A Valentine of Pure Joy

Dear Friend,

Peace and all good be yours!

From one Franciscan’s perspective, the scriptures we hear this weekend could be summed up by saying that in Jesus, God’s law is on the side of the wounded and excluded and its fulfillment, clearly, is intended to move us all closer to one another. In the healing process of love, each one of us becomes, over time, a unique expression of love’s transformative and life-giving power.

My younger brother and his wife stopped by the Mission this week – “stopped by” meaning that they drove out from Fredericksburg, Virginia and made a slight detour to Santa Barbara on their way to San Diego. They’re starting a cross-country “bike hike” in San Diego, which over the course of the next two months will land them in St. Augustine, Florida! Their pre-hike itinerary would have been different without COVID, but as it is, I’m still savoring the hours we shared as an encounter – a valentine - of pure joy.

I marvel at the explosion of their energy and excitement – at such a capacity to say yes to life and a great physical challenge. They mirror for me the love and affirmation that breaks through all separations in the person of Jesus depicted in Mark’s Gospel.  As we’ve been reading in Roger Bergman’s reflections on “Fraterelli Tutti,” there is a boldness required to bring us together in these challenging times. And as we read this week in Monica Orozco’s reflection on her own journey to the Mission, God can take our gifts – if we’re willing to ask - and direct them in ways we never could have imagined.  

I feel like the healed leper who just can’t keep quiet about it all.

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm, Pastor