This week is full of beloved saints– the archangels, St. Therese of Lisieux, the guardian angels, and now St. Francis of Assisi. Francis is somehow simultaneously one of the best-known saints and the least-known. The world thinks they know him: a peaceful, animal-loving, carefree hippie. But they miss the radically obedient servant of the Church, who praised the very fire that was pressed to his eyes to cure his painful blindness. They miss the suffering, the humility, and the faith.
We think of St. Therese as the saint whose life and witness encapsulates Jesus’ command to be like a child. But Francis gives us this same witness, and it’s the key in how we are to imitate him.
Some saints are better admired than imitated. We might think that about St. Francis. After all, I don’t think God is calling me to give away all my possessions and sleep outside, to walk barefoot from town to town preaching the Gospel, to preach to birds and wolves.
But God is calling me to imitate what is at the root of Francis’ sanctity: his childlikeness.
Think of Francis’ solution to end the wars in the Holy Land. Convert the Muslim leader, of course! So he goes with simplicity and zeal, not caring for his own life and the risks, to convert him. Famously, the Sultan was so impressed with his courage, he did not kill him and allowed Francis to make pilgrimage to the holy sites.
Think of his approach to his own Rule. He didn’t intend to found an Order. But when he had to do something for the thousands of men who had started to follow him, he reluctantly worked on a Rule– one that had the Holy Spirit as the Master General of the Order. It wasn’t easy to convince him that this wasn’t a viable plan.
Think of his solution when beset by temptation: throw yourself in a rose bush! Or his reaction when his father disowns him: Strip off those clothes and give them back! If we are honest, these beautiful reactions are the reactions of a child. Not in a bad way. In a refreshingly innocent way.
Francis was impulsive, but out of love. A child doesn’t think through the consequences once zealous love sets him on a path. Francis was able to live radical poverty because he was utterly trusting of His Father. A child doesn’t wonder where his next meal is coming from or where he is going to sleep.
Francis preached to the birds and was able to tame wild animals because he lived in the innocence of the Garden of Eden. He had the gentleness of a child, and possessed the union with creation that man had before the Fall. He loved creation because he knew they shared a Father.
Ronald Knox explains, “Do not by the way, ever let anybody try to make you believe that St. Francis was fond of animals; he was fond of creatures. His brother was the sun, his sister the moon; when he had to have an operation on his eyes, without anesthetics, he asked his brother fire to be gentle to him, and when the last scene of all came, he could welcome his sister death. Anybody can be fond of live animals because they remind him of human beings; grown-up people often are, and some are very sloppy about it. But it is the child that can manage to be fond of inanimate things, talk for hours to a stuffed bird, for example. And St. Francis was like that; he loved creatures, not because they reminded him of human beings, but because they reminded him of God” (emphasis mine).
Perhaps Francis seems hard for us to imitate. After all, I’d like to be a saint… but be a little less weird.
But we are called to imitate him. By becoming like little children. Maybe for you, that means trusting more in your Father in Heaven. Maybe it means approaching life with more childlike joy. For others, it might mean working on our gratitude: not counting what we don’t have, but being grateful for the gifts of God, even the sufferings.
Rejoice even the smallest things throughout your day, as a child would. Trust in your Father who loves you. Be more like Francis.
“Almighty, eternal, just, and merciful God, grant us in our misery [the grace]
to do for You alone what we know You want us to do,
and always to desire what pleases You.
Thus, inwardly cleansed, interiorly enlightened, and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow in the footprints of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And, by Your grace alone, may we make our way to You, Most High, Who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified God all-powerful forever and ever. Amen.”
Prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi
Photo: St. Francis of Assisi by Jusepe de Ribera (detail)
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