We held what I hope to be our first annual Franciscan Buy Nothing Day/Adoration on the day after Thanksgiving. About half a dozen brothers and sisters from our fraternity were there, joined by about as many people from the parish of St. Clare. I know that most of you have never heard of the Buy Nothing Day. It was only by chance that I discovered it a couple of years ago on the internet. It’s actually an international, grass-roots movement, founded in various parts of the world by various people (mostly advertising executives, believe it or not) who didn’t know that other kindred spirits were doing the same thing, as a reaction to over-consumerism. In the past ten years it has been celebrated in various ways – from young people dressing like zombies and going to the mall on the biggest shopping day of the year to participants offering “credit card destruction booths.” Even with the growth, however, there is virtually no public awareness of the Buy Nothing Day, since no television stations or magazines will air advertisements for it. (That’s not surprising, of course, since they make their money from the advertisers!) I have personally participated in the Buy Nothing Day for the past few years…not by dressing as a zombie or anything else fun like that, but by avoiding the stores.
Last year Candace, Jane, Carmen, and I met together at the church on the day after Thanksgiving to go over the Profession Ritual and eat a picnic lunch. In the course of our discussion, Jane spoke about the people who had lined up outside the stores in pre-dawn hours, waiting for the stores to open. Carmen wondered if these same people were the ones who thought that getting up for Mass on Sunday morning was too much trouble. We all thought that meeting together on that day, instead of shopping, was a wonderful thing to do. In the course of that conversation, the idea to create some kind of Franciscan Buy Nothing Day was born.
Spending the morning in church, in front of the Eucharist, imparted such peace to what normally is a hectic day, even for those of us who had already sworn off shopping on that day. It was a wonderful way to give thanks to God for His blessings throughout the year as well as a way to prepare our hearts for the coming Advent season.
