Fair and Merry, Boisterous and Strong

In his homily today, Father David referred to St. Francis' Caniticle of the Sun and his reference to Brother Fire. This in connection with lighting a lamp and where to put it. The translation he cited had St. Francis calling Brother Fire "fair and merry, boisterous and strong."

He emphasized the word boisterous, how much he liked that term.

There is something attractive about it, isn't there.

Well, attractive in the way that people think of the idyllic scene of monks in the hermitage, working in their garden and gathering herbs. In that scene, monks don't sweat, itch, stink, get dirty or hot. Or need to use the restroom.

Ok, there's something peaceful about the monk scene because we see monks as spiritual, peaceful people (and ourselves, by contrast, as NOT those things, I guess).

And maybe there is something attractive about boisterous when our lives are too tame, too sedate, not enough tussle and fun.

Mothers of five year old boys probably have their fill of boisterous. At least I feel I do.

But then I thought again of St. Francis and Brother Fire, and of Fr. David's contagious sense of attraction to all of the above.

And I thought of how many times I've heard of parents who were opposed to their son's priestly vocation, and of how I've always thought "I'd never do that. How could anyone do that?" Well, I thought, how good am I at embracing whatever gifts God gives my children?

I need to face it, God has created my son to be Brother Fire.

Where in society is being boisterous welcomed? Serious question, here. Maybe bars? Entertainers? Certainly not schools or "the workplace". How can I welcome Brother Fire without dousing him or ... (say it; it's so obvious) getting fried?

A while back on the UC list there was discussion of learning opportunities for kids with fire. I realized that my off the cuff idea was that a hands on lesson there would not be desirable. (Many people then told of their own fire experiments and demonstrations with their kids.) I guess I'm afraid of fire. Any sane person has some fear of fire. But I guess maybe it needs to be more the idea of respect and understanding. Understand the laws the govern how it grows and spreads, when there is danger and when it actually is quite safe.

Here's the hitch: I know I can go to the library and find a book about fire safety, physics and all that. Where is the book that will translate the analogy for my son?

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bois‧ter‧ous [boi-ster-uhs, -struhs]
–adjective 1. rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained: the sound of boisterous laughter.
2. (of waves, weather, wind, etc.) rough and stormy