Formation program for the Eighth Centenary of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-2007)

Year Two: THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT

Month 1. Family and Cultural Traditions

In last year's program, we discussed what Elizabeth's human ancestry and her call to leave her homeland meant in her life. This year, we want to focus on what these experiences mean in our lives, and for our secular spirituality.

Elizabeth was uprooted from everything that she knew as a child when she was sent to Germany to her future husband's home. All of us, at one time or another, have experienced some uprooting in our lives. We live in a mobile age where people can travel to new cities, even new continents to find greater opportunities. Others have been forced to leave their homelands due to war, poverty or oppression. Whether voluntary or not, leaving everything you know behind is an experience filled with uncertainties, adjustments to make, and often fear, loneliness and regret.

Elizabeth came to see her life in her new homeland as God's will for her. Do I see in the uprooting experiences of my life God’s guidance, and do I recognise and accept the opportunities they offer? Do I accept situations and people who cross my path as sent by God, who gives me strength and resilience and makes me strong through them? Elizabeth certainly must have felt loneliness and homsickness too, but she translated this experience into compassion for others. Do I do the same in my loneliness?

Elizabeth cherished the memory of her homeland and its customs while learning and adopting the language and customs of her new home. Am I aware of my family's culural heritage and customs? What spiritual goods in them can enrich my life and the culture around me?

We can extend these reflections still further. One of our tasks as Secular Franciscans is to bring God's love to the world around us. How do we looked on those who live near us who belong to other cultures, or who have been uprooted from their homes, whether immigrants, migrant workers, single people or families seeking new opportunities? Do we accept them and try to help them fit in? Do we show respect for their cultures? Do we invite them to join with us in our community of faith and our local parish?

Scripture:

The entire book of Ruth offers much for reflection on this subject: it tells of the difficulties of immigration in ancient Israel: it is the story of an Israelite woman named Naomi who left her homeland because of a famine, and her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth. Out of love, Ruth followed her Jewish mother-in-law back home to the Israel, adopted the Jewish religion and married in her new homeland.

Exodus 23:9 “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt."

Gospel:

Luke 13:29 (cf. Mtt 8:11) – "And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God."

From the Secular Franciscan Rule 2: 13: "As the Father sees in every person the features of his Son, the firstborn of many brothers and sisters, so the Secular Franciscans with a gentle and courteous spirit accept all people as a gift of the Lord and an image of Christ."