“The Joy of Francis”

I don’t know if I ever told you about how I came to be a Franciscan; my memory isn’t what it used to be.  So if I did than you are hearing it for a second time, though I have to admit I like telling the story again.

It happened back in 1980 when I had gone to a Catholic Charismatic Conference in Providence Rhode Island.  It was a very memorable Conference for many reasons:  one being that I heard Dion Dimici- from Dion and the Belmont’s for those who go back as far as I do- not only sing but he also shared with everyone how fame was taking a toll on his spiritual life and how he came to realize that money and fame weren’t the most important things in life, but that having a relationship with the Lord was.  He still goes around giving talks to groups about his spiritual journey.

It was also very memorable to me because that is where I met a group of Franciscan Brothers.  It actually occurred at a nearby Macdonald’s where many of us went for lunch.  If you could only see what this place looked like with all these Charismatic’s taking over; the Golden Arches were reaching to the heavens.  People were there with guitars and singing, people were praying and the locals were probably wondering what was going on.

The Franciscan Brothers were in front of me in one of the many lines.  We introduced ourselves and they shared with me how they were the Little Brother’s of St. Francis out of Boston.  They shared with me how each morning they started each day with prayer:  had a light breakfast and then went out into the streets helping the unfortunate in any way they could, returning to their Friary for lunch Eucharist and then back on the streets.

They told me that they only owned a couple of robes, their sandals in summer and shoes in the winter and that they each had a small room with a bed and a desk.  They talked about how important prayer was in their lives and how important it was for them to share the Eucharist together.

This is very understandable because for Francis there was no greater miracle on earth than that of the Eucharist.  St. Francis writes, “Let the whole of mankind tremble and the whole world shake and the heavens exult when Christ, the son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of the Priest.  O admirable heights and sublime lowliness!  O sublime humility!  O humble sublimity!  That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the little form of bread!  Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him.  Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally.”

When it was time to leave each other the Brothers gave me a brochure that talked about their order and also how they had a Third Order for those who were married.  What struck me the most about them was their joy; they had a joy greater than any I had ever seen.

I knew wealthy people who didn’t seem to have that joy; I knew very healthy people that didn’t seem to have that I joy.  Here was a group of people who had just about nothing, but yet they seemed to possess everything.

It was a couple years later that I finally searched out and found a Franciscan Third Order Fraternity that I became a part of.

There is what we call the three notes of the Order; that is, these three things should be present:  Humility, Love and Joy.  In our book of principles it says, “Tertiaries, rejoicing in the Lord always, show in their lives the grace and beauty of Divine joy.  They remember that they follow the Son of Man.  Who came eating and drinking, who loved the birds, and the flowers, who blessed little children, who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, and who sat at the tables of both rich and poor.  Tertiaries delight in fun and laughter, rejoicing in God’s world, its beauty and its living creatures, calling nothing common or unclean.  They mix freely with all people, ready to bind up the broken hearted, and to bring joy into the lives of others.  They carry an inner peace and happiness which others may perceive, even if they don’t know its source.

St. Francis was full of joy even when it seemed he shouldn’t have been; for he had many physical problems that caused him much pain, not to mention that many people thought he was, well, a little not right.  But Francis took to heart the message of Jesus; he turned his whole life over to Him, trusting that Jesus would carry his burdens and take away his weariness.  Francis was able to do this because he was as an infant; he was a child in the good sense of the word; for as children, we are very trusting until something happens in our lives which changes all that, and then if it happens enough times we become cynical and trust no one.  We don’t want to be vulnerable, so we put all sorts of barriers up so we don’t get hurt.

But Jesus wants to melt away that hardness and break down those barriers.  He wants us to be vulnerable in the sense that we will let our fear of being hurt or criticized be overcome by a deep sense of love and a whole hearted trust.  Jesus tells us in today’s reading, “Come to me, do not fear, you can trust Me and what I am telling you.”

To come to Jesus as St. Francis did, that is, as a child, means to be free to listen to what He has to say; to listen as we did when our mother or father told us a bedtime story.  We would be all relaxed warm and snuggled in, not worrying about tomorrow or what happened yesterday, we were totally focused on the story and of course our mother or father.

Jesus wants us to be free as a child, to spread out the blanket of trust, to cast all our cares on Him, to live life to the fullest now through Him and with Him.

There is a story that is told about how St. Francis taught Brother Leo what perfect joy is.  He told Brother Leo to write all that he said.  “Brother Leo, a messenger comes and says that all the masters in Paris have come into the order; write:  this is not perfect joy.  Or that all the prelates beyond the mountains have entered the order as well as the archbishops and bishops; or that the King of France and the King of England have entered the order; write:  this is not true joy.  Again, that my brothers have gone to non-believers and converted all of them to the Faith; again that I have so much grace from God that I heal the sick and perform many miracles:  I tell you true joy does not consist in any of these things.”

“What then is true joy?”

I return from Perugia and arrive here in the dead of night and it is winter time, muddy and so cold that icicles have formed on the edges of my habit and keep striking my legs, and blood flows from such wounds.  And, all covered with mud and cold, I come to the gate, and after I have knocked and called for some time, a brother comes and asks, ”Who are you?”  I answer, ”Brother Francis.”  And he says, “ Go away:  this is not the proper hour for going about; you may not come in.”  And when I insist, he answers, “Go away, you are a simple and stupid person; we are so many and we have no need of you.  You are certainly not coming to us at this hour!”  And I stand again at the door and say, “For the love of God, take me in tonight.”  And he answers, “I will not.  Go down the road and find a place, ask somewhere else.”  I tell you this:  If I had patience and did not become upset, there would be true joy in this and true virtue and the salvation of the soul.”

What Francis is telling us is that true joy cannot come from outside of us; it is within us, because as Father told us last week, Jesus said. “You may look here or you may look there, but I tell you it is within us that the Kingdom of God is found.”

Let us trust, as St. Francis, let us trust as a child, let us trust what Jesus is telling us and let us lay our burdens at His feet so that He may give us rest.

Let us pray:  Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we gather in Your house this day, bringing to You our praise, our words and our prayers.  Make us aware of our need for You in our daily lives and help us to know how ready You are to answer that need in us.  Help us to be conscious of our faults and weaknesses and to know how ready You are to forgive us and to enable us to learn from our mistakes.  As we meet together in this place of peace hallowed by decades of faithful worship by countless believers, help us to see it not as a place of escape but rather as a source of strength and encouragement with which to return to the world in which we live and work and play.  Above all else, O Father, we pray that we might find a sense of Your Spirit within us, fulfilling the promise of Your Son Jesus Christ that we would not be left without a comforter and helper.  Amen (Church of Scotland)

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