Christopher DeslogeAs a Franciscan, I am often asked, exactly what is a Franciscan; are you a monk? While not a monk nor ordained, I am a chaplain and lay theologian; I am active in lay ministry, and I'm a member of an 800 year-old religious order founded by Francis ofAssisi, then no saint but a devoted disciple and apostle who discovered, quite separately from his privileged upbringing, the compassion for people through the joy of Christ. Francis, and to be a Franciscan, embodies the spirituality of Poverty, Humility, Incarnation, Love, & Simplicity. It is to fully embrace the gentle nature of Christ's Galilean ministry of that very early church which was then known as the Way. Over the course of my time in immersion at a hermitage house in urban Bridgeport, Connecticut which I created, and flowing from my time in postulancy, novitiate and then as an Associate / Companion in this religious order, I prepared weekly missives for our faith community, each revealing a distilled, almost sermon-type, message on Franciscan Spirituality as I have come to understand it. Francis is a moving target in trying to corner his universal ideals into modern, daily, practical deployment...to isolate tenets we can grasp, improve our own hearts, and by some miracle, improve the world. Read More Read Less