by Br. Thomas Joseph McGrinder, CFR
"So you're studying to be a priest?", was a question I heard very often during my postulancy and novitiate. And my response? It usually went something like this: "Give me a break; I'm just trying to figure out if this religious life thing is for me at all." Oh, the glories of initial formation and the struggles of discernment! It was also during this time that I coined my most famous quote to date: In one of my "moments" as a temporarily professed, I uttered aloud (thinking I was alone, and to the comic relief of one brother): "What am I doing? Where am I going? WHO AM I?!" As time passed and as I had more experience living as a brother, it seemed as if God we're truly putting to ease this restless heart of mine. I became less worried about doing and more focused on simply being…being a brother. One day, as I was reading the section on lay brotherhood formation in our constitutions, the words "simplicity" and "availability" struck me very deeply. That is what resonated in my heart! That is what I feel called to be! That is what I love about this life that God has blessed me with.
Simplicity: Simply love the prayer life: daily Mass, the Divine Office, the Eucharistic Holy Hour, the Rosary, and the quiet time of reflection.
Simply love poverty: wearing the habit, having few possessions, friaries that are austere yet inspiring, not having everything you want but possessing everything you need.
Simply love fraternity: being available to my brothers in community, and having many other brothers as well. Simply being a brother to all I meet on the street and those who seek assistance at our door.
Simply love the joy of hearing the children call me "brother" and the joy of calling them "brother".
Simply love living with Christ present in the poor.
Simply love living with the Blessed Sacrament-Jesus' true presence.
Simplicity; God's gift to me-simply to be a brother.
In an age where people find it hard to sit still and stay put, I desire to be available. To commit to being with the poor. Simply to be present to them. Even if you don't say much, the presence say's it all. Like Jesus in the tabernacle-so must the lay brother be. Whatever he does: work in the shelter, work with the youth program or daily chores, answering the phones and the door, etc-it is all really relevant. His main job is to be-to be available, to be Christ's presence in the world like "Emmanuel, God with us".
When in 1913 the explorer Earnest Shakelton planned his “last great journey on earth”- crossing the continent of Antarctica by way of the South Pole- he placed an advertisement in the newspapers to recruit courageous men for his expedition team. It read: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” He received over 5,000 replies form truly adventurous “manly men”.
This is the great task of the lay- brother- to be truly adventurous “manly men” by being “conformed to the image of the Son” (Rom. 8:29) who “loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Then, and only then, can one truly be a model of manhood. “By suffering for us he not only gave us an example so that we might follow in his footsteps, but he also opened up a way. If we follow this path, life and death are made holy and acquire a new meaning” (GS 22). To truly be a real man- a man must make this journey.