Friday, June 23, 2006

A Little Nugget from my SFO Fraternity Meeting

My SFO Fraternity met tonight. It was a productive evening; we got together our slate for next month's elections (if you're so inclined, please pray that we will all let the Lord guide us in the right direction as we cast our votes for our Council), and our Ongoing Formation was on the topic of Humility.

After that, our Spiritual Assistant led a lively discussion that covered quite a few topics, including but not limited to Humility, Service, pastoral leadership, sacrifice, The DaVinci Code, and stories from the life of St. Francis.

The Spiritual Assistant of a SFO fraternity is traditionally a Franciscan priest, and we are blessed to have one in our midst. And one thing I have noticed before, but that really came out in the discussion tonight, is that Father is not afraid to talk about the Devil. Some priests tiptoe around the subject. Not this priest, and I'm glad of that. He wants us to know that the Evil One is real, he is out there, and he is trying very hard to stop us from doing what is right and good.

He also wants us to know that we do not have power over the Devil, all by ourselves. Because the Devil is a preternatural being with the wisdom of the ages, we must recognize that his power does exist and that we must enlist the help of those More Powerful Than The Devil:
The Blessed Mother
Saint Michael the Archangel
Our Guardian Angels
and, of course, God.

Because God doesn't expect us to do it alone. We have been given the gift of these others to help us on our path. So, to use the favorite closing line of our Spiritual Assistant: "While we have time, let us do good."

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