Before an autumn of many celebrations, leading toward the Feast of St. Francis, I found time for spiritual reading. Along with Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, the transcript of Maurice Zundel’s 1963 retreat for a group of French Benedictine Oblates particularly impacted me. From both I was reminded that human beings, and the living Church composed of them, are to celebrate.

Zundel explains:
We must never forget that we ourselves are a church infinitely more precious than all the cathedrals, than all the tabernacles and the ciboria. The Lord does not dwell within the walls of the tabernacle for the sake of the walls of the tabernacle, which are incapable of receiving His Presence in a living way. He is there for us, to consecrate us, to transform us into a living Communion Host, so that we may truly be the sanctuary of the Divine.
(Maurice Zundel, Wonder and Poverty, p. 50)
In other words, where there are human witnesses to Jesus, including sorrow, stress, grief, trial, error, and joy, there is the presence of God. Where people are fully alive, God is present. Therefore, when seeing God’s presence in God’s people, we celebrate!
Celebrate is what we Franciscans have done lately. In this jubilee year of St. Francis, the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis, we are responding to the demands of the Church to be present. Celebrations for this eighth centenary have happened and continue to happen, in various places, this fall.
Now, I hope you enjoy this newsletter. With this edition, we intend to provide a window into some of the reasons why we believe that the lives of human beings, including our father Francis, are most definitely worth celebrating.
Jean-Pierre Ducharme, OFM
Minister Provincial
Franciscans of Canada
