Clare Revisited

Lectio Divina

... never forsake those who seek you....

Psalms 9:11

Library

Making good progress on Brown, The Ecumenical Revolution. Caught up on my periodicals.

Just printed out an article of no small interest to me: a report by John Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter from the Capuchin Province of Saint Augustine's chapter just concluded outside Pittsburgh. He writes about the two Capuchin bishops of the United States, Sean O'Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Both Capuchin friars were reared in the Province of Saint Augustine.

Log

This morning, the first of three class sessions this week on Clare of Assisi. Today we limned the contours of her life and set her days in the context of war, economics in 13th-century Europe. Tomorrow we will turn to her religious thought as known through her writings, and on Wednesday we will conclude with an examination of the spirit of her movement as known through her rule of life for the Second Order. I hope to write more about her life and times later; I don't want to exhaust all my computing time in one blow!

This afternoon, after a good and brisk mind-clearing walk in the mid-day sun, a good conversation with one of the friars on the oversight committee given the responsibility of evaluating the interprovincial novitiate program. I felt "listened into speech"; that is, the brother heard what I was saying and heard me so affirmatively that it summoned deeper sharing from me. I hope that what I had to say will be taken well under advisement by the provincial ministers and provincial directors of initial formation, so that our program may be improved in its structural aspects and make of tomorrow's novices more faithful sons of Francis and more faithful followers of the Gospel that is to be our way of life.

This evening, after two Mondays of rest, the schola comes together again for rehearsal. I am now off the kitchen team. I have two more eight-day rotations on the kitchen chores until the end of novitiate.

Weather

Dry as ever, but not so hot as before. But I am circumspect. The sun is never to be underestimated.