Franciscan Fractal
Contemplating Today’s Culture through the Eyes of St. Francis & the Life of Christ
“Dreams & Visions”
“I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.” Joel 2:28
This passage from Joel encourages me to pause and change direction within my Fractals. I have hopefully presented a new way of commenting on Scripture and culture during the past three and a half years. Many have offered heartfelt comments, including how the Fractals have stirred them into a deeper relationship with God. For this, I am thankful.
Occasional criticism has also been received for being perhaps too political and not self-reflective enough; thereby, tipping my hat to one political party or another. I have no political investment in my writings, except to elucidate the ways that Jesus interacted with suffering in this world and his often-overlooked prophetic work addressing issues of justice. That can mean voting Republican, Democratic, or as an Independent depending on where a person might stand on the issues of justice as Jesus would see it.
Fractals are created through an extensive and thoughtful process. They are not simply “feel good” commentaries on a Scripture passage, but involve a more in-depth commentary on today’s world. I search out what it means to be a Christian in TODAY’S CULTURE. Hence, I bring in contemporary issues (comfortable or not) to give perspective, encouragement, and hope to all of us living in our chaotic world. Salvation is not only something we get at the end of our life. It begins among us here and now, and we all need to learn how to do that from the standpoint of Jesus.
A Fractal does not fly off the screen of a computer by itself in an AI flurry. The insight and work begin in Centering Prayer. There is next a check for relevant and/or urgent events occurring in the world that might be connected with the cited Scriptural passages for that Sunday. Time is spent in researching those passage(s), followed by a review of church history, an assessment in light of the impact of Catholic and Reformation theology on the passage, a check for any cryptic heresies, an overview on the comments of other writers, a review of contemporary Franciscan trajectories, and finally (and most importantly) an interpretation that is in sync with the healing and prophetic illustrations given to us by Jesus Christ.
From a technical perspective, there is also a rewriting that is done with attention to language, so that what is written is in a format that is easy to read for the average reader. A final review and editing are then done by a third party for theological coherency and grammar. Other issues involve uploading the Fractal to the St. Philip’s website and sending a final copy to two administrative assistants who send the Fractal out to over 250 regular readers throughout North America (one of whom inserts the Fractal in the St. Philip’s Epistle and Sunday Bulletin). (Thank the Lord for the administrative assistants.)
This hopefully provides some background into how the Fractals are selected, researched, written, reviewed, edited, and published. In the coming weeks, I will cover the often, overlooked work of Jesus. In addition, I will lift up how Christ’s work impacts the Church today in terms of Christians being healers of suffering and prophets of justice.
Prayers and Blessings,
Fr. John
