OK, let me get back to St. Francis. :yup:
When Francis goes to the Scripture he hears Christ say three things that he takes to hear and these commands become the root of the Franciscan rule.
- “Take nothing for your journey”
- “Deny yourself and take up your cross”
- “Sell what you have and give to the poor”
Jesus is not just dishing out good advice for Francis and his family. Francis asks Father Peter to open the Gospel Book three times in the Name of the Trinity. This is an extremely important detail. Everything that Francis does and teaches is Trinitarian. We live in the presence of the Trinity and we are guided by the Trinity. Therefore, our life, even our prayer, should be an act of honor to the Trinity.
The Holy Spirit speaks to Francis, and tells him that the way to the Father is through the Son. He must put himself at the mercy of God as the Son did.
Yes, and as I said above, the difference between him and Dominic is that Francis method of preaching is a popular method, one that can be adopted by anyone. You don’t have to be a priest or religious to preach the Gospel the way Francis preached it.
He read the Gospel, prayed over the Gospel, asked the Church to confirm his understanding, then he went out and put into practice what the Gospel said. When anyone asked, “Why don’t you get excited, angry, or feel indignation? Can’t you see all of the heresy around us? Can’t you see the abuses by the clergy?” Francis could calmly answer, “Look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, no heretic, no cleric, no bishop, can care for us as our Father does. We are in his hands. He will lead us as he led Moses out of Egypt.” He preached without confrontation and without frustration.
Francis paid very close attention to Jesus’ self disclosures. This is very Franciscan Theology. Aquinas did not pay much attention to this. I’m not saying that Aquinas missed something. It’s just that he did not. It’s that simple.
Francis pays attention to Christ’s self disclosures.
I AM the way
I AM the Good Shepherd
I AM the vine
I AM he
Jesus Christ, who is humility incarnate, speaks in simple facts. He speaks of himself in terms of who he is, I AM . . .
Our Holy Father runs with this example. If one is to be humble, one must begin with I AM a sinner. I AM an instrument. I AM [fill in the blank]. One does not inflate what one is, nor does one deny it. One simply accepts it. He would always say, “I am what I am before God, nothing else.” In his mind, no man is more or less than what he is before God. This became another of his mantras that he would hand down to his sons and daughters. We judge actions; we do not judge people. We speak about what people do, we do not speak about what they are before God. Only the individual and God knows what he is. Humility starts with I AM . . ., as Christ spoke and does not make judgments about what others are, because only Christ knows what others are.
He had a wonderful relationship with Clare. It was very human. She was in love with his holiness. He was used to flattery. He had been a pretty boy, though he was not a sinner at all. He was charming, friendly, generous, talented and a really nice guy to have around. Clare’s adulation did not help, because it triggered those old feelings of self-awareness, self-importance and pride. There was also another part.
He was young and he had a strong libido. She was young and beautiful. She too had an attractive personality, charming, witty, very intelligent and she was his intellectual superior. She was the woman of his dreams. If he was to be her father, he needed to act like a father. There were boundaries that had to be kept.
Finally, there was the fraternal dimension of this relationship. Clare always referred to herself as Francis’ plant. Allegedly, he was her guide. This part was true. He was the teacher and the Patriarch. However, she did not treat him as a daughter does a father. She treated him as an older sister would treat a son, even though she was 10-years his junior. She would box his ears, which was another reason to stay away.
There was a time when he wanted to go out and do what Dominic was doing. He wanted to convert heretics and Muslims. He left to go on a mission. When he returned, she gave him an earful. She told him that his mission was to convert Catholics to Christianity. She did not like Catholics at all. Which is very interesting. She loved the Catholic Church, but she felt that Catholics seemed to come in two crops, the left and the right. Someone had to bring them to the center, that was Francis.
Mother Teresa read this and this is how she concludes that Christ lives among us in the distressing disguise of the poor.
He accepted that the world would be converted only when we detached from it. Each person, one at a time, detaches from the world around him. This is how we begin to conquer ourselves. Before we realize it, the world is converted.
