March 4.   Joseph continued sharing his thoughts, “It doesn’t only happen in politics that people continue to side with corrupt leaders.  It happens in business all the time and can happen at schools and in families too.  We easily turn away from God, and become more and more materialistic, especially now with the churches being closed for many months.” “Well, practicing one’s faith and prayer have to become a new way.  For some it is participating in Mass on-line and also for some it is family faith sharing, while others have turned away completely.

Those who follow Franciscan spirituality with its focus on all of creation are like Jeremiah’s tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. St Francis had set out alone at first on his journey of conversion but gradually many other men joined his way of poverty and fraternity. Women joined St Clare, who had been one of his very early followers when she rejected her family too, to choose the Franciscan way. It has become the choice of many millions of people over the last 800 years, as friars, brothers, priests, sisters and as secular lay people who did not leave their family. 

Scripture: Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes. Jer.17:5-10.” 

Pope Francis: From our faith experience and from the wisdom accumulated over centuries, but also from lessons learned from our many weaknesses and failures, we, the believers of the different religions know that our witness to God benefits our societies.  The effort to seek God with a sincere heart helps us recognize one another as travelling companions, truly brothers and sisters. FT274. 

Reflect, share, act, pray.  Where do we experience God most strongly at this time?  Can we grow in this area?