(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Summer 2026  Issue #120)

By Joe Makley • National JPIC Animator

Your will be done on earth as in heaven: St Francis used this passage in the Lord’s Prayer to emphasize our responsibilities under the first commandment, to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole strength, and the second, to love our neighbor as ourselves. St Francis’ transcendent strategy of “Seeking Your glory in everything” is expressed in the Canticle of the Creatures, where all creation sings of God. It is easier, when aspiring to always see God’s glory, to understand that it is everywhere.

St. Francis tells us to love our neighbors by drawing them to the love of God with our whole strength. How do we draw others to the love of God except by embodying that love in service? We have to be like Jesus, a light in the darkness. Francis said we should be “rejoicing in the good of others as in our own, and by suffering with others at their misfortunes.” The Church’s social teaching calls this solidarity.

When our neighbors hear themselves demeaned as “illegals,” and are unjustly detained and separated from family, our members’ acts of Franciscan accompaniment (court assistance, food, financial help, rides, etc.) show them the love of God. When mothers abroad fear for their children in a rain of missile and drone strikes, our members advocate along with the Church, for “Cease fire! Stop the bombing!” And when our neighbors find themselves cast out into the urban encampments, suffering from multiple adverse conditions and lacking safety, a good Franciscan like Brother David Buer, OFM, will be there with a sandwich and cup of coffee. St Francis knew the secret about loving service as evangelization. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philipians 4:7)

Secular Franciscan working alongside a Missionaries of Charity sister at a hospice for otherwise homeless individuals, preparing a meal for 50 plus residents. Shared by Pat Boye, OFS, JPIC animator for St. Margaret of Cortona Region.