29 April 2007
Even his famous Canticle of the Creatures initiates not from the created but from the Creator: “Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises”. And it directs the single creatures with their splendour towards mankind so that people may be reconciled in forgiveness, bear in peace “infirmity and tribulation”, flee from “mortal sin”, and always be found in the Lord’s “most holy will”.
The same could be said about the peace prayer recalled earlier. Although not written by Francis, it is rightly understood as an expression of his spirituality. The prayer develops out of the daily experience of social evils: hatred, injury, doubt, and error; but it begins with the peace of God, saying “make me an instrument of your peace”, with distinct reference to the Lord’s word: “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (Jn 14, 27).
And for peace, Francis really was an instrument, resolving the contentious civil disputes in Arezzo and Siena, between Assisi and Perugia, between the mayor and the bishop of Assisi, and also between the wolf and the people of Gubbio. He was an effective instrument of peace, not because of diplomatic skill, but thanks to the wisdom of “the poor one”, – his humility – as the Leggenda Maggiore (Cap.6, n.9) emphasizes, the virtue of gentleness that shined from his “meek and humble” heart, following the example of the Divine Master (Mt 11, 29). With the same spirit, the spiritual sons and daughters of Francis spread throughout the world the greeting: “Peace and all Good” (pax et bonum).
Saint Francis also had a keen sense of the importance of the Church’s mission. The words he heard spoken to him from the Crucifix in San Damiano: “Francis, go and repair my Church, which, as you see, is falling into ruin” marked from the very beginning his mission of service for the Church, understood not only as the community of believers, but also as the institution itself. It was a rigorous commitment and one of purification from the spirit of the world. His efforts never delved into polemic but were endowed with the persuasive power of humility and with his magnificent example.
Francis never wanted to go forward if not in union with the Pope, the Bishop and the priests, even when that did not respond to his deepest aspirations to follow Christ without compromise. It has been correctly written: “He did not have a separate love for the Gospel and the Church. He loved both together with a special and pure devotion, without ever thinking of loving them separately. (Paul Sabatier, The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, chapter 5).
This intimate and vital identification with the cross of Christ and his being firmly anchored in the social and institutional reality of the Church, have made him a father of countless spiritual children. They are the members of the men’s and women’s branches of the Franciscan family, which from their origin to our day live his missionary dream throughout the world, something Francis was not able to see accomplished in his short lifetime.
5. Catherine and Francis lived in different times and circumstances, but in both of their lives they received and reflected that same Divine light described today in John’s first letter: “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all…. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (I Jn 1, 5,7).
On this day, when we remember Catherine, and in this Church, dedicated to Francis, we are called to be in spiritual communion with them. Even the art that fills and transfigures this place – a response of believing artists to the great challenge of communicating the Gospel – helps experience more deeply the light of the Invisible. By receiving the body and blood of Christ, may we also, like Catherine and Francis, enjoy the grace of being in our lives and in our work - each according to one’s gifts – in humility and in truth, witnesses and apostles of the light of Christ.