Bronx-Bound: Gabe Thorp Discerns Life as a Franciscan Friar
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June 29, 2023NOTE: This article appears in the Summer 2023 issue of the DISCIPLE newsletter. If you aren't receiving DISCIPLE, call the parish office at 763-497-2745 to register or update your contact information.
Parishioner Gabe Thorp has been involved in STMA Catholic Youth Ministry since he was a middle-schooler. He served on Core Team in high school before joining NET Ministries for two years as a missionary and two more as a supervisor. He will be leaving his current role as a part-time youth ministry intern to discern a possible vocation to religious life this fall. Here is his vocation story to date, in his own words.
On September 1, I will be moving to New York to join the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFRs). This Catholic religious order focuses on serving the poor, evangelizing, and upholding the dignity of every human life, especially people on the fringes of society.
This group of Franciscans was started in the Bronx in 1987, but Franciscan communities have existed for about 800 years. Through the centuries, Franciscans have attempted to draw near to God and serve their neighbor after the model of St. Francis of Assisi. His radical life of poverty, chastity, and obedience demonstrates that when we offer our possessions, bodies, and wills to God, we can experience great joy, freedom, and peace.
This apparent joy, freedom, and peace was what struck me when I first encountered the CFRs in 2018. As I learned more about how they lived, their life and their attitude seemed to contradict each other. They live off what others donate, taking what food they need for themselves and giving the rest to the poor. They rise early and have full days of prayer, work, and ministry. They pray for at least four hours a day, can’t get married, and don’t have TVs, microwaves, or air conditioning. How do they seem so happy and free to be themselves?
Their joy and freedom come from the fact they are totally given over to God. They don’t live in poverty to fit in with the homeless. Celibacy isn’t a practical choice to help them serve more easily. They don’t promise obedience to a superior to keep everything organized. They surrender their possessions, body, and will in order to be empty so they can be filled with the love of God.
This call to give up everything to follow Jesus (Mark 10:17-22) is supernatural, meaning God creates and calls certain people to it. That isn’t to say some of us are more important than others, but that we all have different roles in God’s Kingdom.
I believe that God is real and we can have a relationship with Him through prayer. I’ve been praying daily for about eight years, and as I’ve come to know God and myself more, I’ve realized that He can satisfy every desire of my heart better than anything this world has to offer.
Jesus says He came to give all of us abundant life (John 10:10), and I’m willing to bet everything I have on this promise. I have experienced the love of God personally, and I’ve striven to show that love to others throughout my life. I wish that everyone could love Him more than I do, and I know many people already do.
What I’m saying might sound crazy, but I’ve often been told I’m unusually kind. People say they like me, and if people don’t like me, they don’t say that very often. Let the goodness of my life bear witness to Christ’s life in me, for every gift and virtue I have come from Him.
On September 1, I’ll fly to New York to start a six- to eight-year process to figure out if God is calling me to the CFRs for a time or for the rest of my life. I could be gone a year, or I could be there until the day I die. Even if I stay forever, I’ll be able to visit home and be around in the community now and then, but my life will be different. These sacrifices won’t be easy, but I have confidence that they will all be worthwhile in the end.
To conclude, I want to ask for your prayers. I don’t know where you are in your relationship with God, but I know that He made you, He loves you, and He desires good things for your life. We can speak with Him always and everywhere, so please ask Him to make His will for my life clear. I will be praying for you.
LEARN MORE
Want to learn more about the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal or vocations to religious life for men? Visit franciscanfriars.com or 10000vocations.org/religious-life-for-men.html.
