I vow,
I make this life-investing promise
at official seal of the Church,
before God in all his glory,
I vow to live the gospel life
by measure of the penitent Francis,
as a Capuchin friar,
and by fullness of all I hold sacred.
I searched for twelve long months
the cosmic depths of my heart,
with the Hubble-like lens
of novitiate, to probe my own awareness
with its inner yearnings,
and a sharper image of the Crucified
as clasped by Francis
in joyous fierce embrace.
Rejoicing in brothers, he sparked them onward
with laughter and song,
as now new millennium brothers
resurface the road for me,
fraternally enacting the gospel joy
of dispensing mercy as a gift.
Exuberant friars align with their Pontiff
to heal our Mother-Sister Earth,
once a sign of infinite gift
denuded now and in desperate need
        of penitent sons
who do not pack their arms with bounty
but share their song and meager gifts
and set the scrubby people dancing,
while ready to make their hoe a swinging partner.
These men of joyous brotherhood
convict my heart to pledge a matching life of faith,
restoring the place of incarnation,
alert to provide fresh barley loaves
for the Master to multiply,
and to change the soiled streams
to jars of picnic drink,
and I vow to live the gospel life
in full ministry to planet earth.
July 18, 2015
Bonaventure Stefun, OFM Cap.