Reflection on St Francis of Assisi on his feast day - October 4 2018

     We celebrate the feast day of St Francis of Assisi today, October 4. I remember reading an article a few years ago that said that St Francis is much more than a cute little statue that we put in our gardens.  So often, we see the saints as these cute, kind, fuzzy symbols of our faith, with the radical message they preached and the raw, bold way they lived their lives being watered down and domesticated.  

     Francis lived way back in the 12th century in Italy.  During his years growing up through young adulthood, he lived in privilege and wealth very far away from the Catholic faith.  Finally, after a year of imprisonment as a prison of war, after several years of struggle in which he discovered the poor and the marginalized and the suffering of the world, Francis turned toward God, renouncing his family and his inheritance.  Francis embrace poverty and God’s beauty that he saw in all of creation.  In a world where environmental destruction and exploiting the world natural resources have jeopardized the future of humanity here on earth, Francis’ example and ministry speaks to all of us in the world today.  In fact, our current pope took the name of Francis in honor of St Francis of Assisi, to show how he stood in solidarity with the forgotten and the poor.  St Francis reached out to those outside the realm of the Christian.  No one was outside of the Gospel message according to Francis.  

      Francis’ peace message speaks powerfully today to a world in such desperate need of reconciliation and peace: 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair,

hope; where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. AMEN.