Thin Places (Not About Dieting!)

 

I had paused in some TV channel surfing to watch a program about Louisiana American Indians. A man spoke about a lake which is very significant to his tribe and he spoke of his uncle who said that on the lake the space was thin. This was not explained, but immediately I understood what his uncle meant.

 

Perhaps I had heard the phrase "thin place" before. A little research and I found that the term is often used in Celtic (Irish and Scottish) spirituality. In an article by Sylvia Maddox, she writes:

 

"A thin place is where the veil that separates heaven and earth is lifted and one is able to receive a glimpse of the glory of God. A contemporary poet Sharlande Sledge gives this description:

 

‘Thin places,’ the Celts call this space,

Both seen and unseen,

Where the door between this world

And the next is cracked open for a moment

And the light is not all on the other side.

God shaped space. Holy.’"

 

There is something indescribable about certain places where that door between our world and the next does seem to crack open for a moment and in enters Mystery.

 

Tomb of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy

I experienced such a place in Assisi where St. Francis was born and where he was buried. There is a large Basilica Church of St. Francis and in its crypt is the tomb of Francis. It’s not a very large space if memory serves me correctly. I knelt on a simple wood kneeler. It was quiet–this in itself was most unusual in Italy because Italians are usually noisy in church. Or are those tourists?

 

As I prayed and people simply walked around the tomb, I had the distinct sensation that St. Francis was there. Well, of course, his body was buried there. But that’s not what I experienced. His living presence was there and I felt the most incredible peace. From the world in which Francis lives (heaven) and the world in which I live (this life) the "separating wall" seemed very thin, porous even, in that crypt.

 

I seem particularly prone to such things–when I slow down and pay attention.

 

The Eucharist as Portal

In one of my blog entries (May 10, 2013 HERE)) I spoke about the Eucharist in terms of a portal (or door, if you prefer) between heaven where Jesus is Risen and Ascended and earth---the place around the altar and the Sacrament. I would describe the space occupied by the altar and the elements of the Consecrated bread and Wine to be a thin place.

 

Of course to be truly orthodox I must confess that the Eucharist is more than a spiritual portal into heaven. Jesus himself is the Portal and the Door; just as Jesus is not merely symbolized by the Eucharist but is the Eucharist by virtue of his Real Presence.

These matters always require attentiveness. If I come to Mass and am inattentive and worried about many things, I may feel nothing when hearing the Word of God or when Christ is truly Present at the altar. If I had merely come to the tomb of St. Francis that time and rushed through or was anxious to get to lunch or to some other activity, I probably would have missed the grace of that "thin place."

 

Prayer itself can assist us in becoming attentive to grace-filled moments in our life. This will be part of Advent's message (Advent begins this year on December 1). There is also a mind set, difficult to sustain, which looks for the Presence of God always and everywhere (though it is often only sometimes and some places). Proven "thin places" help us with this: pilgrimages to holy places, visits to a church for prayer, wild places in nature like mountains or deserts.

 

We seek the Reality behind the realty; the invisible God behind the visible world. We call this the "sacramental approach."

 

Today I might ask myself: "Where shall God appear in my world today?"

 

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About St. Francis of Assisi

As part of the church beautification project at Holy Faith, a tapestry was moved from the daily Mass chapel to the loft at the back of the main chapel. It is a tapestry of various browns of two panels and was first in the Upper Hall when that was used for worship before the present church was built. The slant of the two panels at their top suggested that they be put into the loft.

I wish I had taken a photo of it, but as usual it’s late Thursday night as I write this for Friday. You can see it next time you are in church.

Added update: A friend took a photo of the tapestry on her phone:

New Spot for Tapestry

If you have read any of my previous blog entries, you know I can go into a kind of reflection where one thought leads to another. That’s the fun of being able to share in this blog whatever goes on in my thoughts and give you personal insight into some of the things your Pastor thinks about.

When I saw the tapestries now in the loft of our church, it immediately reminded me of the habit of St. Francis. I talk about imagination and here’s an example of my imagination at work! The original habit of St. Francis (the habit is a distinctive garb worn by religious orders) was patched together of various pieces of cloth, reflecting the poverty of St. Francis. Here is a picture of it kept in Assisi, Francis’s hometown in Italy:

I had the privilege of also seeing the habit Francis wore the last three years of his life. It is in a Franciscan church atop a mountain in Italy called La Verna. I was staying with some Franciscans in Fiesole, outside Florence. One day some of the younger Brothers (friars) told me we were going to La Verna. I had no idea what that meant. I learned that on the mountain of La Verna St. Francis lived in a cave and received there the stigmata, marks of the wounds of Christ in his own body. Here’s a tidbit about La Verna:

"In 1213 St Francis and St Leo were walking through the Montefeltro region when they met the Count of Chiusi, Orlando Catani. In exchange for praying for his salvation the count gave Mount La Verna to St Francis and his companions, to use as a place of peace and solitude. When St Francis first visited the mountain he was greeted by a great flock of birds that seemed to demonstrate the pleasure of his arrival. St Francis took this as a sign from God that here was where the order should establish one of their hermitages.

"It was here on the 14th September 1224, his last visit to La Verna, that he received the stigmata of Christ. He died two years later on 4th October 1226. Not long after this, continued interest in the hermitage lead to the establishment of the monastery. It was such an admired destination that within 300 years the sprawling collection of buildings that are present today had taken shape." (See citation HERE)

La Verna was an isolated spot in St. Francis’s time and still is today. We drove a long winding road up the mountain to get there and I started to get car sick. Once there, I knew that I had come to a magical place. There are centuries old buildings and a church. There’s also a rather comfortable hostel there for pilgrims.

It’s hard to convey the haunting beauty of La Verna. One friar took me to a side door of a chapel which opened up on a small stairway and balcony. The scene took away my breath. I took a photo of it:

Another treat was walking down a long corridor. There were windows on one side and murals of the life of St. Francis on the opposite wall.

But in that wall we came to a doorway and as you looked in, surprise of surprises, it opens onto a ravine and woodlands.

It seemed like one of those story-book scenes from my youth where you read about going through a door and leaving this world to go into another, magical world. We entered and took steps down to the cave where Francis received the stigmata. It was very moving to visit the spot.

Francis receives the stigmata by Giotto

We also had arrived in time for a major feast of La Verna the following day. It venerates St. Francis’ habit which is kept there as a holy relic. I was told that the Count who gave the mountain to Francis and his little band of spiritual brothers asked Francis for his habit. The Count had a new one made in exchange. Francis graciously gave it to him. The Count eventually shared the habit with the church which was built above Francis’ cave on La Verna.

Holy Habit at La Verna

On the feast day, after the Mass, I got to eat with the Friars in a large dining room. We had the usual good Italian food at mid-day (the main meal of the day in Italy). Though the Franciscans maintain a simple life-style in following St. Francis’ example, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good meal with lots to eat. That, also, is a simple joy.

This Thursday, October 4^th, is the Feast Day of St. Francis. He is special to our parish (see why HERE) and very much to me. I have lots of stories I will probably share about St. Francis and the places of Italy special because of St. Francis; I have had the privileged of visiting many of them. May St. Francis pray for all of us at Holy Faith. And may we learn to value more simplicity in our lives.

Here are some more photos from La Verna:

Up the Road to La Verna



Church at La Verna

Another View

One of the Beautiful Chapels at La Verna



Procession of Friars at La Verna

One of my gracious hosts, then Bro. David Jackon (now Fr. Jackson)
whose mom is Italian and Dad is British

                                       

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Magical Holy Place

I wrote last week of my coming to admire and seek the companionship of various saints as I grew in my Catholic Faith. Later as a priest, on a visit to Italy, I discovered a monastery which combined several loves: my devotion to St. Benedict, my love of St. Francis and my enjoyable interest in architecture, especially church architecture.

I had read a little in a tour book about the monastery of St. Benedict in Subiaco, about 40 miles south of Rome. My traveling companion and I rented a car and drove up the mountainous region where Subiaco is located. The setting was kind of magical because there are lots of woods and it was a cool light misty, rainy October day. There were only two others there that day and so there was a beautiful quiet.

As you can see from the picture to the left, the monastery is built on the side of a mountain. It is a very important mountain because it was there in around 500 AD that St. Benedict lived temporarily as a hermit in a cave. [Read more about the life of St. Benedict HERE] The cave is venerated today, a place of pilgrimage, and the monastery and church were built to enshrine it. Benedict would later become the founder of Western monasticism, a communal way of life devoted to prayer and work.

Fortunately, we went down some stairs on the mountainside and entered the church from a lower level. Then it really was magical. There were all these flights of stairs and levels, one after another that one climbed, with side chapels and many painted frescoes, mainly from the history and legends of St. Benedict. The ascent was a kind of prayer experience in itself.

It is interesting to learn that at one time all churches had their interior walls usually covered with frescoes and paintings of the saints and biblical scenes and images of Mary and Jesus and the angels. Over time some of these frescoes faded and were painted or plastered over. In some countries that turned Protestant (beginning in the 16^th century), sometimes the holy images were deliberately removed. In Catholic countries, statues and stain glass windows became the more preferred decoration for churches. But still in Eastern Orthodox churches one may see the ancient style of walls covered in icons, i.e. holy images. One worships surrounded by the images of the saints and the Bible. [See this example HERE]

Unexpectedly in Subiaco, I wandered into a small side chapel and was excited to find there St. Francis! There was a painting of him that is believed to have been painted while he was still alive. St. Francis liked visiting monasteries and spent prayer time in many Italian caves. Experts think that the rather primitive painting of St. Francis was done while he still lived because it does not show him with the typical halo or the stigmata, received in his later life. He was obviously famous enough to get his portrait in the church, however. It is thought it might be very close to what he actually looked like.

I truly enjoyed that visit. It still works its imagination upon my mind. Our Holy Faith property reminds me a little of Subiaco because of our trees and the closeness of nature, which itself speaks of God’s glory as do churches.

[See a Youtube video of St. Benedict’s, Subiaco HERE. It captures the mood of the place]

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The Saints: Our Traveling Companions

This upcoming Sunday’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God (11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Mark 4:26-34). I have often said that the Kingdom of God is the Rule of God and "God is love." (1 John 4:8); thus, the Kingdom of God is about the rule of God’s love.

We also pray in the "Our Father": "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." If we were suddenly given a vision of heaven, we would see the Risen and Ascended Jesus, the Son Of God, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, surrounded by the angels and saints, with Mary the Mother of Christ. As the Catechism teaches us:

"This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness."  (Catechism#1024)

The saints in heaven enjoy the fullness of God’s love and each loves one another with the fullness of divine love. This is that love, that rule of God’s love, that we pray will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Growing up as a Protestant, the subject of the saints was almost entirely absent from my mind. Of course I was taught about the men and women of God in the Bible who are also saints, but that title of "Saint" was not used in my childhood religious education.

Perhaps the first Catholic saint that I came to know about was St. Francis of Assisi. I was a student at UF. Somehow I came across a small book called The Little Flowers of St. Francis, written in the late 14^th century.

I was totally charmed by these stories about St. Francis and his companions. Little would I know at the time that I would become a Catholic, be ordained a priest, and one day visit Assisi and many other haunts of St. Francis in Italy. I would also become the Pastor of a parish, our parish of Holy Faith, whose name comes from a Franciscan mission in Spanish Florida near present-day Gainesville. (See Parish History)

On my Catholic journey begun so many years ago, I took as my Patron Saint, St. John the Evangelist also associated with the Beloved Disciple in John’s Gospel (See John 13:23). Everyday I ask for St. John’s prayers and that I might become a beloved disciple of the Lord.

I, of course, came to also know and love Mary the Mother of God. At my ordination, whoever prepared the written program thought that my middle initial "M" stood for Michael. It actually stands for Morris, a family name of one of my great grandfathers. So I got named as John Michael Phillips and I decided I had been also given St. Michael the Archangel as an additional Guardian angel. I also came to love St. Benedict; I was taught in my first year of Seminary by the Benedictine monks of St. Meinrad, Indiana and did my further studies after ordination at St. John’s University and Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

I could mention other saints, as well, that I have read, come to admire, and think of with devotion. Pope Benedict XVI has instructed us about having the saints as intimate friends:

"There are very dear people in the life of each one of us to whom we feel particularly close, some of whom are already in God's embrace, while others still share with us the journey through life: they are our parents, relatives and teachers; they are the people to whom we have done good or from whom we have received good; they are people on whom we know we can count.

"Yet, it is important also to have ‘traveling companions’ on the journey of our Christian life....I am also thinking of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Everyone must have some Saint with whom he or she is on familiar terms, to feel close to with prayer and intercession but also to emulate. I would therefore like to ask you to become better acquainted with the Saints, starting with those you are called [named] after, by reading their life and their writings. You may rest assured that they will become good guides in order to love the Lord even more and will contribute effective help for your human and Christian development." (Pope Benedict, General Audience 8/25/10)

[For more on "traveling companions" on the Catholic Spiritual Journey read my reflections here]

As Catholics, along with the Orthodox Church, we have a glorious gift and heritage in the many saints we honor. They will pray for us and guide us with safe passage into the Kingdom of God, into the experience of his love!

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The Wolf of Gubbio

On Friday (May 25) I will be celebrating the Baccalaureate Mass of St. Francis Catholic High School. The mascot of St. Francis High are the wolves. It was I who suggested this mascot before the High School opened, based upon the Wolf of Gubbio and St. Francis.

I'm thinking about what I will preach to our gentle "wolves" as they prepare to go into the world....

Here is one version of the story about the Wolf of Gubbio:

The Wolf of Gubbio by Nakin Lenti

St. Francis, on his way to Gubbio to preach the gospel of Christ one cold winter day, met a group of farmers outside the city gates heavily armed and talking loudly among themselves. A bit puzzled, he asked, "Where are you going?"

"Brother Francis" they replied, "A huge wolf has been attacking our villagers and terrorizing the countryside. Today we have decided that it is time to get rid of that wolf once and for all."

Francis, sensing their fear as well as their determination, took pity on them and asked to go with them to find the wolf. At first reluctant, they said, "Brother Francis, the wolf has already devoured many people and will certainly kill you if you go unarmed."

But Francis, placing his trust in God, bravely went forth, followed by a few peasants who had not yet lost their courage. Deep in the forest they came upon the wolf’s lair and could see the huge animal in the snow.Overcome with fear, they said to Francis, "We do not want to go any farther. That wolf is fierce and we might get hurt."

"Just wait here," he answered, "until I have a chance to talk to him."

The wolf, sensing an easy prey, turned on Francis ready to attack. But Francis, making the sign of the cross, ordered it to stop. "Come here, Brother Wolf," he said, "I order you, in the name of Christ, not to hurt me or anyone else."

A crowd, having gathered in the distance saw, much to their amazement, that as Francis spoke, the ravenous beast lowered its head and seemed suddenly tame and docile. Francis, chastising the animal, said, "Brother Wolf, you have committed great crimes and for this you should be punished. You deserve to be put to death just like the worst robber or murderer. But I want to make peace between you and the people of Gubbio."

"I will ask them to provide food for you, so that you will never again be hungry. But you must agree never to kill another living creature as long as you live. Can you promise me this?"

The wolf, nodding its head in agreement, meekly raised its front paw and gave it to Francis as a sign of his pledge. The townspeople, in turn, willingly agreed to provide for the wolf.

Later that day in the marketplace, when the crowd gathered to hear Francis talk, they saw the wolf and how this ravenous beast had been transformed into a trusting and obedient disciple whom they no longer feared. Each day, Brother Wolf came to Gubbio for food provided by the villagers. Years later, when the wolf died, they erected a church over his grave called San Francesco della Pace which can be visited to this day.