{"id":10060,"date":"2015-10-08T11:58:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T15:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=10060"},"modified":"2015-10-08T11:58:34","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T15:58:34","slug":"reflections-on-the-feast-of-st-francis-ron-belgau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2015\/10\/reflections-on-the-feast-of-st-francis-ron-belgau.html","title":{"rendered":"“Reflections on the Feast of St Francis”: Ron Belgau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

on a great saint (and a great hagiography):<\/p>\n

\n

G. K. Chesterton\u2019s biography of St. Francis<\/a> was one of many books that helped introduce me to the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith. But Francis himself stuck with me in a special way.<\/p>\n

I was particularly drawn by the powerful combination of joy and asceticism in his personality.<\/p>\n

Asceticism was not new to me. I had grown up Southern Baptist, and joined the Presbyterian Church in America in college. I had been profoundly moved by Bonhoeffer\u2019s Cost of Discipleship<\/a><\/em>. I had also been committed to celibacy since my late teens. So though I have learned more of asceticism and the cross since becoming Catholic, I already knew about the cost and sacrifice involved in responding to Christ\u2019s call to come and follow.<\/p>\n

What I did not realize, until I encountered St. Francis, was the deeper \u201cYes!\u201d that made sense of and gave life in the midst of the many things I had to say \u201cno\u201d to in order to remain faithful to Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

on a great saint (and a great hagiography): G. K. Chesterton\u2019s biography of St. Francis was one of many books that helped introduce me to the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith. But Francis himself stuck with me in a special way. I was particularly drawn by the powerful combination of joy and asceticism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,410,11,30,372,69],"class_list":["post-10060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mackerel-snapping","tag-friendship","tag-gk-chesterton","tag-his-banner-over-me-was-love","tag-mackerel-snapping-2","tag-ron-belgau","tag-weird-saints"],"yoast_head":"\n"Reflections on the Feast of St Francis": Ron Belgau<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"on a great saint (and a great hagiography): G. K. 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