prayer. You even get lunch. And, it's free! Click here to learn more! There are only 20 seats left. |
Way before Nike - Francis just "did it"
This Friday, October 4th, is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, perhaps the most popular saint of all time. The Pope - Pope Francis - is expected to be in Assisi to pay tribute to the humble little man whose name he has taken. I smile when I think of what Francis might have thought of it all - the Pope and many, many thousands of people filling the streets of his home town, cramming into a basilica built in his honor just 20 years after his death in 1226. He may have started out seeking fame and glory, but when he renounced the world, Francis let go of all of that. He was a simple man, a mendicant who made friends with all beings from a rabbit who joined him for a Lenten fast to a sultan he tried to convert. He told the birds who they were, tamed the wolf of Gubbio, and saved the Church. He was not particularly well educated and refused ordination. In a few short years, he attracted 5,000 brothers who committed themselves to living in like fashion, devoting themselves to following in the footsteps of Jesus. There are stories galore about Francis. Here's a sweet little story from Living the Wisdom of St. Francis about how St. Francis communed with a bird: "Once when Saint Francis was about to eat with Brother Leo he was greatly delighted to hear a nightingale singing. So he suggested to his companion that they would also sing praise to God alternately with the bird. While Leo was pleading that he was no singer, Francis lifted up his voice and, phrase by phrase, sang his duet with the nightingale." Francis was 43 or 44 years old the evening of October 3, 1226 when he lay down to die not far from La Porziuncola (Little Portion), the church he had restored in his first response to Jesus' call to "Rebuild my church." He lay on the ground in a borrowed habit and told his brother, "I have done what is mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours to do." In next Sunday's gospel reading - Luke 17:5-10 - we read that it takes little faith to command a mulberry tree into the sea. We also read about how after all a slave's hard work, all there is to say is "'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'" May Jesus teach us our own little portion and may we do it in the spirit of that big little man named Francis.
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