Brother Ramon SSF, died 5 June 2000

Franciscan spirituality is especially relevant in our own day. Not only does it ground us in the biblical faith from which the Franciscan experience springs, but it roots us into the very stuff of creation, with its immediate awareness of earth, sea and sky.
Our environment is increasingly polluted by modern culture, industry, commerce and warfare, Our natural resources are being depleted by the hour, and we are poisoning and infecting our fellow human beings and other creatures.

In such a world, the Franciscan love of nature, reverence for life and openness to our fellows leads to joy and peace, with a down-to-earth and practical desire to correct our mistakes and reverse our wrong practices.

In our own day, when political ideologies are collapsing, when religion is being exploited as an argument for exclusivism and violence, and when the poorer nations are calling for equality and justice, then the life and teaching of St Francis is a beacon in the darkness. In him the light of Christ shines most clearly, and the love of Christ continues to manifest itself.

Br. Ramon SSF Franciscan Spirituality

The false dichotomy which arose between prophetic and mystical religion was based both on fear and misunderstanding. The fear is that somehow mystical religion blurs the uniqueness of God. Its closeness to nature is disturbing to some because it sounds too much like the celebration of fertility and nature in the old Canaanite religion so opposed in the Old Testament. Together with this is the feeling that with such a religious morality is blunted, and that moral responsibility and individuality is in danger of being lost.

Mystical religion has always been aware of the importance of God in the natural order; and the call of God is primarily one of love, leading to union. The language used by the two traditions has a different emphasis, and whereas union with God is the the goal of the mystical life, conformity of the human will is paramount in the prophetic faith. There are differences of emphases, even paradoxes in the tension between transcendence and immanence, but if properly understood, prophetic religion is rooted in mystical soil. Confrontation with God in the experience of the prophet is shot through with mystical intuition and immediacy of experience of the divine.
As I have listened to the fears of the Reformed side I have found that they defined the meaning of mysticism too narrowly, and related it so closely with pagan mysticism that few Christian mystics would have recognised it. At the same time they broadened the understanding of the prophetic religion so widely that most mystics would feel at home in it.

The Christian faith holds neither the exclusivity of the stark monotheism of Islam, nor the popular polytheism of Hinduism. The revelation of God in the Old Testament is not static, but of dynamic love and mercy. The fullness of the new covenant breaks upon us in the incarnation of God in Christ. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus leads to Pentecost, where not only is the threefold nature of God's person made clear, but the Spirit of God comes to indwell the Church and the individual believer. Thus the Church becomes the body of Christ, and the believer becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2.21-22; 1 Corinthians 3.15)

Br. Ramon SSF The Flame of Sacred Love

We have seen that the Jesus Prayer involves body, mind and spirit. If the whole person is given to God then it reflects the greatest commandment of all, the command to love... The cosmic nature of the Prayer means that the believer lives as a human being in solidarity with all other human beings, and with the animal creation, together with the whole created order (the cosmos). All this is drawn into and affected by the Prayer. One believer's prayers send out vibrations and reverberations that increase the power of the divine Love in the cosmos.

The Christian is well aware of the fact that the world is also evil. There is a falseness and alienation that distracted and infected the world, and men and women of prayer, by the power of the Name of Jesus, stand against the cosmic darkness, and enter into conflict with dark powers. "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." [Ephesians 6.12] The power of the Jesus Prayer is the armour against the wiles of the devil, taking heed of the apostle's word, "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplication."

...It is the one whose heart is aflame with the love of Jesus who can effectively radiate compassion and stretch out a hand in practical help to those in need.

Br. Ramon SSF "The Cosmic Nature of the Jesus Prayer" in Praying the Jesus Prayer Together

It is one of my great regrets that I never came to know Brother Ramon during his time on earth, though I had loved his writings for many years when he finally succumbed to cancer on this day eight years ago. He has nevertheless been an extraordinary mentor to me through his printed words, and he has come to symbolise for me much that is best in the Anglican Franciscan way: the courage, the open-heartedness, the deep Biblical faith, and above all the defenceless, profoundly practical love, Christ's love, that I have found at Hilfield, Compton Durville and elsewhere is nowhere found so clearly in contemporary writing, unless it is in the writings of Sister Helen Julian CSF.

Brother Ramon lived much of his best years as a hermit, under the aegis of at different times one or the other of the Franciscan houses at Hilfield or Glasshampton; yet if you read any of the biographical accounts of his life, it is his love of people that shines through as clearly as his love of nature, and almost as clearly as his love of the God who created both. In September 2000, the magazine franciscan published a beautiful personal reflection given at his requiem mass in Worcester Cathedral, by Dr Ieuan Lloyd, Companion of SSF. It is well worth clicking on the link to read the whole thing - but the final paragraph will give a better ending to this post than I could write myself:

But what I think he will be remembered for most is the wise counsel and guidance he gave to so many people. Here was the other side of him, listening and not talking, understanding the person's situation, finding the right thing to say at the right time, planting a thought, then suggesting and opening up possibilities, sometimes nudging, never thrusting. He took such great care over his letters. They were usually at least two sides long with single spacing. He kept everyone's letter for a while and carbon copies of his own. He continued to write even when he was quite ill. Not long after Christmas he replied to over a hundred in two weeks, each tailored to the needs of the person. He knew exactly where you were on your pilgrimage. And what he gave - either face to face or in his correspondence - was hope, whether the difficulties were psychological, personal or spiritual. That hope changed the lives of so many people. That hope is something that he had found in his faith and for which he himself was such a wonderful channel.