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By Betty Goodwin
He stands over there in the garden with his arms outstretched as
if to embrace the whole universe. His name is St. Francis of Assisi. Born 800
years ago, he is known today as Everybody’s Saint. All creation loved him,
including bird and beast; and today countless birdbaths, and many other gardens
containing similar statues of Francis, attest to that love. Many people
throughout the ages have loved him so much that they have made a permanent
commitment to follow his way of life.
But who was this man and what has he to do with us – space
age, modern individuals that we are?
Italian-Born
He was born to a wealthy cloth merchant named Peter Bernardone and
his wife, Pica. While Bernardone was away in France on business, Pica had the
child baptized John. While visiting the country, Bernardone grew to love
France; and when he came home to Italy, he nicknamed his boy Francesco in honor
of France. The child grew to become a man who desired to achieve knighthood,
and to earn fame as a warrior. But God often changes plans! While convalescing
from a long illness, Francis began an inward search that led to a total
dedication to God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After responding to a
call from the cross at St. Damian’s to rebuild the Church (a request that
Francis took literally at first!), he startled his medieval contemporaries by
embracing poverty with a newfound peace and joy. He went about clothed in the
tunic and cord, as a poor man of that era, telling everyone the “Good
News” of salvation, and greeting them spontaneously with “Peace and
all good things!” Scholars who have studied St. Francis’ personality
say that this spontaneous response to those he met was an expression of the
freedom he felt as a child of God. He felt free to be himself, free to express
himself. He was not afraid to expose his emotional life, and he was
non-judgmental toward others. In short, he was a fully transparent, loving
individual.
Francis’ Rule
Soon Francis’ way of living attracted others. With approval
of the Church, he wrote a Rule of Life for himself and his followers. Francis
called this new religious order the Order of Friars Minor (O.F.M.). These men
abandoned all material possessions, and traveled the countryside with Francis,
preaching to all and begging clothing and food. He formed another order in
response to a noblewoman of Assisi named Clare and other women who also desired
to live the simple Gospel life in the manner of Francis. These women lived a
contemplative life within their convents, and were called the “Second
Order,” the “Poor Ladies,” or the “Poor Clares.”
Soon a large number of men and women began to follow the example
of a married coupled named Luchesio and Bona Donna in their desire to live like
Francis. Francis wrote a Rule of Life for these men and women who were not able
to join the First or Second Order and these were called the “Third
Order” and the “Brothers and Sisters of Penance” (now they are
known as Secular Franciscans.) They gave generously to the poor, practiced
penance and devoted themselves to prayer and good works. They had a special
concern for the sick. At a time when Italy’s city-states were often
engaged in warfare among themselves, these Third Order members strove to
promote peace and at times even refused to bear arms, which made them a center
of controversy. Some historians indicate that the pacifism of these Secular
Franciscans helped to change the tide of feudal life in Italy. These three
orders of early Franciscans, the Order of Friars Minor, the Poor Clares, and
the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, all lived in an age that was much life
ours – a time of controversy, of factions warring with one another, of
lower classes struggling, a time when people were seeking greater freedom and a
better life.
A Vocation For Today
But centuries have passed since the formation of those bands of
independent Franciscans. Can one who lives in this modern, complex world find
direction and identity from a movement that started so long ago? The answer is
yes. The Gospel life of Francis is just as much a vocation today as it was
centuries ago.
Perhaps the key to the issue of the Franciscan vocation of today
lies in the word MODERN. Modern means “of, relating to, or characteristic
of the present or the immediate past; a person of timely ideas or views; a
contemporary.” Franciscans were certainly “modern” men and
women; they were contemporaries in Italy, living during the medieval period of
history. But though they lived during a certain era, they were not bound to the
medieval mold, because they were also “new.” (“New” is
still another definition of the word modern!) These early Franciscans were new
in the sense that they were refreshed, regenerated, different from the men and
women that they had been previously: they experienced a change of heart.
The modern Franciscan meets the same challenge today – the
challenge to be new. Like his earlier counterparts, his newness consists of a
constant change of heart, the spirituality of penance and ongoing conversion
that leads to a total “centeredness” or oneness with the crucified
Lord and Savior. And like the earlier Franciscans, the Franciscan of today (as
a religious or secular person) is IN the world but not OF it, choosing a
spiritual path which is free from possessiveness or the desire to accumulate
material wealth, in order to devote his/her life to God through the love of
Christ Jesus.
Challenge Of Commitment
The Franciscan of today also encounters the same challenge of
permanent commitment as did his medieval predecessors. He dedicates himself to
an objective for life in an age in which lack of commitment and indevisiveness
seems to be the norm. In the Secular Franciscan Order, after a period of
probation that normally lasts three months, and a second period (novitiate)
that lasts at least one year, the member pledges himself to a way of life lived
in the spirit of poverty, chastity and obedience. In poverty, he generously
shares all that he has (as a steward of God’s gifts), and is freed from
attachment to material wealth. In chastity, he recognized the sanctity of the
whole person, mind, spirit and body. In obedience, he is committed to the
Church and to the Rule in an attitude of self-denial and self-giving. In this
way, the individual strives for personal holiness so that he may live the
Gospel of Jesus as fully and as intensely as he can, while continuing to live
and to work in the world.
Certainly anyone or any group can propose to live the Gospel life
in an intensified way, but the affiliate of a specific religious order in the
Roman Catholic Church gains official approval from the Church, and is asked by
the Church to exhibit how a community of Christians (or just one Christian)
makes Christ present to the world. Though they do not take permanent vows,
Secular Franciscans are official religious in the Church, not merely a pious
society or organization, because they make a promise before a bishop or his
delegate, who are official representatives of the Church, to live the Gospel
life in the manner of Francis.
Atlanta Fraternity
An example of individuals working and praying together in
fraternal commitment to the Gospel life is found in Atlanta in the Secular
Franciscan Fraternity that meets monthly at the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception. The fraternity, which is led by Frances Drew, president, and Father
Jude Smith, O.F.M., spiritual advisor, studies the Rule (which was revised in
1978) and learns how to apply this Rule to the daily living of its members.
Also, the group prays the Divine Office, the official daily prayer of the
Church. In this manner, these Franciscans respond to St. Francis’ desire
that the brotherhood “pray the Office devoutly,” and to Vatican II,
which encourages religious orders and all the faithful to celebrate the prayer
of the Church together. By praying the Office, the fraternity answers the
directive given to all Franciscan Orders to pray in concert in preparation for
the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ birth (1181-82).
As a special “good work” the Secular Franciscans at the
Shrine have proposed an emergency fund for the elderly needy of Atlanta. Some
Secular Franciscan groups and individuals have become active in sociological
and ecological concerns, thus applying St. Francis’ love for all creation
to the modern problems of conservation of water, conservation of forest lands,
waste control, and endangered species of animals. Others have joined the
pro-life movement in order to show their support and concern for the lives of
unborn children and to promote respect for all human life. Still others feel a
special concern for the larger Christian community: they respond to the call of
Jesus from the cross to rebuild the Church by joining the growing ecumenical
movement. The leaders in the Catholic ecumenical movement in the United States
are the Friars of the Atonement (At-ONE-ment), in Garrison, New York.
Thus we see that Franciscans of today are instruments of social
reform and peace, just as St. Francis and his followers were reformers and
peacemakers centuries ago.
Dedicated Love
As a Secular Franciscan, one usually become responsible,
committed, obedient, and active, living as close an imitation of Christ and
Francis as possible. But this does not necessarily imply that “all work
and no play” are the only factors toward leading a Franciscan lifestyle in
the world today. Francis was often childlike and playful; and just as Jesus
talked about children and showed His love for them, so did Francis. Francis was
anything but dull: he was a clown, a troubadour, a poet (he composed the
well-known “The Canticle of Brother Sun”); and he was an emancipated
man, enjoying the compete freedom that comes with total abandonment to God.
As we prepare to celebrate the 800th anniversary of St.
Francis’ birth in 1982 perhaps the biggest challenge for every Franciscan,
and indeed a challenge for every Christian, is learning how to follow Francis
in his search for perfect joy and peace, to learn how to stay with him daily
and unequivocally, “My God and my All.” Learning how to join Francis
in this prayer of dedicated love is indeed a vocation for life!
(Betty Goodwin is a parishioner at the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception in Atlanta) |
