St. Francis of Assisi: A Radical Reliance on God
Saturday, October 4th Readings Reflection: Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
Today is the Feast of St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order and patron saint of animals. Born in 1181 in Assisi, Italy, St. Francis was originally christened Giovanni after St. John the Baptist at the choice of his mother. However, his father, a wealthy cloth merchant, renamed the infant Francesco after the country of France.
St. Francis had an easy childhood in which he always received what he wanted. As a young man, St. Francis fell among friends who lived wild, sinful lives. These friends had a bad influence on the young saint, who joined in their vices, living in sin with them. St. Francis desired glory, and he decided to enter the army in order to obtain this glory.
In his first war, St. Francis was imprisoned for a year; after his release, he planned to fight in the Fourth Crusade as his next battle. However, the night after he departed from his home for the Crusade, St. Francis experienced a vision in a dream, in which a voice asked the saint whether the servant or the Master were more important. St. Francis replied that the Master is, and the voice asked him why he sought the servant instead.
St. Francis returned home and began to develop a life of prayer and penance. One day, while praying in the Church of San Damiano, he heard a voice from the Crucifix instructing him to “repair [M]y Church, which is in ruin.” St. Francis initially understood this as a call to repair the Church of San Damiano, which had fallen into disrepair due to its age. St. Francis eagerly sold fabric from his father’s store for money to fund repairs on the church. His father, furious, demanded that his son return the money and denounce his rights as heir.
St. Francis did more than this; he returned the money and even the clothes he was wearing and began his life dedicated to “Lady Poverty.” He eventually realized that his second vision was calling him to repair the universal Church, which he did through his preaching and example of charity. Soon, men began to follow St. Francis and to live as he did in complete poverty and simplicity, performing works of charity toward all.
Everywhere St. Francis went, he spread the Gospel through both his words and his deeds. When one of his followers was robbed of his hood, St. Francis insisted that the brother offer the thief his robe as well. St. Francis followed this radical adherence to the Gospel right up until his death, which he embraced as “Sister Death.” He died on 3 October 1226 at the age of 44.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the seventy-two disciples that He has given them “power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall hurt you” (Lk 10:19 DRB). Through his radical faith and reliance upon God, St. Francis showed that truly only one thing is important: that we “[s]eek…first the kingdom of God, and [H]is justice, and all these things [i.e., material necessities] shall be added unto you” (Mt 6:33). May St. Francis of Assisi pray for us, that we always trust in God to provide for all our needs—both physical and spiritual—if we keep our primary focus on attaining Heaven.
St. Francis of Assisi, ora pro nobis!
