A quiet morning at Casa San Salvador as the missioners and volunteers continue to settle into their new home and community

Welcome to the FMS e-newsletter! Each week, our newsletter will be highlighting what our missioners are learning through their mission preparation at Casa San Salvador, the FMS missioner house. Enjoy these stories from the missioners' third week!

This week, FMS Director of Mission Integration Meghan Meros led the missioners in a session called "Helping Relationships." The missioners learned how to be present to people when speaking with them through utilizing active listening skills, such as the OARS method: using Open ended questions, Affirming people’s feelings, Reflecting and rephrasing what is heard to help the other person explore their motivations, and Summarizing what they said to make sure they understand. The missioners took turns practicing these skills with one another to build confidence and ease.

Because of the emphasis placed on the Franciscan ministry of presence, the ability to build relationships and have positive communication experiences is especially important. The missioners won't be going to their sites in order to do things for the communities they'll be entering, but instead to be with and accompany the people in those communities, and a strong foundation of communication skills is a key tool in the missioners' toolbelts.

Ralph and Kim practice their communication skills while Susan films for them to review later

"I enjoyed "Helping Relationships" and the exercises in talking to each other. It really helped to build my confidence in my communication skills."

-Ralph Anderson, missioner in formation

This week, the missioners reflected on how the Incarnation, God made flesh, is understood and revered in Franciscan spirituality. Rather than dividing us into two separate categories of "body" and "spirit," and setting them in opposition to one another, Franciscan spirituality embraces the goodness of the body and the material world. Francis and Clare point to the beauty of creation and the life of Jesus, fully human and fully divine, the Unlimited God who became a limited, helpless baby. Just like Mary bore Jesus in her body and gave birth to him physically and historically, we are called to bear Jesus spiritually and give birth to Him in the world, transforming society and drawing closer to God.

After studying the centrality of the Incarnation to Franciscan spirituality and discussing the relevance of the Incarnation to mission, the formation class takes a break to recreate the first Nativity scene.

Each week the missioners will learn about different styles of prayer as part of their faith formation. We encourage you to enter into this journey; hopefully it can assist in your own spiritual life as well.

Imaginative prayer is strongly emphasized in the Ignatian spiritual tradition, being a key component of the Spiritual Exercises set out by St. Ignatius of Loyola. We are invited to imagine ourselves in scenes from the Gospels, focusing on the sights, sounds, smells, and feeling we might experience in those scenes. As we do so, we are attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, allowing ourselves to be led to new experiences of God that show up in how our imagination leads us. Imaginative prayer involves trusting that God is at work in our emotions and insights as we pray through these Gospel stories.

Learn more about Ignatian imaginative prayer!

The Franciscan tradition is brimming with Saints, Blesseds, and Venerables included in the Roman Canon. Each week, we will highlight a different Franciscan who lived a notable life of holiness.

17th-century portrait of Bonaventure by French painter and friar Claude François

St. Bonaventure was born 1221 in Bagnoregio, Italy. While little is known about his early life as a child, his impact on the Franciscan order was immense and far-reaching.

Unlike the original founders of the Franciscan order, Bonaventure enjoyed an academic approach to theology and philosophy. However, he was devoted to the Franciscan rule and made it his life's mission to protect it from dissension within the order. He entered the order at the age of 22, and he was eventually elected as the Friars' General Minister, a position he served in for 17 years. Though he was repeatedly offered the title of Archbishop, he refused the high honor. However, Pope Gregory X insisted that the Church in Albano required his wisdom as a shepherd and he appointed Bonaventure as a Cardinal in 1273.

During his time in the order, St. Bonaventure witnessed splinters emerging in the order due to theological disagreements. Many friars misinterpreted the writings of St. Francis and insisted that the order should only emphasize the Holy Spirit, and disregard the guidance of Christ and God the Father. As General Minister, St. Bonaventure used his extensive theological knowledge to defend the Christocentric and Trinitarian values that he believed were vital to the Franciscan rule, and he wrote more thorough guidelines for the order to follow.

St. Bonaventure died suddenly in 1274, only one year after being made a Cardinal. He is often credited with "re-founding" the Franciscan order as he mended such a great rift among its members during his time as General Minister. His feast day is July 15th.

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