Earlier this year, Pope Leo proclaimed a special Jubilee Year for St. Francis of Assisi, marking the 800th anniversary of his death. As the Pope notes in the opening words of the document announcing the Jubilee Year: “‘Our sister death’ exclaimed Saint Francis on October 3, 1226, at the Porziuncola, as he went to meet her like a man finally at peace. Eight centuries have passed since the death of the Poor Man of Assisi, who inscribed the word of Christ’s salvation in indelible characters on the hearts of the people of his time.”
This year, the feast day of St. Francis falls on a Sunday (4th October). It would be great to have this marvelous saint in mind as we celebrate Mass. Indeed, the Gospel for Sunday is so appropriate for our dear saint (Matthew 21: 33-43). He did indeed live for the Kingdom of God and produce much fruit, both in his short life and for the following centuries after his death. What is more, St. Francis’s spirit of poverty and work for peace is very much at the heart of the mission and spirituality of the Order.
It would difficult indeed to summarize the contribution of St. Francis to the life of the Church and, therefore, to how he can be our inspiration and guide in our spiritual journey. Perhaps the easiest way is explore a few snapshots of his amazing witness to the Gospel and, by implication, how he can be our model and helper.
In his letter establishing the Jubilee Year, Pope Leo focuses on a crucial aspect of the charism of St. Francis: peace. We can all recall the well-known Prayer of St. Francis: “make me a channel of your peace.” It would be a great exercise to recite this prayer every day, especially if we face difficult or trying situations (or people!) at work, school, or in the family. One might open this up further, by also seeing “peace” in terms of a gift from God that brings harmony, or right order. Again, Pope Leo mentioned this when he wrote the following words. “At the beginning of his evangelical life, he [Francis] had heard a call: ‘The Lord revealed to me that we should say this greeting…The Lord give you peace.’ With these words, he entrusts to his friars and to every believer the inner wonder that the Gospel had brought into his life: peace is the sum of all God’s blessings, a gift that comes from above.” We all certainly need to grow in that sense of harmony and of a tranquility of heart.
In the same vein, St. Francis shows us how to grow in “a poverty of spirit.” This, of course, is also the first of the eight Beatitudes (cf. Matthew 5: 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”). St. Francis was renowned for his poverty, or as Dante writes (Paradiso, Canto 11), his marriage to “Lady Poverty.” At the root of this poverty is the fundamental realization and attitude that everything we have and are is not ours, but rather is a gift from God. A corollary of this is that we are part of, not in opposition to, God’s great gift of creation. Yet another well-known prayer, composed by St. Francis, the Canticle of Creatures, sings of this so eloquently. Again, Pope Leo instructs us beautifully in this truth. “The Franciscan vision of peace is not limited to relations between human beings, but embraces the entire creation. Francis, who calls the sun ‘brother’ and the moon ‘sister’, who recognizes in every creature a reflection of divine beauty, reminds us that peace must extend to the entire family of creation.”
A further, wonderful, aspect of the very practical spirituality of St. Francis is the need to be earthed. There is the wonderful story that when St. Francis had left everything behind to begin his new life, he lived in the semi-ruined church of San Damiano. One day, the figure of our Lord on a crucifix in the church asked him to “rebuild the church.” St. Francis, ever practical, took this command literally and began to rebuild the semi-ruined church, stone by stone. Of course, he then came to realize that Jesus was asking him not so much to rebuild the church physically, but to rebuild the Church spiritually, for the need was great. We are “living stones” of God’s Church, and He calls us in our age also be help build His Church, both physically and spirituality. Again, the need is great.
A Christmas tradition that we all know is a clear illustration of this practical or earthed spirituality, namely the Christmas crib. Pope Francis reflected on this in his 2019 Letter on the Meaning and Importance of the Nativity Scene. Before Christmas, St. Francis asked a local man to help him realize his desire “to bring to life the memory of that babe born in Bethlehem, to see as much as possible with my own eyes the discomfort of his infant needs, how he lay in a manger, and how, with an ox and an ass standing by, he was laid upon a bed of hay”. At this, his faithful friend went immediately to prepare all that the Saint had asked. On 25th December, the friars gathered together along with people from the farmsteads in the area, who brought flowers and torches to light up that holy night. When Francis arrived, he found a manger full of hay, an ox and a donkey. All those present experienced a new and indescribable joy in the presence of the Christmas scene. The priest then celebrated the Eucharist over the manger, showing the bond between the Incarnation of the Son of God and the Eucharist. At Greccio, there were no statues; instead, the nativity scene was enacted and experienced by all who were present. This is how our tradition began: with everyone gathered in joy around the cave, where there seemed to be no distance between the original event and those sharing in its mystery and joy on that day.
In all this, we can think of the closeness of St. Francis to our Lord or, better put, the Lord’s closeness to him! This closeness was so intense and deep that on the Feast Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14th September) 1224 at Mount Alvernia, St. Francis received the stigmata (the five wounds) of Jesus crucified. These wounds remained with him until he died. The Lord, of course, desires to be close to us and we must also, with his help, be Christ to others. When we receive Holy Communion, for example, we must become like the one we receive and to see Christ in others. This is why, in our Order, we refer to those who are sick or suffering as “my Lords, the sick.” Indeed, we know well that a central part of the Order’s mission is to be Christ to those in need.
Let us finish our brief reflection with a prayer that Pope Leo has written for this 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi:
Saint Francis, our brother,
you who eight hundred years ago
went to meet sister death as a man at peace,
intercede for us with the Lord.
You recognized true peace in the Crucifix of San Damiano,
teach us to seek in Him the source of all reconciliation
that breaks down every wall.
You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of war and misunderstanding,
grant to us the courage to build bridges,
where the world erects borders.
In this time afflicted by conflicts and divisions,
intercede so that we may become peacemakers:
unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ.
Amen.
Written by Very Rev. Msgr. Anthony Barratt, STL, PhD, VF, ChM
