Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

St Francis in front of MSF Chapel

At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

As we enter this third millennium, Saint Francis remains the most fascinating, endearing and mysterious man of the second millennium. Geographically and temporally half-way between our time and that of Jesus, he acts as a kind of bridge between us and the Lord. 
Unlike the United States, Jesus and Francis lived in a Mediterranean culture where peoples of many nations and religions and languages interacted daily. They had their stereotypes, but there was no systematic racism. Authority was administered in first century Palestine and thirteenth century Italy by patronage and patriarchy. It wasn’t what you know  or how much you have but who you know. Money and expertise were useful but connections made things happen.

On our side of the bridge, Francis and we experience life in the “middle class” with its investments in education and upward mobility, things of which Jesus never dreamt. Even during his lifetime Francis saw an economy transformed from bartering with merchandise to investing with money.

But Francis speaks to us most clearly because he was not a thinker. He was not well-educated. He could read but Friar Leo acted as his amanuensis, his secretary, when he needed to write something. Without formal education, Francis never learned to deal in ideas as a carpenter uses his tools or a traveler studies a map. I don’t think he ever said, “Look at it this way” as if one can toy with different ideas to look at the same thing.

Francis never meditated on the idea of love or the idea of faith. Rather, he felt the love of God rise like an artesian well in his heart. It was strong, pure, wholesome, and irresistible. For a while he struggled to respond to that surge of joy because he didn’t know what to do. Apparently he took up the traditional life of the hermit for a while though he was not by nature a solitary person; he probably considered entering a monastery but it did not excite him; he seems never to have considered the priesthood. He was surrounded by well-intentioned advisors who wondered, “When is this young man going to settle down?”

Thomas of Celano writes about his finding his vocation:

One day the gospel was being read in that church [the Portiuncula] about how the Lord sent out his disciples to preach. The holy man of God, who was attending there, in order to understand better the words of the gospel, humbly begged the priest after celebrating the solemnities of the Mass to explain the gospel to him. The priest explained it all to him thoroughly, line by line. When he heard that Christ’s disciples should not possess gold or silver or money, or carry on their journey a wallet or a sack, nor bread nor staff, nor to have shoes nor two tunics, but that they should preach the kingdom of God and penance, the holy man, Francis, immediately exulted in the spirit of God, “This is what I want,” he said, “this is what I seek, this is what I desire with all my heart.”
The holy father, overflowing with joy, hastened to implement the words of salvation, and did not delay before he devoutly began to put into effect what he heard.

Reclining Francis at MSF

Among his many charms, Francis’ spontaneity is most endearing. As he waited with endless patience for a word from God, he could not be bothered with ideas or suggestions. But when God finally spoke to him a concrete word he did precisely what he was told.