Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi
Matthew 11.25-30 (TIB; adapted):[1]
offer praise; for what you’ve hidden from the learned and the clever, you’ve revealed to the youngest children. 26Yes, Abba, everything is as you want it to be.”
27Jesus continued, “Everything has been handed over to me by Abba God. No one knows the Only Begotten except Abba God, and no one knows Abba God except the Only Begotten — and those to whom the Only Begotten wants to give that revelation. 28Come to me, all you who labor and carry heavy burdens, and I’ll give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I’m gentle and humble of heart. Here you will find rest for your souls, 30for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Other readings: Jeremiah 22.13–16; Psalm 148.7–14; Galatians 6.14–18
Gathering Prayer:
O High King of Creation, by whose gift Saint Francis was conformed to Christ in poverty and humility, grant that, by walking in Francis’ footsteps, we, too, may follow Christ, and, through joyful charity, come to be united with you. Through Jesus the Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
It makes for a wonderful story. Young man returns home from the Crusades a changed man; becomes disillusioned with his father’s materialism and exploitation of workers; throws away his privilege and walks naked into God’s countryside; draws followers to him by virtue of his freshness and innocence; communes with animals; and eventually, by virtue of his simplicity and honesty, persuades Pope Innocent III to let him begin a new holy order called the Franciscans.
So runs the plotline of the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon, the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. While the basic elements are true, the real story isn’t quite like that.
Francis was the son of a wealthy textile merchant and probably had a rather carefree childhood, at least for the time. His name wasn’t Francis, though. At his baptism he was christened Giovanni. His father gave him the nickname “Francesco” after returning from a visit to France. If he hadn’t done that, the Franciscan Order might have been called the “Giovannians!”
Well educated, Francis enjoyed an uneventful upbringing until the day he participated in a feud with the neighboring city of Perugia. As a result, he was arrested and spent the year of 1205 in jail.
His downtime must have affected him. Upon his release he made a trip to Rome, after which he had a vision. He believed that God had told him to rebuild the church of Saint Damian, near Assisi. Selling his horse and some of his father’s textiles, he gave the income to a priest to start a building fund. His father disowned him. Francis renounced worldly possessions and became a beggar, taking up collections to raise funds to rebuild more churches.
In 1209 Francis heard a sermon based on Matthew 10.7-10 that changed his life and set him on the course of immortality and sainthood. He felt a call to take up a life of apostolic poverty. He began preaching brotherly love, repentance, and spiritual innocence. The story is told that his followers found him alone and smiling one day, obviously very happy. They asked him what had happened to him. “I’ve married,” he said. “To whom?” they asked. “To Lady Poverty.”
By 1212 his short rule of discipline had attracted enough followers for Pope Innocent III to grant approval to the order that then called itself the Friars Minor. The Friars preached and cared for the sick, the elderly, and the poor. Also that year began a sister order for women, called the Poor Clares (named after Clare, their founder, who was an heiress and an early follower of Francis).
The new order grew quickly, perhaps too quickly. It soon became difficult to manage the Friars while staying true to the first, simple precepts. A new order, called Franciscans, was founded in 1223, but it had already begun to move away from Francis’s original concepts of simplicity and a love of the whole of creation, a love that might be called naïve if it hadn’t been such a profound expression of his vision.
Bowing in obedience to his successor, Francis abdicated leadership of the new order in 1223 and spent his remaining years in solitude and prayer. In his remaining years he composed Canticle of the Sun, Admonitions, and Testament.[2] He is said to have received the sign of the stigmata before he died, and he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX only two years after his death.
His last words were reported to be, “I’ve done my duty. Now may Christ let you know yours. Welcome, Sister Death.”
~~~
I’d like to finish off today by quoting the appointed Psalm from the wonderful book, Psalms for Praying, by Nan C. Merrill. If you don’t have a copy of this in your collection, I highly recommend it. I’ll be quoting Psalm 148 in its entirety.
Praise the Blessed One!
Give praise from the heavens,
and from all ends of
the earth!
Give praise all you angels,
angels of earth and of heaven!
Give praise sun and moon,
give praise, all you shining stars!
Give praise, all universes,
the whole cosmos of Creation!
Praise the Blessed One!
For through Love all was created
And firmly fixed for ever and ever;
Yes, the pattern of creation
was established.
Give praise to the Beloved,
all the earth,
all that swim in the deep,
And all the winged ones in the air!
Give praise all mountains and hills,
all trees and all minerals!
Give praise all four-legged
and all that creep on the ground!
Leaders of the nations and all peoples,
young and old,
Give praise! Unite together in all
your diversity,
that peace and harmony might
flourish on earth!
Let all people praise the Beloved,
who is exalted in heaven and
on earth;
whose glory is above heaven
and earth.
For all are called to be friends,
companions to the true Friend,
giving their lives joyfully as
co-creators and people
of peace!
Praises be to the Blessed One,
the very Breath of our breath,
the very Heart of our heart!
~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
_________
[1] Scripture quotations marked (TIB) are taken from The Inclusive Bible. Copyright © 2007 by Priests for Equality. Used by permission.
[2] More of his writings can be found here at Irish Franciscans OFM.
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