‘It Is in Giving that We Receive’: St. Francis of Assisi
Today is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. He was a saint not only monumentally influential in his own time but still ubiquitous today. It is interesting that a man who was only a humble friar—not a priest—poor and unpretending, should have changed history. It also speaks to the power of love and holiness, both of which radiated from St. Francis.
Francis was born in 1181 AD to a rich cloth merchant in Assisi, Italy; Francesco is actually his nickname (his real name was Giovanni/John), meaning “little French boy,” referring to the fact that his mother was French. He was wild and loved parties as a youth, and he became a soldier with dreams of glory. While in jail as a prisoner of war, however, he had a conversion experience and heard Christ calling him to turn his back on worldly matters.
Francis was released, and he began dressing roughly, preaching, and begging for his food. His father was angry and tried to shame Francis publicly before the bishop, but all that happened was Francis took off all his clothes and gave them to his father, who disinherited him.
Francis worked always to serve and help the sick (even despised lepers), the poor, the needy. A crucifix in the derelict church of San Damiano spoke to Francis, with Jesus saying, “Can you not see, Francis, that my House is falling down? Go, then, and restore it.” The crucifix still exists in Assisi today, where I have seen it. Francis at first thought Jesus meant San Damiano, but Christ was actually calling the young man to reform and renew the Catholic Church as a whole. That’s what Francis did through the order he founded, the Franciscans.
St. Clare of Assisi, a local noblewoman, helped Francis found a female branch of the Franciscans usually called the Poor Clares. The Franciscans live in great poverty and humility, based on Jesus’s call (Lk. 18:22), “Sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” Francis’s own preaching and holiness were so inspiring that even the anti-Christian Muslim sultan was impressed by them!
St. Francis received the stigmata, or the visible wounds of Christ’s Passion, while on retreat in the mountains in 1224. His wounds bled periodically throughout the last two years of his short life. Francis was famous for his joy and his boundless love, both to humans and to animals. He is often invoked for the healing and safety of animals and pets. St. Francis was the first to start the tradition of having Nativity scenes at Christmas, which he did to make the Gospel story very real and personal for people.
Below is the Prayer of St. Francis, which can be both said and sung:
“Lord, make me an instrument [or channel] of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!