Sister Abigail Hester

Tag: meditation

  • When the Buddha Met St. Francis: A Franciscan–Buddhist Synthesis for Our Time

    🌿 When the Buddha Met St. Francis: A Franciscan–Buddhist Synthesis for Our Time

    By Sister Abigail Hester, OFC

    Let’s face it: the world’s gone a little mad. Everyone’s shouting, scrolling, consuming, and forgetting how to breathe. In the middle of the chaos, two ancient voices — one from Assisi, one from beneath a Bodhi tree — whisper the same radical truth: “Let go, love deeply, and wake up.”

    It turns out St. Francis and the Buddha might have been kindred spirits. Both walked away from privilege. Both sought a freedom that didn’t depend on wealth, comfort, or ego. Both found joy in simplicity and compassion in suffering. And both left behind paths of peace that refuse to die, even in our noisy century.

    This is where the Franciscan–Buddhist synthesis begins — not as a trendy hybrid religion, but as a contemplative stance: an invitation to live lightly, love wholly, and see clearly.

    🕊 1. Christ the Compassionate, Buddha the Awakened

    Francis gazed at Christ on the cross until his own heart bled with compassion. The Buddha gazed into the nature of suffering until his mind awakened to reality. One reveals the heart of God; the other the mind of enlightenment. Together they form a single mandala of love — Christ the Compassionate, Buddha the Awakened.

    For the Franciscan-Buddhist soul, compassion isn’t an accessory; it’s the whole outfit. Everything else — possessions, titles, even opinions — is just noise.

    🌸 2. Poverty and Non-Attachment

    Francis stripped naked in the public square, renouncing wealth. The Buddha left his palace behind. Both discovered that freedom begins when ownership ends.
    Franciscan poverty says, “I need nothing because God is enough.”
    Buddhist non-attachment says, “I cling to nothing because everything passes.”
    Different language, same liberation.

    In a consumer culture obsessed with “more,” the Franciscan-Buddhist quietly smiles and whispers, “Less is more. Love is enough.”

    🪶 3. Creation as Sacred and Interbeing

    When Francis called the sun his brother and the moon his sister, he was singing the theology of interbeing centuries before the term existed.
    Buddhism teaches that to harm another is to harm yourself, because everything is interconnected.
    The Franciscan-Buddhist way says: Every leaf is holy. Every bird sings theology. Every act of kindness sustains the cosmos.

    🌾 4. Contemplation and Mindfulness

    St. Clare taught her sisters to “gaze, consider, contemplate, and imitate.” The Buddha taught his disciples to “breathe, observe, and awaken.”

    These are not rival instructions; they are mirrors of one another.

    To sit in silence and breathe is to gaze upon Christ present in the breath itself. To pray the Our Father mindfully is to chant compassion into being. Contemplation and mindfulness are two wings of the same dove — one grounded in grace, the other in awareness.

    🔥 5. Suffering and Transformation

    The Buddha began with the First Noble Truth: “Life involves suffering.”
    Jesus began with a cross: “Take it up and follow me.”
    Neither offered a shortcut. Both promised transformation.

    The Franciscan-Buddhist doesn’t flee suffering — she befriends it, allowing compassion to be born from the wound. The Cross becomes both the Bodhi Tree and the Throne of Mercy.

    🌏 6. Mission and Compassionate Action

    Franciscanism and Buddhism both reject escapism. Enlightenment is useless if it doesn’t heal the world. The Franciscan-Buddhist walks into the marketplace of chaos with a peaceful heart — a living sermon that says:

    “May all beings be happy. May all creation bless the Lord.”

    Service becomes meditation. Activism becomes prayer. The revolution is gentle.

    💫 7. Holding It All Together

    Can you be Christian and Buddhist? Yes — if you walk with integrity.
    Christ remains the compass — the revelation of Divine Love.
    Buddhist practice is the lamp — illuminating the path of awareness.

    Hold them both lightly. Let them correct and complete each other.
    Let them teach you how to breathe, how to love, and how to laugh at the absurdity of your own ego.

    ✨ The Franciscan–Buddhist Path in a Nutshell

    Live simply.

    Love generously.

    Breathe deeply.

    See clearly.

    Serve joyfully.

    Let go gracefully.

    Final word:
    In a world addicted to noise, the Franciscan–Buddhist walks softly, carrying an inner stillness that hums like birdsong and incense. Christ shines through awareness. Awareness awakens love.

    And somewhere between the crucifix and the lotus blossom, the soul finally whispers —

    “It is enough. All is one. All is love.”

  • Holistic Health: Healing the Whole Person, Not Just the Symptoms

    In a culture obsessed with quick fixes and symptom suppression, holistic health stands as a quiet, stubborn rebellion — the radical idea that you are more than a collection of body parts, diagnoses, and prescriptions. Holistic health dares to say that your mind, body, spirit, and relationships are all bound together, and that true healing means tending to all of them.

    This is not a trendy wellness fad or a soft alternative to “real” medicine. It is a return to an older, deeper wisdom — the kind found in the teachings of St. Francis, in Indigenous medicine ways, in the midwives and herbalists who understood that you can’t heal a wound in the body while leaving the soul neglected.

    The Fourfold Path of Healing

    Holistic health recognizes four inseparable dimensions of our well-being:

    1. Body – Nutrition that nourishes, movement that strengthens, rest that restores. Not punishment or deprivation, but care rooted in dignity.
    2. Mind – Mental clarity, emotional balance, and learning how to unhook from the constant hum of stress that erodes our health from the inside.
    3. Spirit – Connection to the Sacred, however you name it, that restores meaning and purpose when life feels hollow.
    4. Community – We heal in relationship, not isolation. Friendship, mutual aid, and shared belonging are as medicinal as herbs and clean water.

    The Franciscan Clarean Way

    In the Order of Franciscan Clareans, we approach holistic health as an act of justice. Poverty, exploitation, and environmental destruction are not just “social issues” — they are health issues. You cannot breathe well if your air is toxic. You cannot eat well if the land is poisoned or food is priced out of reach.

    We take inspiration from Francis and Clare, who understood that health is communal. Care for the sick was inseparable from care for the poor, the earth, and the soul.

    Tools for a Whole Life

    Holistic health is not about buying expensive supplements or following Instagram wellness trends. It’s about integrating simple, sustainable practices into daily life:

    Herbal Medicine – Time-tested plant allies for prevention and healing.

    Mindfulness & Prayer – Practices that ground the heart and calm the mind.

    Seasonal Living – Eating and resting in rhythm with the natural cycles.

    Acts of Service – Healing the soul through compassion in action.

    A Call to Live Differently

    The path of holistic health is countercultural. It resists the idea that health can be bought in a pill or outsourced to a clinic. It calls us to live with intention, to tend our bodies as sacred vessels, and to care for one another as part of the same body.

    As Franciscan Clareans, we see health not as a personal possession but as a shared responsibility. We are not free until we are all well — body, mind, and spirit.