Today, Sunday, Oct 4th, we celebrated the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the Oikos' patron saint. It was a joyful feast proceeded by a very prayerful novena. For anyone who does not know, a novena is, usually, a prayer, or a prayer service, that is said for 9 days. Novenas can be said for any number of reasons and bear much fruit, when said prayerfully, meaningfully and with the humble acceptance of God's will. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta has used an emergency novena, saying the Memorare 9 times in a row. I have used that one many times.
Our novena to St. Francis of Assisi here in Borongan was nine days long with a prayer service followed by a mass said here in Providence Home by a different priest each night. On the 8th night, we were blessed to have Bishop Crispin Vasquez here to say the mass. Each night, the novena, mass and dinner following was sponsored by a different beneficiary of the Oikos Sisters. On their particular night, the beneficiaries would sing in the choir, do the readings, bring up the gifts and prepare dinner for all. The beneficiaries are our neighbors in Souhton, the families in Byubay, the OYM, Oikos Youth Missionaries and their families, the families in Kaliko-an, the Oikos co-workers, the Oikos home mothers, the groups of Karitas, the Diocesan scholars and their families and the Oikos scholars and their families.(please pardon my spelling if incorrect :) ) Now, the sisters do much work for all of the fore mentioned people and many others, in the north and south of Borongan, however, it was too far for them to come. I would imagine, if all of the beneficiaries of Oikos were to sponsor a night of a novena, we could do 3 novena's in a row... at least!!
The novena gave me the opportunity to meet many of the people here in and around Borongan who are helped by the Oikos Sisters. Also, I met many priests and got to know them over dinner. And although the novena was said in Waraywaray, the solemnity of the service was beautiful and it allowed me time to meditate myself on the life of St. Francis and the ways the Oikos Sisters follow his way of living.
St. Francis was not always prayerful and holy. Like many of the saints, he had sort of a wayward beginning. His father was a fabric merchant and pinned all of his hopes o Francis bringing fame, glory and money to the family. Francis joined the army in hopes of becoming a knight, and had he been successful in fighting he may never have become the great saint that he is. Fortunately for us, Francis was not a good soldier. It was the first time, I believe, Francis was privy to suffering, pain and the cause and effect of your actions. He was captured, imprisoned and released from the enemy when Francis' father paid the ransom on him. But Francis began seeing the world with new eyes, especially those suffering the most, the lepers. He began a journey to God that was filled with stops and starts, wrong turns and falls, but he was moving toward God with each step he took. Against his father's wishes, he gave up everything he had, renounced his inheritance and lived among the lepers, helping them, begging for them, praying with them. Almost against is own wishes, he attracted many to his way of life, for he didn't seem to want to be a leader, just one working humbly, bringing the love of God to those suffering. But he did have many followers, some in other countries who just heard of Francis' way of living and wanted to do the same. Francis tried to mediate peace between two warring nations, and although he did achieve agreement with the enemy, his own country spurned his attempts and went to war regardless. His poor eyesight did not stop him from helping the poor and writing a rule for those following him based on the Gospels highlighting poverty, humility and selflessness.
The proceeding was my synopsis on a movie we watched on the life of St. Francis on the 9th night of our novena. If certain liberties were taken, I apologize. I encourage you to find out more about him on your own, I know I will. I never really thought much about St. Francis except that he was a lover of animals. But, now that I know more, even his notorious youth speaks to me because what I take from that is not one of us is too far gone to be lost to the Kingdom of Heaven. There is hope for us all! I also think his time in the army and searching for his life, although ultimately wrong, it led him to discover Christ. One may think that mistakes or wrong turns only lead to dead ends, but Francis' life shows us that in God's plan, there are no dead ends. Have you ever played with one of those puzzle maze boxes that have the little ball inside and you move around the box to get the ball to follow the right path to the center? I think I spent hours trying to get that silly ball to go where I wanted it to!! Francis's life reminds me of that little ball. In actuality, I think the only way we lose is if we stop moving. Francis didn't stop. He kept working himself out of corners, turning around, back peddling until he found his center right in his heart, Jesus the Lord, in the faces of the unlovable, the lepers. That means there is hope for me yet!!
I see the work of St. Francis lived out every day in the Oikos Sisters. Their charity, giving rice to all who come to their door, giving free medicines to the poor, encountering the poor where they live in the barrios destroyed by the typhoons with friendliness and open arms, giving without thought to cost or where their next meal will come from, trusting God with a child-like faith never doubting His providence for them, supporting the youth of the Philippines through schooling and bringing them, and everyone they encounter, the Word and the love of God, not only feeding people but teaching them how to support themselves and giving them the tools to lift themselves up with dignity and pride in themselves. I could go on... Truly amazing work is being done here!!
Not everyone can work in a mission, foreign or domestic, but we are all called to be missionaries where we are and to help the poor as much as we are able. Pope Francis reminds us all that we are to remember the poor and to give what we can to them. If you are interested in helping the Oikos Sisters in their work, in sponsoring a youth through school or would like to make a donation to help, you can do all that and find out more info about the Oikos Sisters at www.poorhouseholdofgod.org.
The Prayer of St. Francis
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
xxoo
