Path of Francis: transforming the world through simplicity and beauty (BJRE049)

Path of Francis: transforming the world through simplicity and beauty

(By Dr. Edward Edezhath. Published in Kairos Magazine in 2021)

“Can I share with you something that troubles me so much?” The phone call was from an active youth from a distant city. I thought he was going to share some personal tragedy. But he started pouring out his concerns about so many Catholic young people growing in anger against other religious groups and taking up the big mission of spreading messages of anger and fear. This virus is spreading, and it appears that very influential people in the Church are also encouraging this mission of spreading ‘fear and hate.’ 

This launched us into a discussion and sharing. I tried to lift his troubled heart and encourage him, and our thoughts moved on to St Francis of Assisi, his times, and his response to the problems of this day. 

A warrior alone, but with God

Francis lived in a small town in Italy during a troubled time in history. He was born into a wealthy family in 1181. His mother baptized Giovanni, but his father wanted a more fashionable name and called him Francis. Growing up as an adventure-loving and fashionable youth, he dreamed of becoming a famous nobleman. In 1202, he joined a military expedition but was taken as a prisoner. After a few years, while going to join the army, Francis had a strange vision persuading him to reconsider his path in life, and he gave up his worldly ambitions. 

His newfound spiritual explorations took him on to newer heights of exciting adventures. He turned away from luxury to a journey of interior search. He shared whatever he had with beggars. As he had a deep aversion for lepers, he took a daring step of going and embracing one of them. He heard a call to “rebuild the church” and began to renovate a local church building. When his father became upset about his irresponsible generosity and approached the bishop's court, Francis returned his clothes to his father.  He gave up his inheritance, declaring himself to be the true son of the Heavenly Father. He married “Lady Poverty” and started living a beggar’s life. Slowly and steadily, his radically simple life, utter faithfulness to the Gospel, and deep love for the person of Jesus began to attract many followers, among others, a lovely girl named Clair who gathered many women to the simple path of Francis. 

Youth and elders, men and women, scholars and simple-minded, the rich and the poor, and people of all nations found in Francis a most challenging way of responding to their lives' problems and the corruption of their times. Eight centuries have passed, yet the ‘Poverello,’ or as the famous Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis named his novel ‘God’s Pauper,’ remains an irresistible challenge to numerous people of all faiths.

Let Francis challenge us today!

‘Inclusion’ is a big word these days. In all civilized communities, there is a realization that if you keep away any person or group, eventually, it will harm everyone. Francis lived at a time of deep segregation everywhere.  Imitating Jesus, Francis lived a radical life of brotherhood. His path of integrating the suffering, beggars, or criminals to full participation in society was to throw away his privileges and become really like them. Francis followed Jesus, who loved like the Heavenly Father and made no distinction between ‘the good and the evil or the just and the unjust’ (Mt 5:45).

Francis loved Jesus and radically obeyed His words. At a time when Church life was full of complex rituals, prayer formulas, and external spectacle, our little man followed Jesus' earthly, human life with a deep passion. He lived a life of praise and enjoyed a deep prayer life. No wonder Francis was blessed with Stigmata or Jesus' five crucifixion wounds.

As in the day of Francis, even today, the big slogans are “Buy, consume, and enjoy!” or “Compete, excel, and win!” But Francis was unimaginably counter-cultural and threw away all comforts and success and opted to be poor. To join his lifestyle, people had to sell everything, give to the poor, as Jesus told the rich young man, and become a beggar like Francis himself. Yet so many rushed to take up that challenge.

Francis loved beauty and nature. He loved singing and found immense joy in God’s creation. Pope Francis uses the refrain from the Saint’s celebrated Canticle of Creation as a title for his famous encyclical Laudato Si. For Francis, not just human beings but everything in creation was a brother or sister. And the miracle was that even birds, animals, and plants responded to him with love and friendship. Most befittingly, in 1979, Pope John Paul II recognized him as the Patron Saint of Ecology.

There should be a little footnote to St Francis and his times. So many would have been upset about the pomp and hollowness of the Church of the Middle Ages. Some radical preachers like Peter Waldo (1140 – 1205) urged for a return to poverty and fidelity to the Gospel message, but they got into big trouble with the Church and society. However, the big difference between Francis and him was that he loved the Church and was utterly obedient to the Pope. Most of us would have watched Zeffirelli’s famous depiction of Francis meeting Pope Innocent III in 1210. When others thought that the Poverello was destroying the Church with disregard for order and discipline, the support of the Pope himself helped the simple saint to continue on his holy yet radical path. 

To follow Christ, you leave the crowd

The path of Christ is a journey of building and fighting. Francis wanted to be a soldier but became a gentle yet persevering fighter. Thus, he built the Church of Christ in his day and became a leaven for all ages to come. For a time, he was alone with his Christ-given mission of building a world of love, but then, one after the other, those who were touched by the spirit joined him. 

Perhaps it is the same way today, I told my frustrated friend. Don’t be overwhelmed by those who preach a Christianity of anger, fear, and exclusion. We have Jesus's example and teaching, and also the inspiration of many like Francis. Even if alone, we are called to be messengers of love and brotherhood and build God’s Kingdom of Love.