Congrats to Melissa on her new baby!
w00t!My pal Melissa's son, William "Wil" James, made his debut on 22 June (Friday), weighing in at 7 lbs 3 oz. Welcomed by big sister Marley, Wil surprised everyone by showin' up 10 days early, but both he and mom are doin' fine. :-D
The Lord bless you and keep you.
May He show His face to you and have mercy.
May He turn His countenance to you
and give you peace.
The Lord bless you, Baby Wil!
~ Blessing of St. Francis of Assisi
Congratulations, Melissa!
UPDATE: Yay! Melissa
posted a picture of Baby Wil!
Such a cutie!
:::swoons:::Labels: friends
The Secular Franciscan Habit
One of the things that folks frequently wonder about Secular Franciscans (and those in other
third/secular orders) is if we wear habits. And the answer is yes, Secular Franciscans do wear habits, and we always have!
The Habit
Upon entering Candidacy (novitiate), a secular is clothed in our Order's habit, which -- in the U.S. -- is a Tau cross pendant, like what you see on the left. It's always to be worn in some way, whether as a pendant (preferred) or pin, ring, or some other form. The image is composed of two parts, the
Tau and the
Conformity.
The Tau. While the Tau represents Christ's cross, it's also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and gained special significance in the Old Testament through
Ezekiel 9:4: "Pass through the city (through Jerusalem) and mark an X [Tau] on the foreheads of those who moan and groan over all the abominations that are practiced within it."
At the
Fourth Lateran Council -- at which Francis was said to be in attendance -- Pope Innocent III used Ezekiel's Tau imagery in his opening homily, and the Tau became the symbol for the council. From then on, Francis used the Tau in his writings, painted it on the walls and doors of the places where he stayed, and used it as his signature.
It's also said that St. Francis borrowed the Tau and what it meant to him from the
Antonines, a religious community of men founded in 1095 whose sole function was to care for the sick, and on whose habit was painted a great Tau cross. Francis was familiar with these men because they staffed the leper house in Assisi and the hospital of St. Blasé in Rome where Francis went to stay.
St. Bonaventure said, "This Tau symbol had all the veneration and all the devotion of the saint: He spoke of it often in order to recommend it, and he traced it on himself before beginning each of his actions." Due to Francis' affection for and devotion to the Tau, it's been a well-recognized and accepted Franciscan symbol for centuries.
The Conformity. On top of the Tau are the crossed arms of Christ and Francis, which is called the "conformity". Christ's bare arm is in front of Francis' clothed arm; Christ's hand has the wound from His Crucifixion; Francis' has the
stigmata.
While this is what we currently wear, our habit has changed throughout history.
History
Up until 1508, Secular Franciscans wore full habits. Then this changed to a large scapular held together by a piece of rope around the waist. Over time, the scapular became smaller until the rope was no longer needed to hold it in place and was replaced by a string, and both were then worn underneath clothing.
With the revision of our
Rule in 1978, our habit changed from the small scapular and string to -- in the U.S., at least -- the Tau cross.
Additional Reading
The Five Franciscan Martyrs Region (U.S.): The Franciscan Tau SymbolLabels: franciscan, ofs, st. francis
Oh, my stars!
Aaaaiiieee! The waitin' is driving me
nuts!Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
Release Date: 31 July 2007
"Times change. Dangers remain. 10 years after he became President of the Interstellar Alliance, Sheridan prepares for a fateful Babylon 5 reunion that could prevent Earth's impending doom ... if he will also compromise his core principles."
Ah, I remember eagerly awaitin' each new episode when the series was still in production ... and unsuccessfully trying not to bawl at the moving finale. What impressed me the most about the whole deal was that, unlike the
Trek franchise (which I also enjoy), Straczynski -- a self-professed atheist -- actually included religion (!) in his vision of the future.
The episode that grabbed my attention and made me realize that this wasn't your typical Trek-wannabe was "
Believers", in which an alien couple refuses to allow lifesaving surgery for their dying son, due to their religious beliefs. The ending, which packed quite a wallop, was
not a Trek-style, Everything's-All-Nice-And-Tidy one, and took me completely by surprise.
My favorite episode, however, was "
Passing Through Gethsemane", because it featured a (human) religious order whose charism was to seek out and learn all the different names that all races have for God. Mercy, forgiveness, redemption ... that story had it all.
Anyhoo, 60 days and counting ...
Labels: sci-fi, tv
