Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF – Franciscan Media

A Sacred Call to Rebuild God’s Church

Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 09:30:00 +0000

Today, the Church is enmeshed in scandals, a Church in crisis—of authority, credibility, and division. It is greatly in need of the Franciscan values of peacemaking, conversion, minority, and service. As Francis of Assisi knelt before the crucifix in the Church of San Damiano, he heard Christ speak to him from the cross: “Francis, go and rebuild my Church; as you can see, it is falling into ruin.” Francis looked around at the church, the neglected altar, the broken doors and windows, the debris littered about, and he began to repair a badly damaged building, stone by stone.

Pope Francis has understood the metaphor. May we follow his example and find what is ours to do.

—from Franciscan Spirit’s “Francis of Assisi, Francis of Rome“
by Rosemary Stets, OSF

‘Lift Up the Fallen’

Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 09:30:00 +0000

In Fratelli Tutti Pope Francis promotes a universal aspiration toward fraternity and social friendship. The beginning of this encyclical reveals the link between Laudato Sí and Fratelli Tutti: “Francis felt himself a brother to the sun, the sea and the wind, yet he knew that he was even closer to those of his own flesh. Wherever he went, he sowed seeds of peace and walked alongside the poor, the abandoned, the infirm and the outcast, the least of his brothers and sisters” (FT 2). The basic principle that undergirds the encyclical is the belief that all of us are called to be neighbors to others and to overcome prejudices, selfish interests, and historical and cultural barriers that exist in today’s world. He writes:

Let us take an active part in renewing and supporting our troubled societies.
Today we have a great opportunity to express our innate sense of fraternity,
to be Good Samaritans who bear the pain of other people’s
troubles rather than fomenting greater hatred and resentment.
Like the chance traveler in the parable, we need only have a pure and simple desire to be a people,
a community, constant and tireless in the effort to include, integrate and lift up the fallen. (FT 77)

—from the book Franciscan Field Guide: People, Places, Practices, and Prayers
by Rosemary Stets, OSF

Poverty Exists in the Heart

Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 09:30:00 +0000

Francis believed that without God we are nothing, and his rejection of wealth and power was a statement of his total dependence on God, the giver of all gifts, whose overflowing love is beyond our comprehension and who, as a Provident Father, is lavish in bestowing gifts on his children. Francis identified with the poor because he understood his own poverty, and he knew that without God he was utterly empty and could do nothing without God’s help. In renouncing his father’s wealth and his own patrimony he was free to be truly dependent on God. This was the source of his profound peace and joy.

For Franciscans today, material poverty is not the greatest concern but rather an acknowledgment that their “poverty of being” is essential. Poverty exists first in the heart, or it doesn’t exist at all.

—from the book Franciscan Field Guide: People, Places, Practices, and Prayers
by Rosemary Stets, OSF

Gaze, Consider, Contemplate, Imitate

Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 09:30:00 +0000

In her second letter to Agnes of Prague, St. Clare advises her:

Look upon Him who became contemptible for you,
and follow Him, making yourself contemptible in this world for Him.
Most noble Queen,
gaze,
consider,
contemplate
desiring to imitate Your Spouse.

An adaptation of Clare’s words, Gaze upon Christ, Consider Christ, Contemplate Christ, can be a Franciscan mantra for those wishing to draw closer to God in contemplative prayer. A friar once suggested that a singular gift of Francis and Clare to the Church was a new vision of contemplation, a departure from the monastic tradition where monks directed their vision upward, toward heaven to attain the goal of union with God. The monk began ascending the ladder of contemplative prayer with sacred reading, which led to meditation/prayer, and ended with contemplative union. For Franciscans, the focus or gaze is not upward, but rather outward toward ordinary human life, particularly focused on the Incarnation, where God chose to descend into our world to become one with us through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

—from the book Franciscan Field Guide: People, Places, Practices, and Prayers
by Rosemary Stets, OSF

Treasures of the Kingdom

Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 09:30:00 +0000

In recognizing his vocation to live the Gospel, Francis of Assisi knew that he could no longer identify himself with the wealthy and powerful of his day; rather, he desired to live among the minores, the poor, marginalized, and powerless and those without a voice in society.

More than anything, Francis longed to live like Jesus Christ: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). For Francis and his brothers, minority was the one thing necessary for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Living this way, Francis conformed himself to Christ who exchanged the richness of heaven for the poverty of the earth, in order that we, becoming like Christ, could be rich with the treasures of the Kingdom.

—from the book Franciscan Field Guide: People, Places, Practices, and Prayers
by Rosemary Stets, OSF

Contemplation and the Franciscan Tradition

Sr. Rosemary Stets, OSF — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 13:46:46 +0000

Prayer is defined as a lifting of our hearts and minds to God, and contemplation can be considered the highest form of prayer. In vocal prayer we speak to God with words that help to frame our thoughts as we address the Almighty. In meditation we use our mind to think about God, to ponder with prolonged attention the mysteries that are revealed in Scripture or sacred writings. But in contemplation we move beyond the need for words or thoughts, finding these unnecessary as we gaze upon the object of our desire with great love.

In her second letter to Agnes of Prague, St. Clare of Assisi advises her: “Look upon Him who became contemptible for you, and follow Him, making yourself contemptible in this world for Him. Most noble Queen, gaze, consider, contemplate desiring to imitate Your Spouse.”

An adaptation of Clare’s words, “Gaze upon Christ, Consider Christ, Contemplate Christ,” can be a Franciscan mantra for those wishing to draw closer to God in contemplative prayer. A friar friend of mine once suggested that a singular gift of Francis and Clare to the Church was a new vision of contemplation, a departure from the monastic tradition where monks directed their vision upward, toward heaven to attain the goal of union with God. The monk began ascending the ladder of contemplative prayer with sacred reading, which led to meditation/prayer, and ended with contemplative union.

For Franciscans, the focus or gaze is not upward, but rather outward toward ordinary human life, particularly focused on the Incarnation, where God chose to descend into our world to become one with us through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

In gazing upon the face of Christ, particularly in the cross of San Damiano, Francis and Clare saw the faces of the poor, the rejected, the suffering of humanity and so were moved by compassion to acts of charity and service. The path to contemplation for Franciscans is to gaze, consider, contemplate, and imitate—a goal focused on transformation by which one becomes like the face of God reflected in the Incarnation.