May 21, 2009

Hermitage Notes: The Arboreal Observance

It's a beautiful Spring morning. Four young Franciscan friars offer Mass together with quiet devotion, two of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and two of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Amen. Thank you, Holy Spirit.





After Mass I take a walk in the woods, up to a little clearing where someone has placed a statue of Francis. The woods, it really does it for me. Peaceful and secure. Quiet and yet full of the little noises of insistent life.

The trees are my spiritual directors. Reaching up to the sky they fulfill the joyful Easter slogan, sursum sunt quaerite, "Seek the things that are above." Without torturous self-reflection they take the grace of God poured out in sunlight and rain and transform it into their own flourishing. Could it be so simple with us? Yes!


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2 comments:

  1. pennyante2:19 PM

    I see the lay of the land in the woods slopes downward a little. I hope at the bottom of the hill to the right, there is a little creek running through the woods.

    There you can hear the water bubbling over the rocks and roots. You can even sit at its banks and float leaf boats down it as it meanders through the woods.

    ReplyDelete
  2. kam2:52 PM

    "Seek the things that are above." And one can add to that, "Love Thy Neighbor," and those together cover a lot of ground.

    ReplyDelete

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