September 10, 2005
When the friars are walking down the street or sitting in the subway, we know that all eyes are on us. After over twenty five years of wearing a religious habit, I am not only well aware that I am being secretly scrutinized, but it doesn't bother me in the least. At times, little toddlers in tow see us, then automatically tug at their mother’s skirt, point at us and yell, “mommy, mommy – look!”, and in a stage whisper ask: “Mommy, why is that man wearing a dress?” Once a child saw one of our more abundantly bearded friars, excitedly called to his mother and said “ma, look – it’s Moses!” However, more than once we have heard this honest inquiry to a friar directly from the lips of a little one – “Are you Jesus?”
While some children might believe the friars have stepped out of the pages of the Bible, most adults think they have stepped down from a mountain; they see us and think one word: “monk”. Yet, while many people have some overarching conception of a monk, they would be hard pressed to give a proper definition of the word “friar”. Well, if this is true for you, here’s your opportunity to get some info which just might make you a millionaire if you end up on a T.V. game show.
Space doesn’t permit us to present even a thumbnail sketch of the historical development of religious life, although knowing the difference between “eremitical” and “cenobitic” would certainly win you some big bucks in a television competition. But, for the man on the street I would say “friars are like monks, the difference – monks stay home!
Before Saint Francis came on the scene in the latter part of the 12th century, if a man or woman decided to “give themselves to God”, they became a monk or a cloistered nun. That is, they entered a monastery or convent where they lived a communal form of life characterized by periods of silence, work, study, and, of course, common prayer. The pastoral or sacramental work was in the hands of the local secular clergy who worked under the authority of the bishop. Saint Francis, who never aspired to be a priest, wanted to give himself to God, but not live separately from the people. Like a monk, a friar’s day would include manual work and prayer, yet unlike a monk, it would also include preaching and serving the needs of very poor, especially the lepers.
Saint Francis didn’t begin a new form of religious life because he thought the prayer, silence, and solitude of monastic life was a waste of time. Indeed, he and his friars would spend many months away from the people in solitary mountaintop retreats. Rather, he so wanted to imitate the life of the Lord and the early disciples that he took the life of Jesus as seen in the Gospels as his model. He was inspired to begin a way of life which would essentially be a brotherhood “on the road” – like Our Lord and His disciples – not even having a place of their own to call home! The word “friar” is an old English word which comes from the Latin “frater”, which means brother.
Today, after Morning Prayer, Father Terry Messer knelt before us as 13 seminarians and I laid our hands upon him. I was offering him a special blessing as he was leaving to lead a sizable band of friars down south to serve the spiritual needs of the hurricane victims. Like the friars of old who immediately went into the places where the plague or the battle was thickest, so too our brothers. While the friars are ready, willing, and able to roll up their sleeves and work with their hands, they were requested to come to offer their hearts.
I suspect the friars will be dealing directly with displaced and distraught families. Please pray that their words and witness offer consolation to those most in need, especially the children. Since the friars hardly go anywhere without something humorous or heartwarming happening, I will not be surprised if a small child steps up to one of the brothers and innocently asks, “Are you Jesus”? The friars never ask this question to the needy they serve, because quite frankly, they already know the answer.
Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR |
