Parish Of Opawa St Martins Blog

Today is St Francis Day. St Francis is known as the patron saint of animals and the ecology. As we are all well aware, nature is full of powerful forces. Over the last few days we have witnessed the terrible tragedy in Samoa following the earthquake and tsunami. It is appropriate that we pray for all those affected. Please stand for a moment of silent prayer…

Let us pray:
God of love, we pray for all people who walk in the shadow of death, and for everyone who is suffering loss and devastation in the Pacific earthquakes and tsunami. Comfort those who mourn, give hope to those whose hope has been taken away. Make people everywhere generous with their help and aid. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we build up for the confirmation service in two weeks time we continue our focus on ways of living faithfully as Disciples of Christ. St Francis is a very helpful role model. So who was St Francis?

Francis of Assisi was person who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally. These days the thought of taking the gospel literally can have frightening connotations because of the levels of violence in our world in the name of religion. St Francis was not a narrow fundamentalist, but he actually tried to follow all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without an ounce of self-importance.
Francis was the son of a wealthy merchant in Assisi. Like most well off young men, he had everything; the 12th century version of fast cars, parties and so on. Essentially he led a frolicking life as a leader of Assisi’s youth. All this was brought to an end when he was captured and made a prisoner of war. In the face of defeat he faced serious illness in a Perugian prison. His prayer, lengthy and difficult, led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ. This is what he heard God saying to him in his prayer: “Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this, all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.” So Francis threw away all his wealth; (well actually some of it was his father’s wealth) which he gave to the poor. He famously stripped his clothes off in front of his bishop and gave them to his father, and became totally poor.
Outside the Assisi city wall, there was a field-chapel of San Damiano, where Francis went to pray and to begin building his religious community. Again in his prayer he heard these words from God: “Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down.”
Initially St Francis interpreted this to mean fixing up the bricks and mortar but after a while he saw this as a call to the vocation of looking after the poor. So he developed a deeper meaning to “build up my house.” But in the mean time he continued to give up every material thing he had, (even though his father who was demanding restitution for Francis’ “gifts” to the poor). This is so that Francis would be totally detached from material possessions and give himself wholly and freely to God. This meant he could pray “Our Father in heaven” knowing that he was totally dependent on God for everything. Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone considered Francis to be a religious “nut”. He was seen begging from door to door when he could not get money for his work, which brought reactions of sadness, disgust or even ridicule from his former friends.
But some people began to realize that this man was actually trying to be Christian. He took literally what Jesus said: “Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses, no travelling bag, no sandals, no staff” (Luke 9:1-3).
Francis’ first rule for his followers was a collection of texts from the Gospels. He had no idea of founding an order, but once it began he protected it and accepted all the legal structures needed to support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended to break the Church’s unity.
He was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of the Good News. Mostly he decided on the latter. Later, following his example, the Franciscan brothers became the most effective preachers of their time, their preaching sparking a massive wave of renewal in the medieval church. One of the reasons for their effectiveness was that for the first time, the Franciscans used pictures to tell the story of Jesus. They had stunningly beautiful frescos painted on the walls of their churches depicting Jesus’ birth, Jesus teaching and healing people, and his death on the cross. The art captured the imagination of the people then, and it still does today. St Francis was also the first person to invent the Christmas crib scene and put these in churches on Christmas Eve to be a focus of prayer. Naturally, people flocked to see these and if you go to Assisi today, the shops are full of nativity sets of all shapes and sizes.
St Francis has bequeathed to us an optimistic spiritual heritage that sees the beauty, goodness and love of God everywhere. For St Francis, the whole of creation is a bible revealing the goodness of God. God speaks to us in all we see, hear, feel, taste and smell. St Francis, better than anyone, understood the true meaning of the incarnation; God making contact with us on our level and in our language through our ordinary senses, in the visible, audible, and the tangible.
I would encourage everyone to explore St Francis way of relating to God. St Francis saw God in the whole of creation, so he would encourage us to make a fruitful mediation on the beauty of a flower, a lake, a waterful, or a mountain, the sea, or any event in nature such as a sunrise or sunset, the changes of the seasons. When it comes to reading scripture, St Francis is more likely to concentrate on events in the life of Christ rather than his teaching. He contemplated the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, his baptism, his miracles like feeding the five thousand and walking on water, his passion, death and resurrection.
Of all the saints, St Francis was one who could honestly claim that his work is also his prayer. Hospitality, feeding the hungry, caring for those in need, carrying out an act of charity either alone or with others, these practical acts of care were part of St Francis’ life of prayer.
If St Francis were alive today there is no doubt that he would be encouraging us to take action to clean up the climate. The mission committee have set up a display on one of the notice boards about this very issue, which I encourage you all to read. They have also put out post cards that can be sent to Prime Minister John Key, asking the NZ government to support a strong and just climate change deal at the Copenhagen talks in December. CWS are warning that people in poor countries are already dying because the climate is changing. One of the ten commandments says, “You shall not commit murder.” At our recent diocesan Synod Bishop Victoria asked whether we are not committing murder of the environment if our carbon emissions turn arable land into desert and wipe out coastal communities? The gospel calls us to stop killing our world and to care for our environment and if St Francis were alive today I am sure he would be at the forefront of action to care for our world.
St Francis died at the age of 44. By then he was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death, he received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side.
On his deathbed, he said over and over again the last addition to his Canticle of the Sun (first hymn sung today), “Be praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death.” He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior to have his clothes removed when the last hour came and for permission to expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord.

Today as we give thanks for his life and his witness, ask God to show you how you can embody the gospel in your life, so that you can be a living bible that others can read. Thanks be to God.