By Br. Tim Blanchard, OFM Conv
When I was about eight, I remember a particular Sunday during catechism class when the teacher introduced us to “saint trading cards.” They were like baseball cards that tell you about the athlete’s history, stats, and significant milestones of their career. I became obsessed. Like any trading card series, these saint cards also included a handful of rare cards that you kept an eye out for when the trading frenzy began. Among these holy men and women who were considered a “rare card” was John the Baptist.
Word eventually reached my ears that the only kid in the class who had a John the Baptist trading card with gold-trimmed edges was my classmate Peter who sat in front of me. Every Sunday for an entire month (which is a long time for an 8-year-old) I would try to convince Peter that it was in his best interest to trade me his rare card. I was denied every time. Running out of attractive offers, I decided to simply wait it out, and hope that my friend would change his mind.
The following Sunday there was an early dismissal after catechism and all the students went outside to enjoy some sunshine. Everyone scurried out of the classroom while I remained behind to clean up my desk. And then I saw it. The rare John the Baptist card with gold-trimmed edges sitting on my friend’s desk. It was beautiful. I looked around the room to see if the coast was clear and…well as the saying goes, I stole from Peter to give to Paul; Paul in this case was me of course.
Now I wasn’t going to just take it without a fair trade, so I left him three Mary Magdalene cards from my collection. I figured it was an even trade, I mean Mary was a beloved follower of Jesus and she was the first to encounter the Risen Christ! Win-win. As I placed my very desirable Mary Magdalene cards on Peter’s desk for a respectable trade and claimed my Baptizer card, I was immediately captured by the lines printed on the back, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29). Lamb of God? Who is that? I remember this moment so vividly because it was the first time I started intentionally pondering scripture. Well as divine providence would have it, wasn’t this the gospel proclaimed the following Sunday at my parish, and by a Franciscan priest! After mass, I walked up to our visiting Franciscan and asked him who this Lamb of God was and without hesitation he responded, “He’s the answer.”
Whenever I think about my experience as a religious brother I am always taken back to those words of the Baptizer, “Behold the Lamb of God.” The entirety of my mission as a Franciscan brother can be summed up in this short proclamation; to bear witness to Jesus before others, pointing them in His direction. Much like my encounter with the Franciscan priest, we often don’t come to Christ on our own but by the gentle guidance of those whose faith points the way to “the Answer.” This is why I have come to understand that the term “brother” is not just my title but a verb; to “brother” to others and lead them to lives of holiness.
There have been so many examples of this unique discipleship in my own life. I remember after I professed my final vows, I was sitting with one of my brothers I deeply admire. He was sharing his own experience of the first few years in ministry after his solemn profession and the challenges he faced that ultimately refined him as a minister. After he finished, he looked at me and shared something that completely shifted my view of brotherhood. “The mission of the brother is about being a professional companion for the lost and suffering. Every friar has to discern what that will look like for him, and it comes out in the most beautiful ways when it is aligned with God’s will.”
I’ve carried this wisdom with me at every one of my assignments. I have learned with each new ministry, I must take the path of Christ who “had to become completely like his brothers, to be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest” (Heb 2:17-18). Before calling us into the life of the Transcendent, Jesus first became a brother to all sharing in our suffering and pain. When John spoke these words, “the Lamb of God” I can’t help but imagine the many who were present took that in an ordinary way. Here comes Jesus after that rather stirring proclamation from John and what do people see? An ordinary man. Flesh and bone. But the eyes of faith see Him as he truly is, life for the salvation of the world as the Sacrificial Lamb.
As brothers, our directive is clear, to help people see beyond the ordinary, to see God in the natural world and in each other. In this way, I believe the religious brother consecrates all creation as he works to help others recognize the presence of God in all things. The best way to do that? Invite others to a life of prayer. Prayer is not an act to compel God to breakthrough, rather, it’s about forming an alertness to see the world differently.
As I mentioned above, we don’t come to the Lord on our own. I certainly didn’t. I was blessed with many holy role-models who taught me the importance of prayer and worship. Now, I have that same exciting yet terrifying responsibility of passing on Christ to others and I must discern daily how God is calling me to walk with the lost and suffering. Our order has been blessed with a number of extraordinary brothers who continue the story of salvation with their lives that quietly proclaim, ‘There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Run to Him!’ I hope my old catechism teacher reads this to see the long and arduous journey she put me on all from a saint trading card.