Dear John,
This year I begin my 50th year of working with Franciscan Media. In various media, I have tried to be a helpful companion on the faith journeys of those who use our products. In all of this, I have come to see holy women, men, and children as simply individuals who have opened themselves to God’s grace and the ongoing conversion that always flows from cooperating with that grace.
Hi. I am Fr. Pat McCloskey, OFM, the Franciscan editor of the award-winning St. Anthony Messenger magazine. During my 50 years here, I’ve served Franciscan Media in many capacities. My first assignment was in 1972 as an editorial intern. Since then, I’ve written five books, contributed to many others, and produced numerous columns and articles for St. Anthony Messenger.
My own faith journey has been enriched by faith-filled people who have been coworkers here and by those who have contacted me as writer of the “Ask a Franciscan” and “Franciscan World” columns.
Sts. Francis, Anthony, and Clare are very popular saints, but I sometimes worry that devotion to them fails to recognize how human they were, the doubts with which they wrestled, and how much they grew in holiness over the course of their years. I think all the products and services of Franciscan Media can help people turn life’s bruises into contributions for a growing faith. There has never been an easy time or set of circumstances be a saint, to grow in holiness.
St. Luke twice praised Mary as remembering the events in her life and “pondering on them in her heart” (2:19 and 3:51b). I see Franciscan Media’s mission as helping people to imitate Mary in pondering in their heart the joys and especially the sorrows they have experienced in life. No one of them is the whole story of anyone’s life. God is always faithful, and everything we do at Franciscan Media attempts to affirm that for a wide variety of people who may at times feel that they are beyond God’s reach. That is never the case.
Immediately before writing these lines, I put the finishing touches on my October 2021 editorial “Growing in Faith as Francis of Assisi Did.”
Please support Franciscan Media during our End of Summer fund drive. Help me continue writing new entries for Saint of the Day and responding to your questions.
