Paying it Forward: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving

Lent is a time when the Church works to grow in holiness as we prepare for the celebration of Easter.   We make commitments to prayer, fasting and almsgiving (showing mercy).  Traditionally, prayer, fasting and mercy have been interconnected.

“Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting.  Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated” as St. Peter Chrysologus wrote.  “When you fast, see the fasting of others.  If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry.  If you hope for mercy, show mercy.  If you look for kindness, show kindness.  If you want to receive, give.  If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.”

People often do not know how best to live out these Lenten commitments.  Some people give up shopping or eating chocolate.  Lent is also a time to deeper our relationship with God and with each other through these practices.  We can think of it as paying it forward.

For example, a person may fast from eating large meals on a particular day in Lent.  As a result of that fasting, they contribute the money they would have spent on food and give it to the poor, so their fasting and almsgiving are connected.  While fasting, they experience the hunger that so many people around the world experience every day.  This experience draws them into a closer relationship to the suffering of the world, which deepens their prayer.  It can also remind them that God’s mercy has spared them from this suffering.  We are then called to give to others not out of guilt, but out of sheer thankfulness for all the abundance that God has brought to our lives.  Out of gratitude, we are called to share with others the mercy God has shown us.

The ministries of this parish will offer a guide for people who want that.  There will be Lenten Trees placed in the Stewardship Center, Community Center, The Franciscan School and the Preschool.  These trees will start off bare.  In baskets around those trees will be paper leaves.  You are invited to take leaves and write down your Lenten commitments on them and hang them on the trees.  Ministries of this parish will have prayers to handout and ideas for fasting and service available on tables and the bulletin board.  Stop by to pick up prayers you can share with your family or for special causes.  Get ideas for service—perhaps you could:

• Donate a pint of blood
• Drive a local man to a dialysis appointment
• Give up commercial chocolate and instead choose only fair trade
• Spend an evening with a homeless family
• Promise to audit your family’s carbon footprint

Those are just a few examples.  As the season progresses, this will be a wonderful opportunity to share as a whole community your Lenten promises and give witness to all that the parish is doing.

Read Full Post »

Holy Week: Gratitude and Generosity

“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything.” 
– Thomas Merton

“If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” 
– Meister Eckhart

Gratitude flows when we recognize the gratuitousness of God’s gift of life. Gratitude is the natural response to the abundance of God’s love, which shines forth in the variety and beauty of all creation, from the tiny snail that clings to a rock on the beach to the life-giving energy of the sun that warms the earth from which green shoots emerge in spring. In the Eucharist we give thanks to God for the gift of Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose from the dead so that we might have new life.

Gratitude is essential to life as a Christian. It inspires us to fall on our knees in thanks, to bow our heads in reverence, to give of ourselves to our brothers and sisters because we recognize the wonder of what God has done for us. Water, food, the air we breathe – all are sacred gifts.

We are children of a God of abundance. Theologian Ronald Rolheiser notes that in Jesus’ parable of the sower, God scatters his seed indiscriminately – in the road, among thorns, and on rocks, not just in good soil. God does not calculate or hoard. Instead, he gives generously.  ”We see that same abundance in the parable of the vineyard owner, where the owner, God, gives a full day’s wage to everybody, whether he or she worked the full day or not,” Rolheiser says.

God’s generosity is evident in his willingness to forgive the prodigal son without reservation, as soon as he sees his son returning to him. “But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). And Jesus himself shows divine generosity in his forgiveness of the disciples who abandoned him and the crowds who put him to death.

What is the proper response to God’s gratuitous gifts of life and love? Each person will have a different response, depending on her gifts and the way is which God is calling her.

I spent some years away from the church. Yet I now see that God was calling to me all along. Even though I was a long way off, God was speaking to me in the moonrise over the bay, in the creeks that ripple through the Piedmont, in the tiny seeds that grow into mustard greens, and the birds that raise their young in the garden. The wonder and reverence I felt when moved by the beauty of nature were signs of God’s presence, though I did not know it then.

One reason Christians are called to care for creation is that nature is one way which God self-communicates his love. Early Christian theologians spoke of God’s revelation in two Scriptures, the Scripture of nature and the Scripture of the Bible. When we pollute the waters with toxic substances, allow topsoil to erode, clear-cut forests, choke the summer air with smog, we not only harm the ecosystems that support life, we introduce disharmony into God’s creation, silencing his music.

Pope John Paul II called for Christians to come to an “ecological conversion” of heart. One response to the gift of life is praise. St. Francis of Assisi praised God for all creation, including Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Mother Earth.

Taking time to appreciate creation restores us spiritually. “Today there is a great need to slow down the sometimes hectic pace of our days,” said Pope John Paul II. “Contact with nature, with its beauty and its peace, gives us new strength and it restores us.”

Another response to God’s gift of life is to live simply, so that others in future generations may live. Pope John Paul II wrote, “Every individual is called upon to play his or her part to … secure development in peace, in order to safeguard nature itself and the world about us….”

When we are handed a beautiful gift, entirely undeserved, our natural response is to give back. We often are moved to embrace the gift-giver. God gives us each breath we take. How can we give back to God in a spirit of love?

Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” As Easter approaches, take time to reflect on Christ’s call and how you can respond more generously.

Taking Action

Lent 4.5 suggests tips for cultivating generosity.

• Buy Fair Trade products, supporting businesses that respect God’s creation and pay workers fairly.
• Plant a tree native to North Carolina. Native trees contribute to the health of local ecosystems.
• Volunteer with an organization working for social justice or environmental sustainability. At St. Francis, consider participating in one of the more than 25 Justice & Peace ministries, including Franciscan Care of Creation, Dignity of Life, JustFaith, or Committee for Immigration Justice. For more information, contact Sheila Read at 919-847-8205 or sheila.read@stfrancisraleigh.org.
• Give to a project you care about. Consider donating to one of St. Francis’ local partners: Catholic Parish Outreach, Passage Home,  Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and Witness for Peace Southeast.
• Make time to enjoy nature. Pray to God in thanksgiving.

Read Full Post »

Lent Week 5: Transportation

By Sheila Read

“Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are travelling together.” ~Pope Benedict XVI

During June of 2007, I tried to give up driving for a month. I lasted 14 days before I gave in and drove the car to an appointment. It was 97 degrees out, and I didn’t want to arrive drenched in sweat.

The experiment taught me many things, including how difficult it is to go without driving while living in the suburbs. I worked about four miles from home at the time and was able to ride my bike to work. But riding in summer over hills on roads without adequate room for bicycles is hot, tiring and dangerous.

I wanted to cut down on driving to reduce my carbon footprint. Along with the energy used to heat and cool homes, cars are a top producer of carbon emissions. They also contribute to air pollution, most noticeably in the summer, when car exhaust contributes to low-level ozone that degrades air quality.

Driving may the most difficult area of life to change for many Americans because of how our cities, residential areas, and shopping areas have been designed around use of the car. Even when we desire to drive less, life circumstances can make it difficult to put that into practice, especially when jobs or family members are further from home than we’d like. For example, I currently have a 26-mile commute.

Catholic Social Teaching

Changing our transportation habits will require major changes at a personal as well as structural level. The Catholic Church in recent decades has been more vocal in calling for people to make sacrifices to safeguard God’s creation for future generations. In 1990, Pope John Paul II said, “Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its life style. In many parts of the world, society is given to instant gratification and consumerism while remaining indifferent to the damage which these cause.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also has called for Catholics to take responsibility for our choices and lifestyles. In the pastoral reflection Renewing the Earth, the bishops wrote: “… We invite Catholics and men and women of good will in every walk of life to consider with us the moral issues raised by the environmental crisis…. These are matters of powerful urgency and major consequence. They constitute an exceptional call to conversion.”

Pope Benedict XVI has also been calling Catholics, particularly in wealthy nations, to change lifestyles to ones that are more sustainable. Under his leadership, the Vatican is following what Benedict has been preaching on reducing energy use, installing solar panels on the Vatican’s audience hall and setting a goal to get 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. Last summer it was widely reported that the Vatican was looking at hybrid electric cars that could be modified for the next Popemobile.

Reducing Driving

Although we live in a car-based culture, there still are steps we can take to reduce driving. It wasn’t until I tried the experiment in giving up driving that I realized how many of my car trips were based on instant gratification. The idea of ice cream would pop into my head, and I would drive five miles round trip to get it.

It’s possible to avoid these kinds of unnecessary, spur-of-the-moment trips by better planning and more thoughtfulness about use of the car. But more significant, long-term changes to make our lives less dependent on cars will likely require public policies that promote public transportation and urban designs that make cities and residential areas more walkable.

Taking Action:

Lent 4.5 offers many tips for decreasing carbon emissions related to transportation, including the following:

• Before driving, ask yourself if the trip is necessary.  Can you combine errands or walk or bike? 40 percent of urban travel occurs within 2 miles of home, with 90 percent of those trips by car.
• Reduce travel by airplane. Two cross-country flights emit 2,000 pounds of CO2 per passenger.
• Start a neighborhood car pool to take kids to school. Consider car pooling to work.
• Avoid idling while waiting to pick up kids. Americans use 2.9 billion gallons of gas each year while idling.
• Consider making your next car purchase a fuel-efficient hybrid or electric car.

Read Full Post »

Lent Week 4: Energy

Photo credit: Kasper Bennedsen

By Sheila Read

“The environment must be seen as God’s gift to all people, and the use we make of it entails a shared responsibility for all humanity, especially the poor and future generations.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

My grandfather was an engineer who eventually founded a successful construction company. But despite his wealth, he could not tolerate waste of money or resources. He came of age during the Great Depression, and the hardship marked him for life. Waste of electricity particularly bothered him, and he often chided his grandchildren for leaving lights on when leaving a room or keeping the refrigerator door open while deciding what to eat.

It wasn’t until much later, when I began to learn about global warming, that I realized Grandpa had a point. He was concerned about wasting money with thoughtless use of electricity. But we were also wasting resources, paying a power plant to burn coal or oil or natural gas that were released as greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. And the sad part was that the price paid in money and additional greenhouse gases wasn’t even contributing to improving our lives.

It has been 25 years since global warming first became a major public issue. In the last five years, an overwhelming scientific consensus has emerged that climate change is occurring and that we have a limited window of time to address it before the change becomes irreversible.

Catholic Teaching

Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly emphasized the need to address consumption-oriented lifestyles that are contributing to degradation of God’s creation, including the phenomenon of climate change. “Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity… and the growing phenomenon of ‘environmental refugees?’” Pope Benedict asked in his 2010 World Day of Peace message.

In the same message, the Pope called for lifestyle changes to ensure the sustainability of energy use for future generations. “This means that technologically advanced societies must be prepared to encourage more sober lifestyles, while reducing their energy consumption and improving its efficiency,” the Pope said. “At the same time there is a need to encourage research into, and utilization of, forms of energy with lower impact on the environment.”

On Nov. 27, 2011, the day before the opening of international climate talks in Durban, South Africa, Benedict called for “a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrying and complex phenomenon, taking into account the needs of the poorest populations and of the generations to come.”

Pope Benedict has also been leading by example. Under his leadership, the Vatican in 2007 because the first carbon-neutral state in Europe. It aims to get 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020. The Vatican also installed 2,400 solar panels on the roof of its audience hall, saving an estimated 225 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also is promoting prudent action on global warming, founded on core values of Catholic Social Teaching that include stewardship of the Earth, concern for the common good, and special concern for the poor.

“In the case of global climate change, we know enough to understand that scientific arguments for action on the reduction of greenhouse gases cannot be easily dismissed,” the USCCB said. We have a duty to act, the bishops say. “Heat waves, droughts, and storms and consequent economic costs will fall most heavily upon the poor. Since the “least of these” are most at risk from the climate change, Christians have a particular duty to address the moral and human implications of climate change,” according to the USCCB.

The conference of bishops, along with the Franciscan Action Network, Catholic Charities and other organizations, sponsors the Catholic Climate Covenant, which asks Catholics to take the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. The pledge asks us to pray, learn, assess, act and advocate on behalf of Catholic principles in personal and social decisions on energy use and climate change.

Recent Evidence

Average global temperatures have increased by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-1950s, the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study confirmed last fall. The decade of 2000-2009 was the warmest decade since recordkeeping began in 1880, a World Resources Institute review of scientific documentation showed. Mountain glaciers are melting and Antarctic ice sheets are shrinking.

Wildfires, extreme droughts, and extreme rainfalls resulting in flooding are becoming more common throughout the world. In the U.S. alone, 2011 had a record 14 weather-related disasters (floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms) that each cost $1 billion or more in damages, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the absence of effective action by countries worldwide to reduce carbon emissions from burning of fossil fuels, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is climbing rapidly. Recent statistics showed that worldwide emission of greenhouse gases increased by 6 percent in 2010, the largest single-year increase ever recorded.

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (392 parts per million) now is higher than that in the worst-case scenario predicted five years ago. In that worst-case projection, scientists predicted a rise in average global temperature of between 4.3 and 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, with a 7.2 degree Fahrenheit increase the most likely, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Taking Action

How can we reduce our carbon footprint? Lent 4.5 offers tips on reducing energy use at home, including the following:

• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use 25 percent of the energy of traditional incandescents.
• Adjust the thermostat. Heating and cooling accounts for 50-70 percent of home energy costs. For each degree below 68 in winter and above 78 in summer, you save 3-5 percent in energy.
• Reduce the need for water heating through thoughtful use of appliances. Heating water accounts for 13-25 percent of home energy use. Consider shorter washes with the dishwasher, shower, and laundry machines. Ninety percent of laundry loads can be done using cold water.
• Line dry clothes when possible. Dryers are the third largest consumer of energy in homes.
• For more information on what you can do to save energy, click here.
• To calculate your carbon footprint, click here.

More Reading

USCCB: Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good

USCCB: Why Does the Church Care About Global Climate Change?

USCCB fact sheet on climate change

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Lent Week 3: Water

Falls Lake at sunrise. Photo Credit: Greg Orcutt

By Sheila Read

“Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water, so useful, humble, precious and pure.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi

Water is essential to life.  In the Church, the water of baptism symbolizes the Holy Spirit bringing us to new life in Christ. Yet despite its importance, most Americans take access to clean water for granted.

I lived in North Carolina for several years before I learned where my drinking water came from and the creeks and river into which the runoff from my property drained.  It was not until the drought of 2007-2008 that I began to think about how I used water. As I saw the local waterways dry up and the plants in my garden wither, I began to change habits such as lengthy showers or letting the faucet run while washing dishes.  During the drought, Falls Lake shrunk dramatically, leaving wide beaches and threatening the drinking water supply of 450,000 people in the Raleigh area.

Worldwide, lack of clean water is becoming a growing public health issue. More than 2.4 billion people, or one-third of the global population, live in areas chronically short of water, according to the Pacific Institute. And with a changing global climate, patterns of precipitation are changing, with extreme droughts and heavier rainfalls predicted to become more common.

Church Teaching

Pope Benedict XVI has emphasized that access to clean water is a “universal and inalienable right,” quoting the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. “Inadequate access to safe drinking water affects the well-being of a huge number of people and is often the cause of disease, suffering, conflicts, poverty and even death,” the Compendium states.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops connects preserving the quality of water with Catholic Social Teaching on care of creation and caring for the poor. “To restore the purity of air and water, to halt the loss of farmland, to sustain ecological diversity in plant and animal life, concerted human action will be needed over many decades,” the bishops wrote in Renewing the Earth. 

Caring for the poor and caring for the Earth are directly related, as it is the most vulnerable among us that suffer the most from environmental degradation because they lack the means to move from areas that are overexploited or contaminated by pollution. “Christian love draws us to serve the weak and vulnerable among us. We are called to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless. We are also summoned to restore the land; to provide clean, safe water to drink and unpolluted air to breathe,” according to Renewing the Earth.

Local Water Issues – Quantity and Quality

The Raleigh area is facing increasing challenges in both the quantity and quality of water available, said Bill Holman, director of state policy for Duke University’s Nicholas School for Environmental Solutions. The Southeastern United States has historically been blessed with ample rainfall most years, though it also has been subject to fairly regular periods of drought. The region is in a moderate drought now.

In addition, the dramatic population growth in the Raleigh area in the last 20 to 30 years also places stresses on the local water supply. And if extremes of precipitation indeed become more frequent, North Carolina will be challenged to develop a more robust water storage capacity, Holman said.

“Climate change makes a tough problem tougher because what we expect with climate change is more intense droughts, and when rain comes, more intense storms,” Holman said. “My own experience is we seem to be having a ten-year storm not once every ten years, but two to three times a summer.”

The Falls Lake reservoir also faces problems from pollution, especially from nutrients from fertilizers that wash off lawns and farms and sediment from construction sites. The Neuse River in Eastern Wake County was rated in 2007 as the 8^th most endangered river in the United States. As a rough guide, properties north of Strickland Road drain into Falls Lake, while properties south of Strickland drain into Crabtree Creek and then the Neuse River, Holman said.

St. Francis’ Care of Creation ministry has participated in waterways cleanups of Falls Lake, the Neuse River and Ellerbe Creek.

Taking Action

How can we be more mindful this Lent about respecting God’s gift of water?

• Learn about your water footprint here.
• Learn about reducing stormwater runoff here and here.

Consider abstaining this week from wasting water by:

• Limiting showers to four minutes. A 10-minute shower can use 25 gallons of water.
• Avoiding letting water run during food preparation and dishwashing.
• Fixing leaky faucets and toilets.

Consider adopting practices in your yard to save water and/or avoid runoff of pollutants:

• Avoid or limit use of lawn fertilizers.
• Reduce the amount of lawn in your yard. Replace grass with drought-tolerant native trees, shrubs or perennials.
• Install rain barrels.

For more tips on water conservation, see the City of Raleigh’s Water Conservation Tips.

Read Full Post »

Lent Week 2: Food

By Sheila Read

We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But how often do we think about where our bread comes from? When we eat this bread, we are connected to the soil that nourished the wheat and the water that fell on the grains. Eating is an act of communion with the Earth.

Our food choices directly affect the health of God’s creation. But the global agricultural system has resulted in a food system so complex that the fundamental connection between our land, water and food is obscured. In the name of convenience and cheap food, the industrial food system engages in practices that upon examination are seen to degrade the Earth through waste, pollution and inhumane treatment of animals.

Consider waste of energy. The average fruit or vegetable travels 1,500 to 2,500 miles from where it is grown before it reaches your plate. Agricultural operations are the biggest polluter of rivers and lakes, degrading water with topsoil, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and animal waste. North Carolina’s Neuse River, contaminated with hog waste and runoff of fertilizers from farms, in 2007 was named the 8th most endangered river in the United States by the nonprofit conservation organization American Rivers.

I finally gave up eating meat from animals raised in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) after reading in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma about the filthy, crowded conditions in which cows and chickens are raised.

Church Teaching

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a 2003 document discusses the moral implications of food production. “Food sustains life itself; it is not just another product,” the bishops wrote in For I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food: Reflections on Food, Farmers and Farmworkers. On CAFOs, the bishops said, “We believe that these operations should be carefully regulated and monitored so that environmental risks are minimized and animals are treated as creatures of God.”

The Catholic Church teaches that humans were entrusted by God as stewards of his creation and have a moral duty to be good stewards of the land. Popes John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have both made clear that stewardship does not mean license to do as we please with the Earth and its creatures. In his 2010 World Day of Peace Message, Pope Benedict said:  ”Natural resources should be used in such a way that immediate benefits do not have a negative impact on living creatures, human and not, present and future… [and] that human activity does not compromise the fruitfulness of the earth, for the benefit of people now and in the future.”

Changing the way we eat involves some sacrifice, especially of the convenience of pulling whatever we want off of the grocery store shelf without considering where it comes from or how it was produced. In a culture preoccupied with obtaining more material things, sacrifice is often considered to be a dirty word. But during Lent, we are called to embrace sacrifice as a way to remind us that our primary relationship is with God. Thoughtful sacrifice reminds us that our love of God and neighbor is a far higher standard than that of convenience.

Community Garden – Local and Organic

Last year, St. Francis parishioners created a community garden here on campus, motivated by the desire to learn how to grow food locally and organically. The Franciscan Care of Creation ministry began planning for the garden after the shock of the Gulf Oil Spill dramatically illustrated the consequences of our dependence on oil.

“We believe local food is far more in tune with the message of taking care of the Earth, as we need in any way, shape or form to cut back on the use of petroleum,” said Pat Kelly, who coordinates efforts in the garden. In addition, growing vegetables using organic practices avoids the harmful health effects of pesticides and the contamination of water supplies by chemical fertilizers (which also are derived from petroleum).

The garden became a fun family activity, where parishioners learn together how to grow plants organically from seed to harvest. Last year the garden donated more than 500 pounds of produce to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.

Taking Action

The Earth and Spirit Center’s Lent 4.5 program offers many tips for eating as a moral act. This week, try one or more of the following:

• Abstain from meat.
• Buy food grown locally or regionally. Shop at a farmer’s market. Click here to find a farmer’s market near you.
• Avoid fast food or highly processed food.
• Consider growing some of your own food this year. If you’re new to gardening, consider taking a free class at Logan Trading Co. 
• Comment on this blog post. Let us know what food choices you make to care for creation.

Read Full Post »

Lent Week 1: Practicing Christian Simplicity

By Sheila Read

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” ~ Luke 16:13

Nelson Rockefeller, heir to the family fortune, reportedly was once asked, “How much is enough?” Rockefeller paused, smiled, and said, “Just a little bit more.”

The desire for more is the trap of our culture and times. No matter how much we work, no matter how much money we make, it seems never to satisfy. We achieve what we think is our goal, and then set another goal, which when achieved feels equally empty. My husband counsels a couple who earns more than $300,000 per year but never seems to have enough money. For a few years in my 20s, I liked to wear trendy clothes. Instead of being satisfied with the new clothes, I always wanted more. I would decide I “needed” new shoes to go with the new outfit.

Jesus tells us, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:21). If I treasure material possessions, I will be focused on them, not on God. I will love my possessions, not my neighbor.

During Lent, we are called to a conversion of heart. Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we renew our practice of the great commandment to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Practicing Christian simplicity is all about love.
Simplicity is a core Christian virtue because it is a way of living that is focused on God, on serving others, and recognizing the interconnectedness of all living beings.

St. Francis was known for his simple life and for his embrace of poverty and relying on God’s providence. “Francis rejected power, ownership and authority for himself,” say Ilia Delio, Keith Warner and Pamela Wood in Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality for the Earth. He wanted to be humble, to live in solidarity with creation just as Christ did through the Incarnation. “

Arthur Simon, founder of Bread for the World and author of How Much Is Enough? describes three reasons for simple living:

1. Simple living is better for us. If we reduce our needs to what is essential, we have less stress, less hurry, less distractions, and more time for what is truly important.

2. Simple living is kinder to God’s creation, the Earth which sustains us and all living creatures. For example, consuming fewer products saves resources, energy, and results in less pollution of air and water from manufacturing.

3. Simple living helps others live. Simplicity means not only buying less and being more thoughtful about what we do buy, but being generous in giving to people in need.

“Give to everyone who asks of you,” Jesus says (Luke 6:30). When we give to the poor money that we would have spent on nonessential purchases, we are transformed in Christ. We are ministering to the Christ in others and acting as living witnesses of our faith. We are building the kingdom of God on Earth.

The garden I will leave behind.

For many years, my husband and I have been talking about how to live more simply, in a way that reflects our desire to focus our lives on the gospel values of loving God and neighbor. We finally decided to sell our house. We hope to move to a smaller home and get out from under a mortgage. It was a difficult decision – we like our house very much, and I have spent years creating a peaceful garden filled with native plants. But the decision to simplify is freeing. It will be a relief not to have to make a certain amount of money per month to maintain a house that is bigger than the two of us need. Ultimately, the decision allowed me to accept the job offer to work for the Justice and Peace Office at St. Francis.

Taking Action

We made this big step to simplify after many years of taking smaller steps. The Lent 4.5 program developed by the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center offers some tips for personal action to cultivate simplicity as part of your Lenten practice.

To develop inner simplicity:

• “Abstain from over-scheduling your life.”
• Forgo TV and/or social networking sites at least one day during the week.
• “Read Psalm 104. Sit quietly in gratitude for the gift of life.
• “Consciously connect with God’s natural world at least once during the week.”

To cultivate outer simplicity:

• “Try forgoing some ‘must-have’ items. It’s a matter of training the mind to get along with less.
• “Consider impulsive buying habits. When you want something, wait a couple of days to make sure it is not an impulse buy.”

For more information on Christian simplicity, visit the Lent 4.5 Website. 

Read Full Post »

A Cleansing Covenant

For the First Sunday in Lent
By Jason Lillis, Coordinator of Family Life Ministry

In an auspicious beginning to the season of Lent, one of the first things we hear about is God’s epilogue to an apocalypse. We are no strangers to flooding, but clearly nothing along the order of magnitude that comes for what beset the world in the days of Noah. Our own days are not without their apocalypses – a hurricane Katrina or an Indonesian tsunami can devastate entire lands with such a press of water that unless one survives it, it’s reality can scarcely be imagined.

Yet even without the wreck of wind and water, our lives are not without mini-apocalypses. The loss of home, work, and – most devastatingly – a close-held beloved can enter into life and destroy in ways we never foresee.

So it is with some foreboding – after hearing the story of the flood – that the lectionary moves us into Paul’s reminder of our own baptismal covenant. To think that each of us who have been submersed in these waters share the calling – and fate – of Noah: to go forth into a world – made clean by God’s grace – to view what has become of the world we once knew.

That covenant – and the new reality accompanying it – is not panacea; we are not promised freedom from trial or tribulation – we are promised freedom from complete and total ruin only, and there can be a long road from here to there. What then becomes of our covenant? It becomes not an inflatable tube for pools or beaches, but the boat that saves you – when you didn’t know how to build a boat. The covenant of faith does not call us to ease and comfort, but to a richer “texture” of life and whole-ness.

If you are looking for fellow companions to journey with you this Lenten season, I invite you to join the ministries of fellowship and faith formation available through the office of Family Life Ministry here at St. Francis of Assisi. You can learn more by visiting http://bit.ly/SFAFamilyLife, or give me a call at 847-8205 x244.

Read Full Post »

Lent: An Invitation to Simplicity

In Sunday’s first reading (Isaiah 43:18-25), God tells the people that he is doing something new. He will make a way for them out of exile, despite their history of sin and turning away from God. “In the desert I make a way; in the wasteland, rivers.” God also tells us something essential about our relationship to him and all of creation. “The people I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.”

St. Francis, in his famous Canticle of Brother Sun, gives praise to God for all creation. As did Jesus, Francis lived simply, sustainably and close to the Earth. On his journeys, he took little with him, trusting God to provide through the abundance of Creation. Francis also experienced nature as a place for re-creation through prayer and the experience of God’s presence. Many of us have experienced God’s presence in nature through wonder at a magnificent sunset, the joyful splashing of a bird in a bath, or the miracle of a seed sprouting.

Next Sunday we begin the observance of Lent, a time of purification and reorientation toward the God who creates new life. It is a time for a conversion of heart. In many ways our consumer culture results in deserts, both spiritual and physical. There is growing awareness today that human dignity and God’s Creation are being severely damaged by a global economic system that prizes profits for a few over the good of the many. Through our prayer, self-denial and almsgiving this Lent, we can begin to find the new path that God makes in the desert.

Lent is a good time to reflect on our lifestyles. Are we living in a way that nourishes us spiritually? In what ways are we paralyzed and in need of an encounter with Christ, like the man in today’s Gospel (Mark 2:1-12)? How do our daily habits affect the health of the created world and the poor? What changes is God asking of us?

This Lent, the Justice and Peace Office will offer weekly reflections and action tips on living simply and caring for Creation. In connection with the Lent 4.5 Christian Simplicity campaign developed by our Passionist brothers and sisters, we will focus on seven themes: Christian simplicity, food, consumption, water, energy, transportation, and gratitude and generosity. We invite you to follow this blog as part of your Lenten practice.  Or follow us on Facebook (friend Francis of Assisi) or Twitter @SFA_Raleigh.

Read Full Post »