Green Patches

Franciscan Spirituality

Podcast from mootuk. Brother Samuel SSF talks to Ian Mosby about new monasticism and Franciscan spirituality's contribution to the Christian tradition. Challenging stuff : Br Samuel doesn't mince his words regarding woolly thinking, superficiality and generalisations. Quite a reality check for those of us who tend to an overomanticised view of community life in all its forms.

Seabirding down the Franciscan path

 

Before I get a flood of comments informing me the above picture is of a stork, not a seagull - yes, I know. But in absence of a suitable gull, I'm sure we can all stretch a point - and our collective imaginations, for a few minutes whilst I explain the connection between birdwatching and my Franciscan wanderings.

Not long after I started down the tertiary path, we were away for the weekend with a group of folk who included a  lay Dominican to-be, who knew a bit about    my ummings and ahhings - mostly from reading my other blog. I was more reticent about my explorations back then. You know what it's like, I'm sure - when you're not certain yourself what you're about or aiming towards, and are half-scared that if you make any of it public, others will burst out in helpless laughter at best, or at worst...well, I'm not sure what I thought would happen.  A bolt of lightning from the Almighty, maybe? Hence  on said blog, TSSF was referred to as the 'C' word - aka 'commitment' a concept that hasn't always come naturally to me. So there we all were in the pub when R says something that sounds  like "I must take the chance to talk to GP about the seabird." Seabird?! O.K. I know that my hearing is none too good in crowded, noisy settings, but still...what on earth possessed them to think I wanted nothing but a cosy  ornithological chat? It took a good ten minutes or so for the proverbial penny to drop, and even then, we had great fun on the way home playing guessing games with the others as to what exactly this 'C' word was!

So, 'Seabird' it was. And has forever afterwards remained in 'blogdom' at least. I'm still a quiet, retiring sort of bird, though now more through natural shyness than hesitancy  about the rightness of the path I'm travelling.  Of the latter, I'm most definitely certain - even if the flight's not been easy, with patches of turbulence along the way. So, stork, seabird, whatever you want to call it, I'm looking forward to profession in about six month's time.