Canticle - August 2023

Next Gathering

Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023 at 2:00-4:30 PM
*2nd Sunday*

Fraternity website: www.dmfofs2.com 

Council Members
(exp. Feb. 13, 2025)

Minister: Joanne Giordano, OFS

Vice-Min., & temp. Treas.: Jean McGovern, OFS

Secretary: Virginia Davis, OFS

Formation Director: Fred Schaeffer, OFS

Councilor:

Webmaster & Canticle ed. Fred Schaeffer, OFS

In His Presence
A Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS

Be comfortable in God's presence. Enjoy being with Him and spend much time with Him. Keep Him in your thoughts no matter what else you are doing. Yes, you can think of God while doing something else, even if that something else demands your total concentration. There are work times, family times and leisure times. When we're on the job, whether this job is in an office or in a factory or at home, how many times do you think "God, I wish I knew the answer," or, "God help me?"

Family times are often times for reflection about God. If married with children you may often think or wonder about His creation which allowed you to have children. Think of the great miracle of having children in the first place and what a joy this has brought into your life. Yes, I know, kids are often noisy or unruly, and some kids gives rise to all sorts of pressures, but you know you love your children, deep down, because you see them as a gift of God. And they are.

If you don't have children there is your spouse and we hope that you see in him or her a reflection of God's love. If this is not the case pray that God will help you find middle ground. Begin with yourself: What have I contributed to this relationship, and, have I been Christ-like in this union?

For each one of us, married or not, there is a very special possibility of a union, a special relationship with God. It is, for most, a contemplative relationship, and Franciscans who know about solitude and meditation may pray to God for that gift, if they wish to deepen in their Faith and Franciscan spirituality. 



It may take many years of prayerful living in a peaceful way, loving one's sisters and brothers as we love God and ourselves, seeking some solitude from unnecessary noise (television), the living in God's presence, before the realization comes home that there is a contemplative dimension to our life. 

Why would we want to live that way? In today's society, that seems a very radical way of life. Perhaps so... but we need to start thinking about the time to come. Do we want to get into Heaven to be with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and Mary, St. Francis, and all the other angels and saints? If so, adopting a solid Inner Life of the Soul, another name for that relationship with God we're hoping to have, would be appropriate. 

St. Francis of Assisi had a very special relationship to Jesus. Even though from rich and well educated parents, his desire for life of poverty provided the ideal setting for this solitude that can often lead to an inner life of the soul. Solitude is many things to many people. It is a silence of mind and spirit so that you may hear His voice. 

As we get older, we gravitate toward a quieter existence. I don't know about you, but I desire peace and quiet. Away from fast talking, incessant commercials, just noise in general. The "Peace" we know awaits us in God's love is so near and yet so far. 

--Fred Schaeffer, ofs

A note from Fred about the websites.

Unfortunately, I must report that these websites have become a financial millstone around my neck. The “Spiritual Reflections” - most of which are in this website: https://www.reflections-dmf-ofs.org/ - Looking at statistics, the previously completed month (June 30-July 30) had 245 visitors BUT, the average session duration was less than 100 seconds; that’s just about 1.5 minutes. That’s very poor. The Year to Date figures (Jan 1-Jul 31) are just as bad. 2113 visitors but the average was sessions of less than a minute long. That’s abysmal.

There is another issue here. The Formation Friday website is no longer active. It’s a long story, and I mentioned this at our July meeting. Although I’ve removed the website, I cannot remove the underlying domain - if I cancel that, the Reflection site might bomb out, because it is a subdomain. Think of it as a parent-child relationship. Anyway, I’m still investigating. All this costs money and keeps on being billed per month. I may wipe the entire domain and just start again with a new smaller website with just the stuff I published this year with a different layout. People don’t seem to read previous years anyway. Any ideas anyone?

Then a while back, I set up a trial website using WordPress - another waste of time but it’s not that costly. Since it’s paid for, for a year, I could continue with that but it has an atrocious web editor. Leads to instant frustration. That’s found here: https://brofredsreflections.com/

Peace!

Have a great August. / Fred 

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