A Vocation Journey: meeting Br John-Francis.

In the previous post, A Vocation Journey: Discovering Franciscans I recalled how I had first met the Franciscans. I had found a small brochure advertising a Vocations Day run by the Vocations team of the Society of St Francis. After reading the pamphlet I was keen to learn more about St Francis and the Society of St Francis. Shortly after reading the pamphlet I went off to the nearest Internet cafe to check out the Community’s website. I became more intrigued and interested in this man Francis and these Franciscans thus I emailed the contact on the pamphlet to get some more information. The person that replied was Br John-Francis. Br John-Francis filled in some more information about the Community and also more about what the Vocations Day involved. Essentially it was an opportunity for men and woman (both Roman and Anglican) to come together in a time of fellowship and prayer to learn more about Franciscan religious life in the respective Churches. At this point I was keen to learn more and to attend the Vocations Day.

Br John-Francis informed me that he would be coming to London and that he would be happy to drop by and talk to me more about Francis and the Society of St Francis. We made a time and date to meet up. A few days passed between the intial contact with Br John-Francis and the time we were to meet. By this time I developed a severe case of cold feet syndrome. The right thing to do would have been to re contact Br John-Francis and put off the meeting. Instead I did the not so right thing. I went off to the movies so that I would not be home when he arrived. Talk about taking the coward’s way out. Though I guess you make wrong decisions sometimes.

When I got back from the movies I discovered that Br John-Francis had not got the same case of cold feet that I got and had indeed kept our appointment time. He left a few booklets on the life of St Francis and the Society of St Francis. I immediately picked them up off the floor, lay down on my bed and began reading them. The more I read, the more my cold feet began to warm up again. I again contacted Br John-Francis (I didn’t tell him all that had transpired, that confession would take several years to come out) and said that if it were possible I still wanted to come to the Vocations Day they were holding in St Martins in the Fields.

He was very welcoming and said that it would be good to eventually met up and for me to come along to the Vocations Day as planned. The ensuing days were ones of hot and cold feet. But the material the brother had left always managed to turn the cold feet hot again. The more I read it over, the more the life of Francis and the Franciscan brothers seemed to resonate with something deep within me. It was a kind of knowing that this was the answer to questions you didn’t even know you were asking. A response to a long felt inner desire or longing. By the time the actual day to attend the Vocations Day I had managed to set aside the feelings that were producing the cold feet and rested more in the inner knowing that this is something I just had to do. To bite the bullet as they say. The day finally arrived and I was eager to attend the session as planned and also to finally meet the brother I had been in contact with.

I finally met Br John-Francis in person at the Vocations Day. He, and other brothers and sisters, welcomed myself and other aspiring young religious (well young in religious life perhaps). During the day it became obvious that previous events had been pointing me in this direction. Here was the opportunity to begin to make the connection of the way in which recent (indeed even distant) events had set the scene for my discovery of a call to religious life within the Society of St Francis. In the next post I will continue with how one particular connection began to change the direction of my life when I continue with A Vocation Journey: meeting St Francis for Again.