The first two weekends of Lent, we heard about Jesus being tempted in the desert and being transfigured on the mountaintop. Today, our readings call us to repentance, a common theme during Lent. The second preface for the season of Lent calls this a sacred time for the renewing and purifying of hearts. We began this season a little more than two weeks ago with the imposition of ashes on our foreheads; we were told to repent and believe in the Gospel, as Lent is a time to turn away from our sins and to turn once again to Christ.
Today’s Gospel shows us the importance and urgency of conversion in our lives. In the parable of the fig tree, the owner has invested time, money, and effort in cultivating his orchard. Yet, one particular fig tree has produced no fruit. It takes up space and does not give back. The owner decides not to waste his precious land on this unproductive tree. He instructs his gardener to cut it down. The gardener asks for another year to tend to the tree and to give it special attention. The gardener thinks that tree has a chance to bear good fruit. But, if the tree still does not produce fruit in that time, the gardener agrees that it should be cut down.
God is patient with us, but his patience has limits. In knowing that God is just, we can have hope. But there are also limits and boundaries. We have to be willing to change. We have to be willing to discern God’s will and to act upon it. On Ash Wednesday, St Paul proclaimed, “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” We are to heed God’s message in due time. Lent gives us the opportunity to renew our lives, to repent, and to bear fruit out of faith.
The saint I chose in connection to today’s theme of repentance and renewal is St Francis of Assisi, the Italian saint who was born in the 12th century and who is known for love of animals and of all God’s creation here on earth. This is a message that has resonated with us in the modern world, as we see the need to be good stewards of God’s creation. We often picture St Francis as a quaint kindly statue that is often found in gardens. I have some statues and images of St Francis that depict him this way. However, he is not just a garden gnome who loves animals and nature. Francis came from a very wealthy family. He loved to party and lived a very showy extravagant lifestyle. He ran around with a gang of his friends, causing problems in his community He dreamed of becoming a knight. But when he was captured in battle and held captive for a year, his health deteriorated from these harsh conditions and he had a conversion experience that called him to a new life.
Lepers were feared individuals in medieval society. Their disease was very contagious. They were shunned by society and lived on the outskirts. Francis abhorred lepers and tried to avoid them. However, during his time of conversion, Francis was riding a horse when he encountered a leper. His inclination was to flee in disgust as he normally did, but God moved Francis to approach the leper, to embrace him and kiss him. The revulsion he felt for the leper turned into compassion and mercy. As he turned to mount his horse again, the leper vanished into the air. Francis believed that this was not truly an ordinary leper, but rather Jesus appearing to him in disguise. For the rest of his life, Francis made a special effort to reach out to the lepers, especially those living just outside of Assisi, showing them love and mercy out of his faith.
During this time of conversion, Francis started living in the ruins of the San Damiano church near Assisi as a beggar. A young man who loved a life of pampered luxury, he felt Christ calling him to poverty. His family and friends did not know what to make of this. One day, kneeling in front of the cross in the chapel in a moment of discernment and prayer, Christ’s voice came from the cross, telling him, “Rebuild my Church.” Taking this command literally, Francis began rebuilding of that little chapel. That rebuilding prefigured a much more profound spiritual renewal that would be the product of his hands, the renewal of the entire Church throughout Europe with the Franciscan movement that his life would inspire.
When I was with the Notre Dame program on our trip to Europe, we visited the monastery in La Verna that Francis of Assisi founded. There was a little cave located there in the monastery where Francis slept on a stone bed. I also read a story of Francis where a family offered to feed him on a regular basis, but Francis instead chose to bed for scraps of food in the community with a bowl. He felt Jesus calling him to extreme poverty in life, identifying with Jesus in that poverty.
A rich spoiled young man has an extreme conversion in his life, becoming the leader of the Franciscan movement of spirituality that still is very influential in our Church today. Looking at his lifestyle and personality as a young man, one would never see the way if would bear fruits in a life of faith. There was a lot of abuse, corruption, and extravagance in the medieval Church of Francis’ day. This is the era of the founding of the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Carmelites, orders that looked to renew the Church and to speak to the reality of that era. Next year, it will be the 800th anniversary of the death of Francis of Assisi. His life of faith still bears fruits today many centuries after his death.
How is our life of faith bearing fruit? To what conversion and renewal are we called to bear the fruits that God calls us to bear? These are good questions we can ask ourselves as we continue our journey during Lent.
No comments:
Post a Comment