{"id":25285,"date":"2010-01-27T20:21:33","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T00:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/01\/st-francis-innovator-with-and\/"},"modified":"2010-01-27T20:21:33","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T00:21:33","slug":"st-francis-innovator-with-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/01\/st-francis-innovator-with-and\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Francis: Innovator with and not against the Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sts<\/a><\/p>\n

In a recent catechesis, I already illustrated the
\nprovidential role that the Order of Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers,
\nfounded respectively by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic Guzmán, had in
\nthe renewal of the Church of their time. Today I would like to present to you
\nthe figure of Francis, an authentic “giant” of holiness, who
\ncontinues to fascinate very many people of every age and every religion.<\/p>\n

\"Dante<\/a><\/p>\n

“A
\nson is born to the world.” With these words, in the Divine Comedy
\n(Paradiso<\/i>, Canto XI), the greatest Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, alludes to
\nFrancis’ birth, which occurred at the end of 1181 or the beginning of 1182, in
\nAssisi. Belonging to a wealthy family — his father was a textile merchant —
\nFrancis enjoyed a carefree adolescence and youth, cultivating the chivalrous ideals
\nof the time. When he was 20 he took part in a military campaign, and was taken
\nprisoner. He became ill and was released. After his return to Assisi, a slow
\nprocess of spiritual conversion began in him, which led him to abandon
\ngradually the worldly lifestyle he had practiced until then.<\/p>\n

Striking at this
\ntime are the famous episodes of the meeting with the leper — to whom Francis,
\ngetting off his horse, gave the kiss of peace; and the message of the Crucifix
\nin the little church of San Damiano. Three times the crucified Christ came to
\nlife and said to him: “Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins.”
\nThis simple event of the Word of the Lord heard in the church of San Damiano
\nhides a profound symbolism. Immediately, St. Francis is called to repair this
\nlittle church, but the ruinous state of this building is a symbol of the tragic
\nand disturbing situation of the Church itself at that time, with a superficial
\nfaith that does not form and transform life, with a clergy lacking in zeal,
\nwith the cooling off of love; an interior destruction of the Church that also
\nimplied a decomposition of unity, with the birth of heretical movements<\/b>.<\/p>\n

However,
\nat the center of this Church in ruins is the Crucified and he speaks: he calls
\nto renewal, he calls Francis to manual labor to repair concretely the little
\nchurch of San Damiano, symbol of the more profound call to renew the Church of
\nChrist itself, with his radical faith and his enthusiastic love for Christ.<\/p>\n

\"Francis<\/a><\/p>\n

This
\nevent, which probably occurred in 1205, makes one think of another similar
\nevent that happened in 1207: the dream of Pope Innocent III. He saw in a dream
\nthat the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Mother Church of all churches, was
\ncollapsing and a small and insignificant religious supported the church with
\nhis shoulders so that it would not collapse. It is interesting to note, on one
\nhand, that it is not the Pope who helps so that the church will not collapse,
\nbut a small and insignificant religious, whom the Pope recognizes in Francis
\nwho visited him. Innocent III was a powerful Pope, of great theological
\nlearning, as well as of great political power, yet it was not for him to renew
\nthe Church, but for the small and insignificant religious: It is St. Francis,
\ncalled by God.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, however, it is important to note that St.
\nFrancis does not renew the Church without or against the Pope, but only in
\ncommunion with him<\/span>. The two realities go together: the Successor of Peter, the
\nbishops, the Church founded on the succession of the Apostles and the new
\ncharism that the Holy Spirit created at this moment to renew the Church. True
\nrenewal grows together.<\/p>\n

Let us return to St. Francis’ life. Because his father
\nBernardone reproved him for excessive generosity to the poor, Francis, with a
\nsymbolic gesture, and before the bishop of Assisi, stripped himself of his
\nclothes, thus intending to renounce his paternal inheritance: As at the moment
\nof creation, Francis had nothing, but only the life that God gave him, and into
\nwhose hands he entrusted himself. Then he lived as a hermit until, in 1208,
\nanother fundamental event took place in the journey of his conversion. Hearing
\na passage of the Gospel of Matthew — Jesus’ discourse to the Apostles sent on
\nmission — Francis feels he is called to live in poverty and to dedicate
\nhimself to preaching. Other companions associated themselves to him and, in
\n1209, he went to Rome, to submit to the Pope the project of a new form of
\nChristian life. He was given a paternal reception by the great Pontiff who,
\nenlightened by the Lord, intuited the divine origin of the movement awakened by
\nFrancis. The Poverello of Assisi had understood that every charism given by the
\nHoly Spirit is placed at the service of the Body of Christ, which is the
\nChurch; hence, he always acted in full communion with the ecclesiastical
\nauthority<\/span>. In the life of saints there is no opposition between a prophetic
\ncharism and the charism of government and, if some tension is created, they
\nmust wait patiently for the times of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

In reality, some
\nhistorians in the 19th century and also in the last century tried to create
\nbehind the Francis of tradition, a so-called historical Francis, just as there
\nis a desire to create behind the Jesus of the Gospels, a so-called historical
\nJesus. Such a historical Francis would not have been a man of the Church, but a
\nman linked immediately only to Christ, a man who wished to create a renewal of
\nthe people of God, without canonical forms and without the hierarchy. The truth
\nis that St. Francis really had a very immediate relationship with Jesus and
\nwith the Word of God, which he wished to follow sine glossa, exactly as it is,
\nin all its radicalism and truth<\/span>. It is also true that initially he did not have
\nthe intention of creating an order with the necessary canonical forms, but,
\nsimply, with the Word of God and the presence of the Lord, he wished to renew
\nthe people of God<\/i>, to call them again to listening to the Word and to literal
\nobedience to Christ. Moreover, he knew that Christ never is “mine” but
\nalways is “ours,” that “I” cannot have Christ and
\n“I” cannot reconstruct against the Church, his will and his teaching
\n— but only in communion with the Church, built on the succession of the
\nApostles, is obedience to the Word of God also renewed.<\/p>\n

It is also true that he
\ndid not intend to create a new order, but only to renew the people of God for
\nthe Lord who comes. But he understood with suffering and pain that everything
\nmust have its order, that even the law of the Church is necessary to give shape
\nto renewal and thus he really inserted himself totally, with the heart, in the
\ncommunion of the Church, with the Pope and the bishops. He knew always that the
\ncenter of the Church is the Eucharist, where the Body and Blood of Christ are
\nmade present. Through the priesthood, the Eucharist is the Church. Where
\npriesthood, and Christ and communion of the Church go together, only there does
\nthe Word of God also dwell<\/b>. The true historical Francis and the Francis of the
\nChurch speaks precisely in this way also to non-believers, to believers of other
\nconfessions and religions.<\/p>\n

\"St<\/a><\/p>\n

Francis and his friars, ever more numerous,
\nestablished themselves in the Porziuncola, or church of Saint Mary of the
\nAngels, sacred place par excellence of Franciscan spirituality. Also Clare, a
\nyoung lady of Assisi of a noble family, placed herself in Francis’ school. Thus
\nthe Second Franciscan Order originated, that of the Poor Clares, another
\nexperience destined to bear outstanding fruits of sanctity in the Church.<\/p>\n

The
\nsuccessor of Innocent III, Pope Honorius III, with his bull “Cum
\ndilecti” of 1218, also upheld the singular development of the first Friars
\nMinor, who were opening their missions in several countries of Europe, and even
\nin Morocco. In 1219 Francis obtained permission to go to speak with the Muslim
\nSultan Melek-el-Kamel in Egypt, and also to preach the Gospel of Jesus there. I
\nwant to underline this episode of the life of St. Francis, which is very
\ntimely. At a time in which there was under way a clash between Christianity and
\nIslam, Francis, armed deliberately only with his faith and his personal
\nmeekness, pursued with efficacy the way of dialogue<\/span>. The chronicles tell us of
\na benevolent and cordial reception by the Muslim Sultan. It is a model that
\nalso today should inspire relations between Christians and Muslims: to promote
\na dialogue in truth, in reciprocal respect and in mutual understanding<\/i> (cf. Nostra
\nAetate<\/i>, 3).<\/p>\n

It seems, then, that in 1220 Francis visited the Holy Land, thus
\nsowing a seed that was to bear much fruit: his spiritual sons, in fact, made of
\nthe places in which Jesus lived a privileged realm of their mission. With
\ngratitude I think today of the great merits of the Franciscan Custody of the
\nHoly Land.<\/p>\n

Returning to Italy, Francis entrusted the government of the order to
\nhis vicar, Friar Pietro Cattani, while the Pope entrusted the order, which
\ncontinued gathering more followers, to the protection of Cardinal Ugolino, the
\nfuture Supreme Pontiff Gregory IX. For his part the founder, totally dedicated
\nto preaching, which he carried out with great success, wrote a Rule, later
\napproved by the Pope.<\/p>\n

\"Stigmatisation<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1224, in the hermitage of La Verna, Francis saw the
\nCrucified in the form of a seraphim and from the encounter with the crucified
\nseraphim, he received the stigmata; he thus became one with the crucified
\nChrist: a gift, hence, which expresses his profound identification with the
\nLord.<\/p>\n

Francis’ death — his transitus — occurred on the evening of Oct. 3,
\n1226, at the Porziuncola. After blessing his spiritual sons, he died, lying on
\nthe naked earth. Two years later Pope Gregory IX inscribed him in the register
\nof saints. A short time later, a large basilica was raised in Assisi in his
\nhonor, still today a destination for very many pilgrims, who can venerate the
\ntomb of the saint and enjoy Giotto’s frescoes, a painter who illustrated in a
\nmagnificent way the life of Francis.<\/p>\n

It has been said that Francis represents
\nan alter Christus, he was truly a living icon of Christ<\/span>. He was even called
\n“Jesus’ brother.” Indeed, this was his ideal: to be like Jesus; to
\ncontemplate the Christ of the Gospel, to love him intensely and to imitate his
\nvirtues. In particular, he wished to give a fundamental value to interior and
\nexterior poverty, teaching it also to his spiritual sons. The first Beatitude
\nof the Sermon on the Mount — blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the
\nKingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3) — found a luminous fulfillment in the life and
\nin the words of St. Francis.<\/p>\n

Truly, dear friends, the saints are the best
\ninterpreters of the Bible; they, incarnating in their lives the Word of God,
\nrender it more than attractive, so that it really speaks to us. Francis’
\nwitness, who loved poverty to follow Christ with dedication and total liberty,
\ncontinues to be also for us an invitation to cultivate interior poverty to grow
\nin trust of God, uniting also a sober lifestyle and detachment from material
\ngoods<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n

In Francis, love for Christ is expressed in a special way in adoration
\nof the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. In Franciscan sources one reads
\nmoving expressions<\/i>, such as this: “The whole of humanity fears, the whole
\nuniverse trembles and heaven exults, when on the altar, in the hand of the
\npriest, there is Christ, the Son of the living God. O wonderful favor! O
\nsublime humility, that the Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, so humbles
\nhimself as to hide himself for our salvation, under the low form of bread<\/b>”
\n(Francis of Assisi<\/i>, Scritti, Editrici Francescane, Padua, 2002, 401).<\/p>\n

In this
\nYear for Priests, it pleases me also to recall a recommendation addressed by
\nFrancis to priests: “When you wish to celebrate Mass, certainly in a pure
\nway, carry out with reverence the true sacrifice of the most holy Body and
\nBlood of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Francis of Assisi<\/i>, Scritti, 399).<\/p>\n

Francis
\nalways showed great deference to priests<\/span>, and recommended that they always be
\nrespected, even in the case when, at the personal level, they are not very
\nworthy. He cherished, as motivation for this profound respect, the fact that
\nthey have received the gift of consecrating the Eucharist. Dear brothers in the
\npriesthood, let us never forget this teaching: the holiness of the Eucharist
\nasks us to be pure, to live in a consistent way with the mystery we celebrate<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n

From
\nthe love of Christ is born love of people and also of all God’s creatures. Here
\nis another characteristic trait of Francis’ spirituality: the sense of
\nuniversal fraternity and love for Creation, which inspired his famous Canticle
\nof Creatures. It is a very timely message. As I reminded in my recent encyclical
\nCaritas in Veritate<\/i>, the only sustainable development is one that respects
\nCreation and does not damage the environment<\/span> (cf. No. 48-52), and in the
\nMessage for the World Day of Peace of this year I underlined that also the
\nbuilding of a solid peace is linked to respect for creation. Francis reminds us
\nthat in creation is displayed the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator. In
\nfact, nature is understood by him as a language in which God speaks with us, in
\nwhich reality becomes transparent and we can speak of God and with God.<\/p>\n

Dear
\nfriends, Francis was a great saint and a joyful man. His simplicity, his
\nhumility, his faith, his love of Christ, his kindness to every man and woman
\nmade him happy in every situation. In fact, between sanctity and joy there
\nsubsists a profound and indissoluble relation. A French writer said that there
\nis only one sadness in the world: that of not being saints, that is, of not
\nbeing close to God. Looking at St. Francis’ witness, we understand that this is
\nthe secret of true happiness: to become saints, close to God!<\/p>\n

May the Virgin,
\ntenderly loved by Francis, obtain this gift for us. We entrust ourselves to her
\nwith the same words of the Poverello of Assisi: “Holy Virgin Mary, there
\nis no one like you born in the world among women, daughter and handmaid of the
\nMost High King and heavenly Father, Mother of our Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ,
\nspouse of the Holy Spirit: pray for us … to your most holy favorite Son, Lord
\nand Master” (Francis of Assisi<\/i>, Scritti, 163).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Watch the video clip<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent catechesis, I already illustrated the providential role that the Order of Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers, founded respectively by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic Guzmán, had in the renewal of the Church of their time. Today I would like to present to you the figure of Francis, an … Continue reading St. Francis: Innovator with and not against the Pope<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,43],"tags":[1773,1770],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}