Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Great Book for Any Season

On Christmas Eve, I started reading In His Spirt: A Guide to Today's Spirituality by Richard J. Hauser, S. J., a Jesuit priest and theologian. I finished the slim little book a few days later. It is outstanding. It was first published in 1982.  It is an oldie, but a goodie! A new and expanded edition was published in 2011.

Here is what I liked:
  1. comparison between two models of spirituality, i.e., the Self-in-God (Scriptural model) and the Self-outside-God (Western model);
  2. comparison between two common psychological models and implications for trust of self;
  3. how prayer and service are mutually reinforcing;
  4. references to Mark 12:30-31 where Jesus puts forth the commandments to love God and neighbor;
  5. regular mention of the importance of paying attention to the whole person: mind, body, and spirit; and
  6. guidelines for contemporary asceticism based on Mark 12:30-31.
  7. Hauser's personal testimony.
Hauser's book has given me a language to talk about spirituality in a new way.

Here is the Franciscan connection. The SFO Rule begins with "The First Version of the Letter to the Faithful" from St. Francis and the letter begins with a quote from Mark 12:30-31. The quote from Mark 12:30-31 comes to the fore again in St. Francis' Office of the Passion, which is arranged to be prayed seven times a day. So there is no doubt that Mark 12:30-31 was important to St. Francis and rightfully so, because Jesus says that following the two commandment is what it is all about.

Regarding a Franciscan approach to contemporary asceticism, check out my 2008 blog post: Be All that You Can Be.



Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Transitus of St. Francis - Wednesday, October 3


The Transitus of St. Francis takes place each year on the evening of October 3rd and will be observed again this year in the Bishop Chartrand Chapel on the campus of Marian University on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The Transitus is a Franciscan devotion that ritually remembers the passing of Saint Francis from this life to the next. The ritual reinforces the living memory of Francis and it intensifies the commitment to follow Christ in the way of the poor man of Assisi. All are welcome.

After the ritual, a reception sponsored by the People of Peace Secular Franciscan Order fraternity will be held in the Ruth Lilly Student Center. Again, all are welcome.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Beauty and Justice: From the Medieval Franciscans to Latino Catholicism Today



Great news! Please share with others.

Peter Casarella, Professor of Catholic Studies and Director for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University in Chicago (http://works.bepress.com/petercasarella/), will give a lecture at 2 pm in Marian University’s library auditorium on Sunday, September 16th. The title of the lecture is "Beauty and Justice: From the Medieval Franciscans to Latino Catholicism Today."  

Also, he has agreed to meet with Secular Franciscans after the 11:30 am mass on Sunday, Sep. 16th in the Bishop Chartrand Memorial Chapel.

All are welcome to attend either event. And, the lecture is free and open to the public.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Message from Minister Gary Ziegler


Hi Fellow Secular Franciscans,
            Well summer is soon to be over and everyone is back in school.  We should be able to meet for Franciscan prayer in the chapel after mass at our next meeting.  The September meeting will be on the second Sunday the 9th in order to avoid the Labor Day weekend as is our tradition.  We also hope to celebrate Sheila Pluckenbaum’s entrance into inquiry for our fraternity, if her work schedule permits. 
            For those of you who haven’t seen this month’s issue of the St. Anthony Messenger, please take a look.  Our own Sheila Gilbert is featured as part of a special report on Poverty in the United States. Please read it as it is very well written.  Good job, Sheila.
            If anyone is interested in serving on the council in the at large position, let me know.  For council members, I would like to have a brief meeting after the regular meeting on the 9th
            I recently returned from a trip with my son and grandson to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, Michigan.  The views of Lake Superior and the rock formations were awesome. To stand at an overlook and watch wave after wave break upon the Michigan shore was so soothing.  To think that this has been occurring for the last 10,000 years helps to put into perspective our time versus God’s time.  How blessed we are to live in such a beautiful country.  I got home in time to celebrate Caryl and my 42nd anniversary.  We went to Mass, received a blessing, went to jail to work with some of the inmates, and returned home to a nice dinner with our daughter and her husband.  Life continues to be good.   Hope to see you all on the 9th
           Pax et Bonum,  
           Gary

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Summer Announcements

At Marian University, mass is not celebrated at 11:30 am during the summer months. So, the People of Peace fraternity is gathering at 12:30 pm in community room of the Ruth Lilly Student Center. This summer we have been slowly working our way through St. Francis of Assisi:  A New Way of Being Christian, by Br. William Short, OFM, STL, STD. It is a set of 24 lectures on CD on the life of St. Francis.  Each audio program is about 20 minutes long. So far, they have been very interesting.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Happy New Year!

I have updated the calendar for 2012. We are trying something new. Mass is celebrated in the Bishop Chartrand Memorial Chapel at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. We gather in the chapel right after mass to pray. Afterwards, we gather in the Community Room of the Ruth Lilly Student Center to socialize, do some business, and have our ongoing formation program. Lately, we have been listening to an audio lecture series by Franciscan Brother Bill Short, ofm on Franciscanism.