Let’s All Be Franciscans

Let’s all be Franciscans was the thought that came to mind when I was reading a recent article entitled, “Why is Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecology?”  I was very confident I already knew the answer to this one, but I wanted to see what the author, Brian Roewe thought.  As I thought about this, however, a smile came to my face.  Quakers usually don’t deal with saints, except may the Apostle Paul, who often is referred to as Saint Paul.  This doubtlessly comes because of familiarity from reading the New Testament.  

I don’t think Quakers are against saints.  Rather I would say we are against singling out people and, possibly, missing others who are just as qualified.  That said, Quakers know not all of us operate at the same level of being spiritual.  And some folks are more public and, therefore, more well-known.  I can be flip and say it does not matter what Quakers want to do on this saint issue.  I am content to borrow a few saints that I appreciate and who model something in the spiritual life that is worth imitating.  Saint Francis is one of those guys for me.

Appropriately, the article provides a little historical background, which I admit I knew.  Francis was born at the end of the 12th century and his active ministry was mostly in the early 13th century.  He died in 1226.  He was not religious from the git-go.  But he was drawn into that life and committed his life to poverty and simplicity.  He gathered some guys around him who also felt called to this life.  They soon formed an order of brothers (as distinguished from monks).  Francis did not want to live somewhere in the middle of nowhere in a monastery.  He was called to be in town with the people.

Francis is best known for his song (Canticle in Latin), called the “Canticle of the Sun.”  The article rightly cites a few well-known verses from it.  “Praise be you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth…”  The Canticle continues to praise the Moon, Sun, and the rest of creation.  The article quotes two of my favorite Franciscans and personal friends, Illa Delio and Dan Horan. First from Sister Delio we read, “For Francis all creation became a theophany, a manifestation of the goodness of God.”

Although “theophany” may be a big, strange word to some, it is not scary.  Probably the best-known theophany is the burning bush story found in Exodus in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).  Moses approaches the bush on fire, but not burning up.  Soon he realizes that God is appearing though this medium to share some news with Moses, who will become a prophetic voice to the people in the wilderness.  So it was that all of creation became for Francis a theophany---manifesting God everywhere he looked.  

Francis would insist he was not unique or special.  Every one of us can experience the same theophany.  We, too, can see and experience God in the bushes, trees and animals all around us.  Indeed, we are part of nature.  We are also creatures in this natural world.  But our culture has isolated and insulated us, so that we don’t usually think about being “part” of nature.”  We are more inclined now to say that we are going “into nature” to get away from things, etc. It is time we became Franciscans!

I am helped by some further words from Delio.  She said, Francis did not come to this awareness as the result of “an immediate experience.”  Instead, it “developed over time as he grew in relationship with Christ and came to view the Incarnation as sanctifying all creation.”  I resonate with this since personally the incarnation is key to my own theology.  The incarnation simply is the affirmation that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) For the Christian this Word become flesh is Jesus the Christ.  

I always like what one teacher of mine said.  He quipped that God became human in Jesus and comes into all the rest of us humans.  We, too, participate in the Divinity and the Divinity participates in us.  But that is true for the entire universe---everything that is.  We can fairly say that we embody God and are also the body of God.  I join Sister Delio in seeing the entire universe as a sacramental reality.  Seen correctly, it is a “visible sign of an invisible reality,” which is the definition of a sacrament.  

It is out of this material that tradition began telling stories of how Francis encountered animals and they became his friends.  No doubt, therefore, he became a favorite of pet lovers and kids alike.  In my part of the world, on the day honoring St. Francis, local churches sponsor a “bless you pet” day.  Church parking lots become veritable zoos!  It is quaint. But maybe it is also a pointer to a deeper truth that is easy to poke fun at.

All this gets serious when we consider our current climate threat and the ecological damage humans are doing to this sacrament called the earth.  It is high time we all became Franciscans and start doing a much better job of living spiritually and sacramentally.  It is time to quit being pioneers of pollution and become patron saints of solutions.