Called Into Union
“Deep waters cannot quench love, nor rivers sweep it away,” the Song of Songs says. How deep is God’s love for us! And how deep the love that the saints have for God is.
I think the holy desire to be loved fully by God and to love God fully, with no separation or distance, is intrinsic to the Franciscan vocation.
Saint Francis of Assisi felt keenly how much God loved him, and in return, his love for God in Jesus Christ knew few bounds. Francis adored Christ so profoundly and identified so deeply with the suffering, crucified Jesus that he received the very wounds of Christ, the stigmata, in his own flesh.
This year is the 800th anniversary of the stigmata of St. Francis. Franciscans everywhere have been commemorating this anniversary with joy and wonder that any human being could experience such an intimate union with Christ in this world.
And yet, we are called to a mystical union with God. It is astonishing, nearly beyond belief, that God is so deeply in love with every one of us, but so it is.
We give thanks for the deep love that other holy Franciscans have shown in their lives, which is sometimes manifested in miraculous ways. Saint Anthony of Padua had a mystical experience of holding the Christ-child. Blessed Solanus Casey was a powerful intercessor for the sick and had an uncanny foreknowledge of their healing. Padre Pio bore the stigmata like Jesus and Francis.
I thank my fellow Capuchin friars of our New York-New England province, both living and deceased, for the many good and holy men God has embraced, who, in their humble way, have embraced Christ crucified in service to the poor.
Currently, I work in development for the Capuchins. Through contact with our local and national network of benefactors, I am constantly reminded of the love that so many Franciscan-hearted people bear toward Christ, the Church, and the friars. Literally, we are sustained by their love. Our way of life and our livelihood all depend on this love. God has been so good to us friars.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God! How reassuring that is. May nothing ever quench your thirst for the living God, whose love for the world and all its creatures is undying.
Br. Anthony Zuba, OFM Cap.
Associate Director of Development
Province of St. Mary of the Capuchin Order
Order of Friars Minor