Recently I was blessed to visit with our sister Adele Lewis as she prepared
to move from DC to Silver Spring later this month. Adele transferred into
our fraternity in 2014 after she moved from Florida, not long after I began
formation. She impressed me very much at that time with her knowledge of
and enthusiasm for Franciscanism, as well as her commitment to practice
her vocation through hands-on service and other JPIC activities.
While Adele and I were reminiscing about the things we had done together
in our fraternity over the years, I was moved to tell her what an important
role she had played in my life. Adele was the first person to mention the
Franciscan Action Network (FAN), the peace and justice advocacy
organization for Franciscans, to me. As Formation Director for our
fraternity, she suggested that we invite FAN’s executive director to one of
our meetings, which we did. Signing up for FAN’s email newsletter led to
me hearing about a pilgrimage to Assisi with the organization Pace e Bene,
which I went on in 2019. That was a life-changing experience for me and
led to me leaving behind my career of 30 years to join the staff of none
other than FAN.
Adele is one of several people I see as having been God’s instrument in my
life—introducing me to someone or something that led eventually to
profound change. Although I am sometimes shy about telling people that,
I’ve decided I should start doing so. What better feeling could there be than
to know that God used you to bring about good in someone’s life?
What about you? Is there one of your fellow Franciscans—or someone
else—who played an important role in the development of your vocation?
Did someone say something or show you something that ended up being
terribly important to your understanding of how God wanted you to live this
vocation? If so, consider telling that person. Perhaps he or she needs
encouragement, and your telling them that they were God’s instrument in
your life could be just what they need to hear. In fact, God might even use
you as His instrument in the life of that brother or sister. Peace and all
good—