Franziska Notes November 2011

Anyone who has had the good fortune of visiting the lovely Bavarian town of Edling in the summer and contemplated the golden barley fields shining in the sun while red poppies and blue cornflowers danced with the distant Alps lending a contrasting purple haze, cannot doubt that little Fanny was nurtured by beauty. All her life she cultivated joy in herself and in the women who joined her mission. She knew that the good news of Jesus, which would lift up the sad and discouraged, that would strengthen the weak and encourage service and love of neighbor must be delivered with joy. No one will be attracted to the good news of the Gospel if its messenger is dour, depressing and proclaiming only restrictions and deprivation.
How do we find and cultivate joy in ourselves so that we can become a blessing to others? St. Paul in the letter to the Phillipians (Phil 4:4-9) tells us to rejoice and then instructs us how. We are to fill our eyes and thoughts with all that is true, noble, right and lovely. Today, modern media presents us with thousands of choices, but this demands discernment and responsibility. What kind of film, television, music and art do we support by our attention and money? Everything that enters our eyes and thought contributes to who we become. Our language and manners will subtly change according to these choices. Will we be gentle and kind, or bitter and cynical?
Mother Franziska, sending her sisters through the far reaches of the Empire to collect alms for their works, told the sisters to take time to see the noted sites in the places they stayed. They visited museums and beautiful baroque and gothic churches and saw unique formations of nature in the countries of Europe.
We have access to so much. We can ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to all that is good, true, beautiful and loving – the attributes of the Blessed Trinity made visible in Jesus. We can almost hear Mother Franziska say, “Your brain cells are too precious to waste on trash”.

Franziska Notes October 2011

As the gloomy days of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and the gloomy news world wide threatens to depress our spirits it is time to look again at the gift of joy. Mother Franziska had her share of setbacks, sufferings, failures and disappointments and yet she marveled in one of her letters that she was considered a joyful person. She would not have had such a large following in her lifetime if she had been a “gloomy gussy”.
True joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit… the world can bestow only momentary pleasure and sometimes even a passing happiness. The joy that we read about in Scripture is independent of outward circumstances. It comes from trusting the revealed truth that we are the children of an unconditionally loving and forgiving God. In the darkest moments Mother Franziska went to the tabernacle and cried her heart out to the Jesus present there. She tells us she always came away with renewed courage, peace, and yes, joy. How could that be? Can we imagine Jesus asking in her heart, “Do you love me?” As she answered “yes”, she could feel His loving smile and she knew that she was successful in the one thing necessary for her personal life and for the role God had given her… loving God with all her strength and being.
This is her heritage to her spiritual daughters and to all who are interested in her charism. Joy is the gift that comes from trusting in the love Jesus has for us and in His power to use us for the glory of His kingdom on earth in spite of our weakness and faults. We celebrate the great saints and the hidden saints in our own congregation and in our families. They became holy because they were not satisfied with passing pleasure and fleeting happiness. While they suffered adversity and enjoyed the beautiful gifts of this world, they never neglected to turn to Jesus and to respond to His question, “Do you love me?” with their own smiling or tearful “yes”.