Friday, October 3, 2014

The Passing of St, Francis of Assisi

I got this reflection from one of the Transitus texts. I don't remember the name of the author but it is thought provoking and inspiring. It will help us a lot as we prepare to celebrate this evening the passing of our Father Francis of Assisi. 
As we gather this evening to “remember” the death of St. Francis, to whom might we address that same question? “What do you miss the most?” Might Clare respond: “I miss the deep conversations we had because our hearts were so in tune,” and then laugh at the remembrance of the time she and Francis shared a meal and were so wrapped in God that the townsfolk thought the area was on fire and came rushing down with pails of water to put out the flames? 




“What do you miss the most?” Perhaps Masseo would say: “I miss Francis’ humble gestures of love,” and then recall the story of Francis waiting for him to bring back word from Clare and Sylvester as to how he should spend his days, in contemplation or in activity. Masseo would remember that, rather than rushing at him for an answer, Francis greeted him, washed his feet tenderly, cooked him a meal, and only then knelt down before Masseo to hear God ’s will for him.
“What do you miss the most?”  What would Francis’ father say? How would his mother respond? What about Lady Jacopa?
There is a line from the fairy tale The Tinker King which states: “Everything dies a little when something dies a lot.” Francis’ passing from this world constituted a particularly brilliant reflection of God’s  beauty no longer physically present to us. What a loss!
And in our loss, in the first decade of this 21st century, people like ourselves around the planet gather tonight for the 780th time since Francis’s death to ask the question one more time. “What do we miss the most?” and “What does our world miss the most?”
As we sit here tonight, “memories” come back that find us “dying a little” all over again because Francis died “a lot.” We encounter our own fears and yearnings as we stand before the darkness and the shadow of death in Iraq and North Korea and Iran.
Filling our news and our very beings, we listen with heavy hearts to the death toll in Philadelphia city streets alone. We mourn in solidarity with Iraqi and Afghan and Palestinian and Israeli mothers who have all “died a little” because their children have been terrorized and have “died a lot.” 
But, in the face of this evil, we remember Francis who encountered the Sultan peacefully, who reconciled opposing factions in Assisi, who lifted hearts with his greeting of “Good Morning, Good People,” who envisioned a world of no enemies where everyone was sister and brother and who stripped himself of everything to make this happen more easily, who allowed his suffering to transform him into a most faithful mirror of Christ, and who could even face death singing—and, all of a sudden, WE HAVE HOPE. 
We realize that our God is, indeed, not only a God of day but also a God who holds us during the darkness and that Francis’ imitation of the foot-washing Christ is just the antidote we and our world need in response to the oppression and brokenness that surround us.
As we ponder “What do we miss the most?” we are challenged by our own responsibility to “fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.” (1 Colossians 24)  Through the intercession of St. Francis and through the legacy that he has passed down to us, what we miss the most God’s Spirit has given us the power to supply!
“I have done what is mine to do,” Francis would remind us tonight, “may Christ teach you what is yours to do.” (2C, 214)


Most high, all powerful, all good Lord! All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing. To you, alone, Most High, do they belong. No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens you have made them, precious and beautiful.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and clouds and storms, and all the weather, through which you give your creatures sustenance.
Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten the night. He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy those who endure in peace, for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
Be praised, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whose embrace no living person can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Happy those she finds doing your most holy will. The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks, and serve him with great humility.

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