Prayer A Nation Might Pray

This prayer is usually attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1286). Sometimes it is called, The Prayer for Peace. Whether Francis wrote it or not doesn't really matter; the thought behind each line sounds very much like Francis. Notice how the eyes of the saint are big. They take in a lot of light - God's light. Francis sees. That doens't mean he had visions, but  that he was wide-awake to the truth contained in the Gospel book he holds in his hand: the truth of love for God and each human person.

The nation is painfully divided. Everyday brings some new point of division: nasty social media, name calling, labeling, menacing accusations, threats. "Otherism" is the negative ideology which disapproves of (or hates) anyone who is not like me. "Otherism" believes that those who are not like me should go back to where they came from. It is un-gospel, even anti-gospel. Regretably, it is too often Christians who are the perpetrators. St. Francis' prayer summarizes Christ's Gospel-lifestyle. We might pray it for our country, which likes to think of itself as religious.

Lord, make me an instrument 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. Amen.

"Let me sow..."

St. Francis of Assisi ~ Giotto di Bondone ~ 14th c.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy 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;
and 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.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

This popular prayer is usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Some Franciscan scholars say Francis didn't compose the prayer. I'd suggest it doesn't really matter; surely the lines reflect his thought. 

More importantly, are we ready for the prayer? Do we dare imagine what our personal lives would look like if we lived it deeply? How our minds would change!

For me, perhaps the most important word in the prayer is sow...let me sow love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy. Some synonyms for sow are: broadcast, distribute, plant, scatter, spread, disperse. 

Here, Giotto has painted Francis speaking to a large number of birds in great variety. Francis accepted and loved people in all their variety as well. We could do with a good dose of that today.

It is the Feast of Saint Francis

El Greco ~ St. Francis Before the Crucifix

Today is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi who died in 1226. The prayer below is usually attributed to Francis, and even if he didn't really compose it, the thoughts are surely his. It is a good prayer to pray at the start of each day.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, let me sow pardon;
where there is discord, let me sow unity;
where there is doubt, let me sow faith;
where there is despair, let me sow hope;
where there is darkness, let me sow light;
where there is sadness, let me sow 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. Amen

Could I add a little nuance to the phrase, "That I may not so much seek to be loved as to love." There's nothing wrong with hoping to be loved. Many people in the world are loved by no one; their pain is very deep. Conversely, there are some people who love themselves so much. It can be very unattractive. But everything must be kept in balance. Wherever we experience the love of others - we pray to be deeply grateful and humbled. To be loved is a very great gift and a wonderful sign of God's love for us, as we are God's own dear children.

Greccio - New Bethlehem

HERE IS A PHOTOGRAPH of the wonderful, mountainside Franciscan monastery at Greccio, Italy. This is where Francis popularized the Christmas Nativity scene with lights, song, live animals and people assuming the traditional roles. 

I visited Greccio for a day during a three month sabbatical some years ago: train from Assisi, bus and then a long hike up the mountain, arriving seconds before siesta time, the sister in charge setting me up to offer Mass in the cave where Francis and the villagers re-created the holy scene. 

Here is the lovely account as told by Paul Sabatier in his book The Road to Assisi.

The population of Greccio and its environs was therefore, assembled, as well as the brothers from the neighboring monasteries. On the evening of the Vigil of Christmas one might have seen the faithful hastening to the hermitage by every path with torches in their hands, making the forests ring with their joyful hymns.

Everyone was rejoicing - Francis most of all. The knight had prepared a stable with straw and brought an ox and a donkey, whose breath seemed to give warmth to the poor bambino, numbed with cold. At the sight the saint felt tears of pity warm his face; he was no longer in Greccio, his heart was in Bethlehem.

Finally they began to chant matins, then the Mass was begun, and Francis, as deacon, read the Gospel. Already, hearts were touched by the simple recital of the sacred legend in a voice so gentle and so fervent, but when he preached, his emotion soon overcame the audience. His voice had so unutterable a tenderness that they also forgot everything and were living over again the feeling of the shepherds of Judea, who in those days of old went to adore the God made man, born in a stable. 

In a side note Paul Sabatier tells us that when Francis pronounced the word Bethlehem it sounded like the bleating of a lamb. And when Francis said the name of Jesus or Babe of Bethlehem he seemed to hold the words on his palate as if tasting something sweet. 

Here is the fresco painted on the plastered cave wall over the little altar: Mary nursing the Holy Child at Bethlehem. The stone crib resembles his tomb. The swaddling clothes; his shroud.

A priest said once that we needn't pay much attention to the Gospel's infancy accounts - that Jesus grew up is all that matters. I disagree. For Bethlehem, everything is changed. God has put away sending the plagues and smoking mountains, defeating armies and destroying cities. Some Christians are not comfortable with God's new approach of entering our world as a defenseless baby because it means we can't be fans of capital punishment, global militarization, clerical chaplaincies to governments, and the trappings of power, whether it's our money, our technology, titles, professional initials or the status designations of colored clerical buttons, capes and caps. Everything must be re-thought. God has  joined us in powerlessness; God cries for his mother's milk.

October 4 ~ The Feast of Blessed Francis

HERE'S A HILLY FIELD of wild flowers near Assisi ~ the home of Saint Francis. It's said that when God created the world, God made the fields around Assisi to be like a garden of extravagant bloom as this is where Saint Francis would someday walk.

There are numerous stories told of Francis and his followers. In one scene, Francis witnesses a wealthy man, (sitting on his horse), kill a beggar who has dared to approach him. Francis runs up to see if he can help the poor man who has fallen to the ground. Perhaps to keep Francis quiet, the murderer puts a gold coin into Francis' open palm. Without even closing his fingers around the coin, Francis turns his hand over, allowing the shiny coin to fall to the ground. The murderer rides off cursing angrily.

Francis is to have said to a young friar among his disciples: "It would be better for you to go outside into the street and kiss donkey dung than to touch money." 

We touch money, count and re-count money, play games to make quick money, manipulate and treasure money, delight in money, dream of money, even sometimes kiss money. Sad to say, but priests are often taken up with money. 

Christians are over-the-moon with love for Francis when he stays put, standing in the garden birdbath, but find the saint annoying, impossible or impractical when he says things like this about money. Still, on his feast day we might have a think about his money injunction and discover some way in which we might be able to even remotely make the teaching part of our lives. It's the change of attitude, that pleases Jesus. 

"I no longer believe in words..."

It's been reported that the bishop of the cathedral where Saint Francis stripped off his stylish clothing, renouncing inheritance and status, asked the pope to visit that cathedral while at Assisi and at least "Lead the people in the Our Father." The pope responded, "Lead the Our Father?! I want to teach the Church how to repeat the gesture and to undress itself." Then at Assisi the pope expressed a desire for the Church to strip itself of all worldliness - vanity, arrogance and pride. He called these a cancer in the world and an enemy of the Church.

I was hoping for a powerful papal gesture to that effect. The pope's team of eight cardinals accompanied him on the day-pilgrimage, and so I thought that might be a good time and place to begin this new gospel approach to life in the Church: the cardinals appearing with the pope - not naked - but surely without all the costume.

It's time for the Church to undress and be done with all the titles: Your Holiness, Your Eminence, Your Excellency, Monsignor, Your Grace, Your Lordship, Reverend, Very Reverend, Most Reverend. The highest title in the Church should be brother and sister. 

It's time to undress and put away the colored hats, caps and crowns, the jewelry, the piping, the colored sashes, capes and buttons. And the lace - Oh God, please make us brave and give up all the lace. 

In 1972, many of us watched the Zeffirelli film about the life of Saint Francis titled: Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Kind of sentimental, still there was the scene where in a snowy winter we see a barefoot Francis laying stone to repair the half ruined church of San Damiano. One of Francis' rakish friends, covered in jewelry and furs makes his way through the snow to see what's going on, having been told that Francis has "gone off". When the friend tells Francis that he'd like to join the saint's efforts, Francis says, "I no longer believe in words, only actions." Even if the historical Francis never said it - he could have.

Indeed, the Church needs to undress: stripping off the royal and antique world of fashionable aristocracy and court that keeps the Church striated and distracted. When depicting the crucified Jesus we almost always give him a little cloth to safeguard his modesty. The artist who created the crucifix here was more realistic. And Francis, in stripping off his high style outfit and the attendant privileges and insurances, modeled himself on this naked Savior.

It is indeed a savage world, the pope says. And the Church needs to be freed up in every way to stand more closely and believably in solidarity with that world of pain.

As the Feast of Francis Approaches

A FLEDGLING IS A BIRD that is in its first season of flying. This year's fledglings are approaching their first winter. Birds like the chickadee (shown here) don't fly south, but they tough out the winter up north.

If you stand patiently and quietly where chickadees gather, with an open palm of sunflower seeds, they'll land on your finger, very small and vulnerable, take a seed and then fly off. Seven out of ten chickadee fledglings die each winter. Jesus tells us that when a little bird dies and falls to the ground, God knows. And if God knows what happens to a tiny bird the size of a chickadee, how much more does God know about me. (Matthew 10:29-31)

My life matters! Many people don't believe that about themselves, and so they go through life sad, hateful, degraded, inwardly lonely, resigned to a sense of failure. But it doesn't have to be that way. 

Some people don't live very deep lives. We can stay on the surface of things, self-absorbed in trying to remain young, notable, sexy and comfortable. But Saint Francis wants nothing more for us than that we would know and love Jesus in the Gospels. And central to that Gospel is the teaching that God's got his eye on the little bird. This has got to be the most blessed assurance in all of religion!

Francesco

ON THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS, (October 4) the monks and nuns of the New Skete Orthodox Monastery in Cambridge, N.Y. sing this hymn:

Like Anthony the Great and Paul of Thebes, you re-established harmony between humanity and the beast, recovering the lost intimacy between creation and its creator. For in your presence, the wolf of Gubbio became like a lamb, placing its paw in your hand as a sign of peace, while the birds delighted in your preaching, as you sought to awaken in these creatures devoid of reason a conscious praise for the Lord, a praise in the name of all creatures like themselves. O Holy Father Francis, beg Christ our God to grant us his peace.

This is lovely, seeing in Francis a reconciler and restorer of  blessings lost in the human story (which story is the fall of Adam and Eve.) Remember the Advent reading from the Prophet Isaiah (11:6-9).

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra' den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair,
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea.

We might ask: if we can hope that even the wild animals are capable of learning to live peacefully,  as in paradise, why can't we? But for all of the attention we pay to Francis of the animals (and sometimes we reduce Francis and consign him to the birdbath, which is to do him a great injustice) there is a part of the Francis story that is even more telling of who he is and how needed today.

Assisi, the home town of Francis, like so many Italian towns, is built up high on a mountain. An approaching enemy army could be seen that way and floods would remain safely below. And as the son of a comfortable cloth merchant, who apparently stocked very fine and imported fabrics, Francis had a buck in his pocket. I don't know if the Franciscan scholars would say as much, but perhaps we might say of Francis that he was a party boy, a carouser or lounging rich boy. 

At any rate, at some point after his encounter with the Crucifix of San Damiano and the repair of that church, Francis descended from the top of Assisi to Rivortorto, which means Twisted River, to where the leper-outcasts "lived". The descent was of course, much more than just a geographic re-location, it was a descent from his socio-economic ladder, a descent down into love. And at Rivertorto, Francis became friend and brother to the forgotten and despised ones. 

There's an incident in the life of Dorothy Day, a contemporary model of gospel justice, who when a gushing admirer said to her, "Oh Dorothy, you're a living saint," Dorothy responded, "Don't dismiss me so easily." We do that to saints - we make statues and sanitized pictures of them to admire on the wall. But we're supposed to be saints, not admirers of saints. Pope Francis said in his interview that the Church is not a little chapel where only a few can enter or a nest for mediocrity..." The real Francis of Assisi is a threat to that chapel-nest kind of Christian community.

A priest asked me once, "Stephen, who's your favorite saint?" I answered, "St. Benedict Joseph Labre," wanderer-pilgrim saint. The priest answered immediately, "But you wouldn't even go near him, he smelled so badly." I'm sorry to say, the priest was very likely right, though I was indignant at hearing it.

The Crucifix at San Damiano

Having heard the call
of the Risen Christ
in the half ruined church
of San Damiano,
you raised up the place
using mortar and stone.
And rekindling the lamp
that burns through the night
you dropped out of Assisi
as a woman giving birth,
through the rivertorto
among the
rejected and decayed.
O illumimed Francis,
whisper to God for
the brightening of hearts.

Francis with lepers at the Rivertorto

Sunday Intercessions ~ Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

El Greco ~ Saint Francis Meditating

Pope Paul the 6th spoke to the United Nations General Assembly on October 4th, 1965./ He said, "War never again; never again war."/ We pray boldly/ asking God for the conversion of human hearts to the things of justice,/ which creates peace./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray to stop blaming others for the threats to marriage and family life./ We pray rather,/ that we would know ourselves interiorly/ and set out to find healing where selfishness tires,/ strains and ruins family relationships./ We pray to the Lord.

The Feast of Saint Francis is this Friday./ Francis would be more readily found with lepers than with birds./ We pray to understand the saints rightly/ asking for new and brave hearts that follow Jesus more deeply,/ We pray to the Lord.

We ask for that true religious freedom which is interior./ For freedom from self-pity,/ addictions,/ ingratitude,/ hurtful impatience,/ and those actions which leave others lonely and unattended./ We pray to the Lord.

We ask God for the good health we need to do our work and to love our families./ We pray in solidarity with the sick,/ the wounded,/ the dying/and those with special needs and challenges./ We pray to the Lord.

We remember the dead/ asking Jesus to welcome them into the heavenly banquet/ which is reflected here at Mass today./ We pray in a particular way for those who have died this week in wars/ by violence or catastrophe./ We pray to the Lord.