The first day of this month falls on Holy Thursday so our reflections on the spirituality of Mother Franziska Lechner occur in the atmosphere of the Paschal Mystery. Some of her sisters, in the southern hemisphere experience Easter at the threshold of winter. Even where preachers are locating the feast in the new light and life of springtime there are at least some hours of darkness before we light the new fire of the Easter night. Jesus gave us the great gift of the Eucharist before He and His disciples ventured out into the foreboding darkness of Gethsemane. We are armed in the best possible way for the darkness both physical and spiritual. We hear Jesus’ promise in our hearts, “Fear not, it is I,” and “I am with you all days even to the end of the world.” It was not too long ago that the church in the center of the village or on every few streets of the cities were open for a visit. In the recent past we were afraid the enemies of the Church would close the doors to our beloved sanctuary. Now we have ourselves taken the preemptive action of keeping them locked. This makes it more difficult but not impossible to be a Eucharistic people. There are wonderful stories of the Eucharist being celebrated in prisons and concentration camps. As the trials of our life increasingly weigh us down we become more and more thirsty for the tangible presence of the Lord who victoriously walked through the darkness for us. Mother Franziska made sure that there was a chapel in each of the houses she founded and she was often there pouring out her fears and sorrows. Perhaps there are religious houses among us where we would be allowed to come and worship the Lord treasured in their chapels, but neither we, nor the Lord are really limited by locks. While Mother Franziska traveled through Europe she noted the many church steeples dotting the countryside and she made a point of sending toward each one a greeting to the Eucharistic Lord housed within. Our thoughts, too, can fly to our parish church in greeting and we can find peace in our fear and trouble.
