“Transitus has gone public!”
September 17, 2007 Original >>
“Two years before his death, while at prayer on Mount Alverna, the Seraphic Patriarch St. Francis of Assisi, was rapt in contemplation, and received in his own body the impression of the sacred wounds of Christ. Pope Benedict XI ordered the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis to be observed on September 17. Pope Paul V extended it to the whole Catholic world.” (Roman Missal)
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
On September 17, 2007, the Feast of the “Commemoration of the Imprinting of the Holy Stigmata on the Body of St. Francis” in the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite according the Missal of 1962, we have made our intention of forming an association of lay monastics publicly known.
It is fitting that this is the day that we take this small but momentous step into such a fearful undertaking. For what we have embraced will require us to let go of so many things. Yet what we seek to gain, in its smallest measure, is worth more than what the world could ever appraise. We sense we are entrusting ourselves to more of what we do not know than what we think we understand.
Yet we are fully aware of what we are attempting to do. We have a deep sense, though we could change our minds, that our bodies and our souls will forever remain changed. Even if this deep impression that imprints such an acute and lasting mark would fade or even disappear, its infliction will be forever felt. Yet, we not only want it to be felt, but to be operative and efficacious. Maybe this is a veiled glimpse of what our father Francis experienced on Mount Alverna.
We have branded ourselves, or better said, have allowed ourselves to be branded as “lay monastics”, as followers and imitators of Jesus Christ---who is both the “door” and the “way”. In His great wisdom and mercy, Our Lord has provided us “entrances” to this “door” and through this “door”, and “paths” to this “way” and on this “way”. They are the saints. Most immaculately, Our Lady is the entrance and path to Our Lord, and she never leaves us to enter or walk alone. Our Lord's Mother is OUR Mother. She is the daughter of our heavenly Father that shows us what it means to be a child of God. She is the spouse of the Holy Spirit who invites us to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in heaven as Christ's bride.
In imitation of Our Lady who said, “Be it done to me according to Thy will,” Our father Francis teaches us through this mystical encounter how to say, “Yes.” “Yes” to what? Once again, we look to Our Lady who said, “Do whatever He tells you.” As much as we study and meditate upon the holy Gospel as lay monastics, and as much as we need the rule of our way of life as Transitus Oblates, we have already been told everything we need to know. What is necessary for us as lay monastics and for us as Transitus Oblates is to first say, “Yes!” even without fully knowing what Our Lord will ask of us. In fact, by choosing to even inquire into such a religious life, we have already done so. The rule, life, and association that we are taking as our own will be the daily reminder and holy enabler to say “Yes” again and again to do whatever the Lord Jesus Christ---our divine Savior and Superior General---tells us.
The good news is that we are not alone. At the foot of the cross Our Lord turns to Our Lady and said, “Woman, behold your son.” He then turns to the disciple whom Our Lord loved---and in doing so, speaks to every soul who chooses to be one of His disciples---and said, “Son, behold your mother.” In doing, Christians not only receive Mary as their spiritual mother but Holy Mother Church, who Mary symbolizes, as well. Jesus was the firstborn of many brothers, and we become one of the “many” when we acknowledge that we are children of Our Lord's heavenly Father, Mother and Bride---the Church. This is the call of Francis and of every saint, the call of each and every lay monastic, and each and every Christian: to be a child, disciple, spouse, and saint ourselves.
Yet, we do not imitate Mary to be Marian. Nor do we imitate Francis, Benedict, Dominic, or Therese to be Franciscan, Benedictine, Dominican, or Carmelite. We imitate them to be Christian. We follow the saints not because they are our destination but because they are the means to get there. Even more, we do not imitate the saints because they are alternative routes to Our Lord, but because they are most direct and best-proven way that will lead us to Him. We do not choose our own “path” on Christ's “Way” because we know---or should know by now---that we do not know how to walk such a narrow and dangerous road. Many of us have learned the hard way: when we compose and construct our own map and compass, we find ourselves lost.
If we faithfully imitate the saints, we will then become saints ourselves. For when we imitate the saints, we imitate Christ. And when we imitate Christ, we become like Christ, and one with Christ---so intimately that we can rightfully bear the scourges and scars of the name “Christian”. As on All Saints Day, we honor the saints, not because they need our praise, but because we need their example and intercession. So on this fitting occasion, we commemorate the transfiguration of our father and brother St. Francis in hope that we may too experience such a union and transformation with and through our crucified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At the top of Alverna we find ourselves at the foot of the cross. With Our Lady and St. John, we hear the words of Our Lord say, “Behold!” “Behold!” And may we say, “Yes! Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”
The Minor Legend of St. Bonaventure (XIII 4)
Two years before Francis, the faithful servant of Christ, gave his soul back to God, he was alone on the top of Mt. Alverna. There he had begun to fast for forty days in honor of the archangel Michael and was immersed more deeply than usual in the delights of heavenly contemplation. His soul became aglow with the odor of fervent longing for heaven as he experienced within himself the operations of grace.
As he was drawn aloft through ardent longing for God one morning near the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and was praying on the mountainside, he saw what appeared as a seraph with six bright wings gleaming like a fire descending from the heights of heaven. As this figure approached in swift flight and came near the man of God, it appeared not only winged but also crucified. The sight of it amazed Francis, and his soul experienced joy mingled with pain. He was delighted with the sight of Christ appearing to him so graciously and intimately and yet the awe-inspiring vision of Christ nailed to the cross aroused in his soul a joy of compassionate love.
When the vision vanished after a mysterious and intimate conversation, it left Francis aglow with seraphic love in his soul. Externally, however, it left marks on his body like those of the Crucified, as if the impression of a seal had been left on heated wax. The figures of the nails appeared immediately on his hands and feet. The heads of the nails were inside his hands but on top of his feet with their points extending through to the opposite side. His right side too showed a blood-red wound as if it had been pierced by a lance, and blood flowed frequently from it.
Because of this new and astounding miracle unheard of in times past, Francis came down from the mountain a new man adorned with the sacred stigmata, bearing in his body the image of the Crucified not made by a craftsman in wood or stone, but fashioned in his members by the hand of the living God.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. St. Francis of Assisi and Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.
Commemoration of the Imprinting of the
Holy Stigmata on the Body of St. Francis
[Extraordinary Form of Roman Rite, 1962]
September 17, 2007
Kevin Francis Bernadette Clay, Superior General
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