Michele Dunne, OFS
As I write this reflection, two exciting events are on my mind: celebrating the profession of our sister Amy Bilyeau on August 14 and participating in the Secular Franciscan Quinquennial in Phoenix August 3-7.
Amy and I met a few weeks ago for the final lesson of her candidacy, a discussion about what profession really means. As we talked, I recalled a recorded talk about the meaning of profession that we watched some years ago, in which the friar who spoke said that we should at profession imagine laying our bodies down on the altar table in sacrifice. In profession we give ourselves to God, to live the gospel in the way St. Francis showed us, and we should hold nothing back. I also remembered a Secular Franciscan who said that before her profession she walked around her house and said goodbye to each of her possessions; they could no longer have any importance for her. On the day I professed, a young friar greeted me, saying “remember, your profession is just as important as mine!”
Since I said yes to enter formation in 2013 and especially since my profession in 2016, God has presented me with one door after another and invited, but not compelled, me to enter. While I have surely resisted or ignored some of those doors, each one that I did enter has taken me to thrilling new paths of which I had not dreamt before. Two that stand out in my mind were the opportunity to take a pilgrimage of nonviolence to Assisi in 2019 and the invitation to leave my former career and become director of the Franciscan Action Network in 2021. Those two choices have humbled and challenged me, introduced me to new teachers and friends, taught me new ways to understand my faith and practice my Franciscan vocation—in short, enriched my life in countless ways. I am hoping that my participation in the Quinquennial this week will be another chance for growth.
How has God changed your life since your profession as a Secular Franciscan? What kind of invitations or challenges is God presenting you with these days to keep your conversion moving forward? None of us is a completed work, and even when we refuse or miss the invitations God places before us, there is always another chance coming. St. Francis himself had many regrets and do-overs. What a blessed life this is!