St. Francis of Assisi
(1182-1226)
Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a sense of self-importance.
(1182-1226)
Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a sense of self-importance.
Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of
his frolicking life as leader of Assisi's youth. Prayer—lengthy
and difficult—led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ, climaxed by embracing
a leper he met on the road. It symbolized his complete obedience to
what he had heard in prayer: "Francis! Everything you have loved and
desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate,
if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this, all that now seems
sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but
all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding
joy."
From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano,
Christ told him, "Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly
falling down." Francis became the totally poor and humble workman.
He must have suspected a deeper meaning to "build up my
house." But he would have been content to be for the rest of his life the
poor "nothing" man actually putting brick on brick in abandoned
chapels. He gave up all his possessions, piling even his clothes before
his earthly father (who was demanding restitution for Francis'
"gifts" to the poor) so that he would be totally free to say,
"Our Father in heaven." He was, for a time, considered to be a religious
fanatic, begging from door to door when he could not get money for
his work, evokng sadness or disgust to the hearts of his former friends, ridicule
from the unthinking.
But genuineness will tell. A few people began to realize that this
man was actually trying to be Christian. He really believed what Jesus said:
"Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper
in your purses, no traveling bag, no
sandals, no staff" (Luke 9:1-3).
Francis' first rule for his followers was a collection of texts
from the Gospels. He had no idea of founding an order,
but once it began he protected it and accepted all the legal structures needed
to support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were
absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended
to break the Church's unity.
He was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life
of active preaching of the Good News. He decided in favor of the latter, but
always returned to solitude when he could. He wanted to be a missionary in
Syria or in Africa, but was prevented by shipwreck and illness in both cases.
He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.
During the last years of his relatively short life (he died at
44), he was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death, he
received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet
and side.
On his deathbed, he said over and over again the last addition to
his Canticle of the Sun, "Be praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death."
He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior to have his clothes
removed when the last hour came and for permission to expire lying naked on the
earth, in imitation of his Lord.
Comment:
Francis of Assisi was poor only that he might be Christ-like. He recognized creation as another manifestation of the beauty of God. In 1979, he was named patron of ecology. He did great penance (apologizing to "Brother Body" later in life) that he might be totally disciplined for the will of God. His poverty had a sister, humility, by which he meant total dependence on the good God. But all this was, as it were, preliminary to the heart of his spirituality: living the gospel life, summed up in the charity of Jesus and perfectly expressed in the Eucharist.
Francis of Assisi was poor only that he might be Christ-like. He recognized creation as another manifestation of the beauty of God. In 1979, he was named patron of ecology. He did great penance (apologizing to "Brother Body" later in life) that he might be totally disciplined for the will of God. His poverty had a sister, humility, by which he meant total dependence on the good God. But all this was, as it were, preliminary to the heart of his spirituality: living the gospel life, summed up in the charity of Jesus and perfectly expressed in the Eucharist.
Quote:
"We adore you and we bless you, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all the churches which are in the whole world, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world" (St. Francis).
"We adore you and we bless you, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all the churches which are in the whole world, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world" (St. Francis).
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