Christmas is a time of wonder and new life. Some 800 years ago, Francis wanted to experience the beauty of this day in Greccio, to see with his own eyes the poverty and hardships into which Jesus wanted to be born. The lights of that night in 1223, the voices of the friars and the local people who arrived at the grotto, the faith and love of Francis for the Child Jesus allowed everyone to live an experience of wonder and renewed faith.
As I pause before this enchanting scene of Christmas, resplendent in its light and listen to the joy of life and vocation enjoyed by many of us, I thank the Lord for it. It is consoling to see how many friars wish to live the enchantment of our way of life, even in new forms.
At the same time, I also pause to listen to the sense of tiredness and demotivation of many of our brothers and sisters.
Some signs are the progressive withdrawal from fraternal life, the reduction to their private dimension, closure in a virtual world, the extinction of prayer, even to the point of some forms of dependence.
We bear within us the signs of the change of era, of the fragmentation of society and the individual, of the transformation of our relationship within the religious world. Yet we still stand in solidarity with so many.
So, what should we do?
It seems to me that first of all we need to pause a little, to allow ample space and time for revitalization and re-enchantment.
So why not let the Provinces, Custodies, Entities at Conference level think about providing sabbatical times for the friars, in order to allow the friars to have a break from ordinary activities and places? In these spaces, we can learn not to be afraid of our vulnerabilities, including discouragement, apathy, and indifference. We can learn to process things and not undergo the many changes that take place in and around us.
We can learn to take better care of our personal relationship with the Lord, who asks us for more time and space for silence, prayer, reading and personal and fraternal assessment. We can learn to listen better to our emotional, affective, and relational dimensions.
We can also pause and learn more about the time in which we live and where we are called to live and proclaim the Gospel, also with new forms of presence and evangelization.
Certainly, the process of re-enchantment is laborious and asks us above all to overcome the tendency to be settled, but it is worth relaunching our life as a possibility of growth, joy and human, Christian and vocational maturity.
The Franciscan charism always questions us, provokes us, and seldom leaves us in peace.
May the enchantment of Christmas still enchant us with the wonder of a full life lived according to the Gospel.
