The contribution of the friars to the recording of 'Calm the Soul' gave it a truly international dimension. Br’s Adrian and Theodore come from the Canadian province, Br Benedetto from the Dutch province and Br Ian from our own Irish province. Br Antony OFM comes from England and Br David OFM, the guardian of the local Galway fraternity is from Cork, which of course gave it a truly international feel, and Br Joel, who hails from Sweden, was at hand to give feedback and encouragement when the energy of the group began to flag!
We sisters had great fun teaching the song to the friars and doing this recording with them. They were very compliant! It was an occasion to thank God once again for the gift of our Franciscan family spirit and the joy that flows from it.
Clare and Francis' "success" lies in their complete abandonment of self to the One who never ceases to have incredible confidence in us. They responded with passionate love to the passionate love God has for us humans. They dared to risk everything. They threw themselves with complete abandon into a life of total poverty, knowing it would lead them straight to the cross, to powerlessness and insignificance. Their logic was the Gospel logic of the seed that must die in order to bear fruit.