{"id":2404,"date":"2012-10-04T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/10\/on-the-feast-of-saint-francis.html"},"modified":"2012-10-04T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T16:00:00","slug":"on-the-feast-of-saint-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/10\/on-the-feast-of-saint-francis.html","title":{"rendered":"On the Feast of Saint Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/a><\/div>\n

October just seems right for being the Feast of St. Francis. \u00a0Francis, as many are aware, is probably one of the favorite saints in all the world. \u00a0More than one skeptic,\u00a0Protestant, non-believer or non-Christian has found\u00a0inspiration\u00a0and enlightenment in his famous prayer:<\/p>\n

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;
and where there is sadness, joy.<\/p>\n

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;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a whopper, and always has shined as a\u00a0succinct\u00a0summary\u00a0of what makes the Gospel so counter-cultural. \u00a0It\u2019s odd that so many admire it, and yet seldom do we see the results of its emphasis\u00a0in our society.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, this, as well as the life of Francis itself, has\u00a0inspired\u00a0millions over the\u00a0years. \u00a0As the\u00a0eminent\u00a0Medieval\u00a0historian\u00a0Morris\u00a0Bishop wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cBooks on Saint Francis are one long cry of\u00a0adoration\u00a0and love. \u00a0Only rare\u00a0cynics\u00a0\u2026 make only a thin piping in the general\u00a0chorus\u00a0 \u00a0Everyone who knew Francis succumbed to his spell. \u00a0His\u00a0power\u00a0was Christ-like, and it is still at work in the world.\u201d*<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is so true. \u00a0Even as an evangelical clergyman, I had a copy of the prayer of St. Francis in my office, and generally found it well received. \u00a0Even\u00a0parishioners\u00a0who generally held the Catholic\u00a0Church\u00a0in contempt, nevertheless admitted to admiring the prayer, and\u00a0sometimes, even admiring Francis.<\/p>\n

And what better month to celebrate him, for October bears two distinctions that scream \u2018St. Francis\u2019 all over. \u00a0One, it is the\u00a0pinnacle\u00a0of Autumn. \u00a0It is the heart of God\u2019s fireworks\u00a0display, \u00a0with Fall\u2019s red and\u00a0orange\u00a0and yellow painting the landscape in vibrant colors. \u00a0It is a time of harvest, when the bounty of the earth\u00a0yields\u00a0its fruits, and apple cider and pumpkins and harvest festivals remind us of the\u00a0dynamic\u00a0of life and growth and the\u00a0abundant\u00a0blessings from God\u2019s\u00a0gracious\u00a0love. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

But it is also the season of death, the witching month. \u00a0It stands on the brink of All Saints and All Souls. \u00a0It is capped off by the informal All Hallows Eve, better known as Halloween. \u00a0Even despite the commercialism and the sexed up porn-outfits that find more and more kids dressed to thrill the hormones rather than chill the spines, there is still that echo of the hereafter, the netherworld, the realms of lamentation. \u00a0It is a season that confronts us as much as Ash Wednesday with the reality of our own demise. \u00a0And if we\u2019re careful, there is that whisper of damnation, that eternal fire that is behind the devil masks and demonic costumes; the reminder of just what it is that God\u2019s grace and eternal mercy saves us from in the first place. \u00a0In short, October is the month of vibrant life and nature\u2019s harvests, and death and the promises of the second death, or death as that release that helps us shuffle off these mortal coils so that we can finally enjoin the true presence of God in His\u00a0throne room, beyond the crystal sea of glass and seven lamps.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, despite the promise and\u00a0warning\u00a0 we must accept them and live them. \u00a0The homily on Sunday focused on Jesus\u2019 warnings of the fires of Gehenna. \u00a0Plucking\u00a0out eyes and cutting off hands rather than entering hell\u00a0fully\u00a0fit. It is a warning that despite all we have, the heritage, the faith, the Sacraments, we may still neglect so great a salvation for the next bowl of stew. \u00a0Despite all that we\u2019ve been given, in the end when October is done, it will not be the death that leads to life which we will receive. \u00a0Perhaps it\u2019s tough in our secular, \u00a0material, skeptical age. \u00a0It could be the legacy of all ages of faith, that\u00a0despite\u00a0all who have access to the promises, so few will eventually take that narrow way. <\/p>\n

Another student of\u00a0Medieval\u00a0history, author of an excellent resource for those not schooled in the depths of medieval studies, but who would like a good beginner\u2019s text, points out different reasons for the Church\u2019s\u00a0struggles\u00a0in the Middle Ages:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great shortcoming of the high-medieval Church was not gross corruption but rather a creeping complacency that resulted sometimes in a shallow, mechanical attitudes toward the\u00a0Christian\u00a0religious life and an obsession with ecclesiastical property\u2026among much of the clergy the profundity of the Faith as often lost in the day-to-day affairs of the pastoral office, the management of large estates, disputes over land and privileges, and\u00a0ecclesiastical\u00a0status seeking.\u201d** \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even Francis himself could not start a movement that forever survived the thorns and thistles of\u00a0this\u00a0present darkness. \u00a0Hollister observes\u00a0that\u00a0the \u2018Franciscans\u00a0continued\u00a0to serve society, but by the end of the thirteenth century, they had ceased to inspire it.\u201d*** \u00a0This being the result of the inevitable\u00a0worldliness,\u00a0the focus on wealth, bills, taxes, whatever it is that steals that zeal of the Spirit, that helps the Evil One swipe those seeds from the rocky soil, or entangle them in the\u00a0thistles\u00a0and briers of worldly care.<\/p>\n

So knowing what we can have, what we enjoy as Catholics, a Sacramental lifeline to the Almighty Himself through the Body and Blood of His Son, we should rejoice and yet do so with caution. \u00a0Francis enjoyed life,\u00a0indulging\u00a0in everything, even death. \u00a0Yet in his best efforts, his\u00a0movement\u00a0would succumb to all the problems that the Apostles of Jesus would face, and that the\u00a0Church\u00a0has ever struggled against. \u00a0The point isn\u2019t that there will never be the struggles or\u00a0temptations\u00a0or even failures. \u00a0The point is the recognize them, admit them, and when we are beset by them, to turn away, be prepared to cut off that limb, and know that death need not be a decent into dark hopelessness, but rather the doorway through which we enter to enjoy eternal bliss in the Divine Light of God\u2019s eternal love.<\/p>\n

*Bishop, Morris, The Middle Ages<\/i>, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA, 1968, pg. 164<\/span>
** Hollister, C. Warren, Medieval Europe, A Short History<\/i>, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
\n, New York, NY, pg. 190<\/span>
*** Hollister, pg. 204<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October just seems right for being the Feast of St. Francis. \u00a0Francis, as many are aware, is probably one of the favorite saints in all the world. \u00a0More than one skeptic,\u00a0Protestant, non-believer or non-Christian has found\u00a0inspiration\u00a0and enlightenment in his famous prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn the Feast of Saint Francis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October just seems right for being the Feast of St. Francis.  Francis, as many are aware, is probably one of the favorite saints in all the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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