February 25, 2007

“Repair My House” may mean little to you, yet it is a phrase familiar to Franciscans throughout the world. This was the command given by Saint Francis from the famous Byzantine styled cross which hung in the abandoned chapel of San Damiano. His biographers tell us that Saint Francis spent the next three years repairing some of Assisi’s derelict and dilapidated stone chapels. In fact, the city of Los Angeles, which began as a Franciscan mission, was named after one of the Saint’s beloved churches, Our Lady of the Angels.

It took some time for the message to mature, but in time Saint Francis realized that this command from the cross was a mandate from Jesus to restore the dignity, beauty, and holiness—not of His building, but rather, His body—the Mystical Body of Christ. This he did in a most wonderful way, beginning in Assisi and soon stretching out beyond the borders of Europe. In time, the habit of the friar, with its distinctive cowl and cord, would be recognized not only throughout Italy, but in Africa, the Orient, and throughout North and South America. Wherever they went, the followers of Saint Francis preached the saving gospel of Christ and planted the seeds of a Catholic culture: education, religious instruction, the arts, agriculture, and even industry.

Since manual work is very much a part of the friar’s life, at times we joke around saying our name should be “The Franciscans of the Removal.” Many of our friaries have areas cluttered with tools, buckets, and ladders which clearly communicates: “Work in progress.” Since many of our houses are relatively old, friars with maintenance and construction skills are invaluable since they not only save the community money, but teach other friars so they can do the same.

The construction work being done here in the Newark friary an be clearly called a restoration. Photos from the monastery archives have provided the friars with clear evidence of what was hidden beneath the popular wooden paneling and “drop ceilings” of the seventies. Indeed, the first step for the friars is removal, which is the easy and at times fun part of the process. Step one may take only hours, but step two takes weeks and maybe months as the friars hang their habits on a hook and go at it. Work, however, doesn’t push prayer out the window; rather, it is scheduled into the friar’s life of prayer. Often enough, the daily Eucharistic Holy Hour begins on the dot, and if at times some tools are picked up again after drying the dinner dishes, night prayer and rosary brings the busy day to an end.

Sometimes it is necessary for the friars to acquire assistance from others, especially those with special skills. For example, there were three young men from Germany who worked in the large public chapel attached to the friary. They installed a replica of a staircase and doors which were removed over thirty years ago when the nuns modernized the chapel. The hand-carved stairway and doors were constructed by friends in Germany, shipped to the friary, and reassembled. Here’s a good example of expertise and engineering a bit beyond some of our artisans!

We are well aware that the call to “repair the Lord’s house” is not working with skilsaws and spackle, but putting our daily efforts into personal conversion. We make ourselves a worthy temple of the Holy Spirit when we remove sin, which is not only outdated and ugly, but downright dangerous. Like construction or renovation, conversion demands sacrifice of personal time and effort, and patience too! It took time for Saint Francis to fully recognize the will of the Lord, yet when he finally discovered it, he did it in a most wonderful way. At first his efforts turned abandoned chapels back into places of prayer and praise, yet later he did the same to abandoned souls. Let us therefore take some time, place ourselves before Christ crucified, read His lips, and do our part to repair the house of the Lord.

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR