Howdy, my name is Jonathan Francis Jones. I am a 62 year old man, who is happily married, a Roman Catholic, a Secular Franciscan, and an ordained Permanent Deacon.  Oh, and as of January, 2015, I have been unemployed.  This is my second go-round with Blogging 101; but to all of you newbies, allow me to reintroduce myself.

Ever since I was a kid in elementary school, I felt that God was calling me to some sort of service.  After high school, I entered the Catholic seminary for the Archdiocese of Boston, and spent eight years in studies.  I felt the need to take a leave of absence for a year to sort some things out.  I spent the year with an ecumenical organization called: “A Christian Ministry in the National Parks.”  It recruits theology students, and other college students, to go out into the country’s national parks, lead Sunday worship services, Bible studies and other activities.  I spent the summer in Yellowstone National Park, leading Sunday services at Old Faithful Inn; and washing dishes the rest of the time.  The Fall and Winter of that year, I was in Texas, at Big Bend National Park, right on the Rio Grande River.  My “earn my keep” job was being a night watchman; after which, on Sunday morning, I lead 2 worship services.  It was in the midst of all this natural beauty that I began to sense the Holy Spirit drawing me to testing a calling to be a Franciscan friar.  I spent at year and half in formation, when I came to discern that maybe I was meant to go down a different road.

So I found myself working in the Mutual Fund industry, servicing customers, but I was still felt being called to be a follower of St. Francis of Assisi.  Fortunately, the Franciscan movement has a lay branch, the Secular Franciscan Order.   I became a professed member in 1988, coincidently, the same year I married my beautiful, wonderful wife, Peg.  I remained active in the Church, as a member of my parish choir, and as a reader during the Sunday Mass.  I continued my life of prayer and service, still feeling called to go deeper.  I, along with my wife, entered the formation program for the Permanent Diaconate.  In September, 2012, I, along with my fellow classmates, were ordained as Deacons.  Peg, with the other wives, gave me the vestments I was to wear.  I have been assigned to several parishes in Beverly, Massachusetts, serving the people there I whatever way I can.

While, still in the Diaconal formation program, I felt called to blog; yes, called!  As I surfed the Web, I came across blogs that I really enjoyed, some that infuriated me, and others that confused me to no end.  One day, during 2009, in a downtown Boston bookstore, I found a book: “The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging.”  I bought it, read it cover to cover.  I felt God calling me to share my faith experience with others, to try my hand at being an electronic evangelizer.  At the same time, I wanted to share my own observations of what is happening in my community, my Church, and my world.  So in 2009, I started my first blog, on Google’s Blogger, I would later move to WordPress.

I am hoping that through my random scribbles, I can inform, get people thinking, and in some small way, share the Good News of Jesus Christ.