stfranman Ecology/Environment

A Step Toward Sustainability

There’s so much to like about springtime. And April just might be my favorite month.

Well, this April is really special, especially for those of us who are environmentally-conscious and are rooting for our planet while she is being brutalized by modern industry and billions of unaware and indifferent humans.

And we here at the FSF have joined our voice with the millions who are calling for getting serious about caring for the Earth, about taking the actions which must be taken if we are to stave off the day of environmental reckoning which is surely coming.

We are in the last few moments of April as I write this, but it was in this month that renewable energy–that is, hydro, biomass, wind, geothermal and especially solar–generated more power than coal.

Stop and think about that for a moment. It is quite a noteworthy event and shows clearly that in spite of all the ways that our planet has been horribly treated–especially in the last two years–we can, and we must, do everything in our power to make progress and to mitigate the damage being done to Mother Earth.

If you’d like to read a good and highly informative article about this salutary event, just follow this link.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

stfranman Ecology/Environment

Today is National Arbor Day

More trees, please!

Many folks and environmentally-focused organizations will be out planting trees today. Caring for our environment and the natural world is a huge focus here at the FSF.

It’s a very good thing that there is a day set aside for trees and the planting of trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has planted right around 250 million trees on this day in the last 43 years!

The banner photo is one of three majestic oaks that live right outside the apartment where I was living in 2015 and ’16. The view from my patio was just breathtaking.

If you’d like to know more about National Arbor Day, just follow this link.

Hug a tree today!

Brother Ben

stfranman Living Life

What’s the reading on your Happiness Meter?

Like a whole lot of people, I spent the first 30 or so years of my life acting as though my happiness depended on other people and on life’s circumstances.

I won’t be at all surprised if many–if not most–of you can relate to that.

I’m not quite sure how that began to change for me, but it was a very big deal.

It can be a revolutionary idea to know that each one of us is responsible for our happiness, for our contentment.

I am not saying that we can always keep our equilibrium and a big grin on our faces when difficulty comes around. And we all know that it does from time-to-time.

But regardless of what life brings our way, we can choose to be happy.

Having said that, choosing to ignore pressing issues in our lives, or in the larger world “out there”, is not a good strategy. That’s not what I’m saying, either.

But we can–and we should–choose happiness every time it comes to our awareness.

If we wait for others or for some splendid, wonderful event to “make us” happy, we’ll be waiting in vain.

Be happy today! You deserve it!

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

Stacey Dalili Compassionate Living, Ecology/Environment, Living Life

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, my kids’ school sent home a rock with each student. Their assignment was to paint the rock, and they would all be placed in the school’s Serenity Garden.

My daughter painted her vision of the Earth with the words “Love is the Answer” on it. But, after some contemplation, she decided to paint over “is the Answer” and just leave “Love”.  Why? Because although she believes in her heart that love really is the answer to all the problems of this world, she knows that if we just learn to love the Earth, we will love our way to the answer.

Big hugs.

-Stacey ❤

stfranman Ecology/Environment

Happy Earth Day to all!

As many of you probably know, Earth Day falls on April 22nd each year. But it’s being celebrated in many communities today simply because it’s a Saturday and it’s much easier to get folks out on a weekend.

I’m in Central Florida and the Earth Day celebration at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando is quite an event here each year.

I hope there’s a party near you!

Here’s a link to a site all about Earth Day and celebrating it. A web search about Earth Day will also bring up a bah-zillion results, some of which may actually be about events in your area!

I hope today and this weekend go wonderfully well for you, whatever you may be doing.

Brother Ben

stfranman Compassionate Living

Compassion in Action

Sometimes the language we use when speaking or writing about things is pretty abstract. It’s always good to give more life, more substance, to your story by citing examples or giving more detail.

I talk about compassion a lot here on the site, talk about how urgent it is and so on.

Because you’re reading this, no doubt you’re on-board with that idea that compassion and acting compassionately are very important.

It wouldn’t be a bad thing to come up with a really good, a really clear example of someone acting compassionately.

Here we go: last Saturday night, Hanna Pignato, a waitress at the Joe’s Crab Shack on the Daytona Beach Pier noticed that a young swimmer in the ocean beneath her restaurant was struggling in a rip current.

Most folks would have hollered for a life guard or dialed 9-1-1.

Not Hanna. She gave her apron and wallet to a colleague and jumped into the sea.

Unfortunately for this hero, she hit a sandbar and broke her foot and fractured three vertebrae.

The swimmer was pulled to safety by someone else and Hanna was barely able to swim back to shore safely.

But the overarching fact here is that she put it all on the line. She acted compassionately, to say the least, when the limit of most folks’ compassion would have been to feel intensely sad if the boy had not ultimately been saved from the rip current.

Hanna is a hero. Her ennobling act of compassion stuns and inspires me.

Needless to say, her medical expenses are considerable. And her apartment is on the third floor so this is a big deal.

If you’re able to help Hanna, I hope you will. Click on this if you’d like to know how you can help.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

stfranman Bible/Sacred Literature, Spirituality/Religion

A Week of Destiny

Today is Palm Sunday and Churches in every corner of the globe will be full of worshipers thinking about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of that colt and being heralded and praised by a multitude of followers.

Churches here in the Eastern Time Zone are starting to fill with folks of all ages, with families dressed in their “Sunday best”, ready to commemorate and relive that ride and that day.

When this celebration comes each year, we see ourselves as a follower of the Master, as one who may have been there for the actual event.

This is as it should be.

But what was it like for Jesus?

What thoughts were going through his mind as that day unfolded?

None of us knows the particulars, of course, but there’s little doubt in my mind that destiny — or his thoughts around it — cast a long shadow over the events of that day, over what has been known for centuries as the Triumphal Entry.

As we go through all the events of Holy Week, it’s a good thing to keep in mind that the thanks and accolades that others may bestow on us from time to time can be wonderful.

But for most of us — as was true for Jesus — those accolades don’t always last and our lives will most likely not be a joyous and unending festival of gratitude and praise.

For some, a darker destiny may await.

Jesus said that no servant is greater than his master and when one makes a conscious choice to follow in Jesus’s footsteps — to live a life of service for others — there will most certainly be a cross to bear.

It’s certainly true that most people go through life acting mostly on instinct. Mostly doing what furthers their own interests and — at the end of the day — maximizes the chance that they’ll live, thrive and survive, as that saying goes.

Jesus, of course, is our ultimate example of a person who saw himself in a very different way. And he knew that his destiny was a life lived for others.

May we follow his example. May we always remember that, first and foremost, we choose a life lived — not for selfish reasons alone — but for others.

And may that be our focus throughout the events of Holy Week. And always.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.

stfranman Bible/Sacred Literature, Compassionate Living, FSF News/Events, Humane Treatment of Animals, Spirituality/Religion

What We Believe

The Fellowship of St Francis lists the following Six Principles and commends them to all People of Good Will:

The First Principle: On Compassion for All Compassion is the highest, purest and best motivation for People of Good Will in dealing with one another. Calling people of faith back to the practice of compassion is the first great urgency of the times in which we live.

The Second Principle: On Compassion for the Earth Compassion for the Earth and all who live on it–not only the human species–is the second great urgency of the times in which we live. St Francis is our unique example and modeled this compassion in his day and we aspire to do the same. Therefore, we commit to caring for our Earth compassionately and we use compassion toward all animals–whether wild or domesticated–at all times.

The Third Principle: On Prayer Prayer is the Universal attempt on the part of mankind to appeal to the Divine One(s) for comfort and help. Prayer–which may be seen as focused intention–is to be commended but not to be used as a thoughtless incantation or treated superstitiously.

The Fourth Principle: On Sacred Literature We commend Sacred Literature to all people of faith and people of good will and do not claim that the Christian Scriptures are authentic and binding but that Sacred Writing from all other religious traditions are invalid, counterfeit or sinister.***We especially reject the teachings from any religious tradition that say there are people destined for heaven and happiness but that other humans are accursed, condemned or damned and that eternal punishment in Hell is appropriate and the will of the Divine One. ***As to a general principle in interpreting or making sense of Sacred Literature, we commend the use of literary criticism and historical and scientific tools and reject superstition in the interpreting of Sacred Literature.

The Fifth Principle: On Respect for All All persons bear in them the imprint or image of the Divine One and are therefore worthy of love and respect. We clearly disavow and condemn any teaching of any religious tradition that says some people enjoy God’s favor and that others are to be shunned, persecuted or denied respect or any of society’s considerations or protections.

The Sixth Principle: On the Make-up of a Church or Fellowship The benefits of a Church, Congregation or Fellowship are not reserved only for people with religious beliefs and practices which might be considered to be orthodox in our time and cultural setting but are the right of any association, congregation or fellowship of like-minded individuals for the purpose of fostering greater faith, love, compassion and any loving, positive spiritual practice.***We especially disavow any teaching or understanding that individuals who participate together in a Fellowship or Congregation must believe, embrace or adhere to any particular doctrine or dogma to be accepted or loved or to be acceptable in the sight of God.

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Fellowship of St Francis is a new and completely independent work and is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church or any other church or ministry.

stfranman Ecology/Environment

It’s time to ban the bags

It’s no secret that the Earth is slowly being buried under mountains of trash.

There are a million angles to this sad story and one of the most important involves the prevalence of single-use, plastic shopping bags.

Well, California was the first of the 50 States to ban single-use plastic shopping bags. That happened back in August of 2014.

New York is about to become the second to do it.

Of course, some members of the public think it’s an awesome thing. Some, predictably, are complaining about it.

Sara Goddard sits on the City Council of Rye, New York and is one of the folks who advocated for this new law in her State.

Now that it’s about to take effect, she has put together a quick feature in a question-and-answer format to help people get up to speed on how this change might work out, how it might affect them.

I have no idea whether anyone who may read today’s feature lives in the Empire State or not, but because similar legislation is under consideration in other states, I’m thinking that running it here could be a good thing.

I would love to see this spread to Florida, my home state. I consider that a long shot at best but public opinion on this issue seems to be changing very quickly.

And that’s a good thing.

Brother Ben

© 2019 The Fellowship of St Francis, Inc.