Franciscan Advent
The last of the 5 Lents took by Saint Francis began previously to Advent. This Lent was intended to prepare his spirit for the Christmas of the Lord. It began on the day of the feast of all the Saints of the Church, and concluded it with a Christmas vigil.
Saint Francis of Assisi identified himself as "the herald of the Great King" (cf. LM 2,5). This is what Saint Bonaventure affirms, who saw in the Poverello a kind of John the Baptist, in a renewal of his ministry for other times and circumstances. Francis was baptized as Giovanni Bernardone or "John", and without a doubt he wanted to imitate his patron, the Baptist, singing and announcing like a "voice crying in the desert" the greatness of the revelation in Christ Jesus. Saint Francis was a man of perpetual Advent and therefore, all Franciscans are called to be people of perpetual Advent.
Advent that the Church proposes to us is a time of grace for all believers and for Franciscans it is lived in an apocalyptic and progressive accent in a creative sense. We stand tall and look up as we cleanse our hearts and our environment for the arrival of the Great King who makes all things new.
The Franciscan Advent is refreshing. We must fix the roads crooked by confusion and anxiety, fill the valleys of poverty and alienation, tear down the mountains of pride and self-reliance; smoothing the steep roads of violence and racism so that all can clearly see the Great King who comes to heal.
The Franciscan Advent is evangelical. We must not tire of proclaiming and living the good news of the Great King who embraces sinners and refines us as nourishing wheat to feed others.
The Franciscan Advent is Marian. We, with and like Mary, must carry the embryonic Word made flesh within us and rush towards those who were once empty to make the Great King present to them, to fill them and make them jump for joy with their whole being.
Franciscan Advent is open. We Franciscans do not espouse any hidden or cryptic doctrine, nor are we an exclusive club. The Franciscan Advent, as part of its charisma, welcomes everyone to be companions and brothers in the observance of a Franciscan Advent. Although Advent concludes before the Christmas Vigil, Franciscan men and women and their adherents must continue in perpetual Advent for the rest of the year as the Great King is announced in his daily life that he must bear witness to the Great Passion, Death, Resurrection. King and the sending of his Holy Spirit.
Original source: Fr. Neil O’Connell, OFM.
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