What Would St. Francis of Assisi Do In This Troubling Time?
For my Lenten resolution this year, I decided on something simple: read five books that I already owned. One of them was “St. Francis of Assisi, A Biography” by Fr. Omar Englebert [1], which I read over a couple of weeks in March. In that span of 16 days, Covid-19 had morphed from a far-off inconvenience into a pandemic that had infected at least 456 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone [2]. As such, I couldn’t help but wonder what Francis — who himself had lived in the tumultuous era of the early 13th century — would do if he were living in this troubling time. Surely, there is something to be learned from his extraordinary faith-filled life.
The first thing that I think Francis would do is praise the Lord for this trying time. While most of us would go a long way to avoid any suffering, Francis saw sufferings and even persecutions as blessings, i.e., chances for us to imitate Christ’s life and to partake in His Passion. Over and over, Francis urged his followers, the Friars Minors (the insignificant brothers), to be patient in adversity.
In a beautiful dialogue with Brother Leo, a priest and a beloved follower, Francis gave a surprising definition of perfect joy. It wasn’t the ability to attract bishops and kings to join the Friars Minor, to convert unbelievers, or even to perform wonders. Rather, “if I am able to bear all sufferings for the love of God, not only with patience but with happiness, … that at last I have found perfect joy.”
“If I am able to bear all sufferings for the love of God, not only with patience but with happiness, … that at last I have found perfect joy.”
Francis would also welcome the downtime and solitariness that Covid-19 brings as a means to meditate and pray more. He prayed, often alone and for hours, to hear God’s voice. It was in the abandoned chapel of San Damiano just outside Assisi, while Francis was kneeling by himself before the wooden crucifix, that he heard the miraculous words that launched his mission in 1206, “Francis, go repair My house, which is falling in ruins.”
Notably, Francis also spent a lot of time in prayer while immersed in nature. Returning from Rome after winning Pope Innocent III’s approval of his Order, Francis led his eleven early followers to pray in the wilderness near Orte for two weeks. Towards the end of his life, he spent time meditating in a hut of branches at the summit of Mount La Verna. The wild creatures are said to have enjoyed his presence, and hundreds of birds sometimes flew around him and sang loudly — “praising their Creator,” as Francis would say.
Needless to say, what Francis would not do in the midst of uncertainty is stock up on material goods. Instead, he would offer what little he had to others. Early on, Francis made up his mind to marry Lady Poverty, just as Christ did, and she became a source of joy and peace to him. By making himself and his brother friars poor, the Poverello — the little poor man, as Francis was called — compelled all to trust in God alone. They declined gifts of property, or anything that couldn’t be used on the same day it was given — anything requiring storing and upkeep. “Our incomparable wealth,” he told Brother Masseo, an early and handsome follower from Marignano near Assisi, “consists precisely in our not owing to man’s ingenuity but to God’s providence alone.”
“Our incomparable wealth consists precisely in our not owing to man’s ingenuity but to God’s providence alone.”
Francis would not spend much time following the coronavirus news or — unlike me — reading books, either. While not against learning and knowledge, he observed that our preoccupation with them often prevents us from being useful to our neighbors.
When the restrictions due to Covid-19 are finally lifted, Francis would waste no time in visiting the sick again, especially the ones forgotten by society. As a young, trendy guy, Francis was so disgusted with leprosy that he kept a whopping 2-mile social distance from any leper community. But by the Lord’s grace, he suddenly faced a leper at a bend in the road one day. Immediately he wanted to turn back, but he summoned his will to dismount from his horse and embraced the man. “He thereupon felt a great happiness pervade his whole being,” wrote Fr. Englebert. Francis himself marked this event as his “conversion.”
From then on, the lepers were so dear to him that in the first Rule of his Order that he presented to Pope Innocent III, Francis wrote that “the Brothers’ greatest joy shall be to mingle with victims of leprosy, beggars, and other wretches.”
While we are not saints, we are all called to holiness and can learn from St. Francis to respond to the current crisis as he responded to his. Instead of stocking more supplies, we can try to reduce our consumption. We can spend less time on social media and on the news, and instead, do more concrete and meaningful things. We might even consider planning how we will donate some of the time that we gain back when the pandemic is over.
And, finally, we should pray more. As we walk around our neighborhoods, turn physical exercise into a spiritual one. Talk to the Lord, praise Him together with the mockingbirds, and beg Him that we might come out as better people on the other side of this pandemic tunnel.
The Lord give you peace!
References:
- Englebert, O. (1965). St. Francis of Assisi, A Biography. Franciscan Herald Press.
- Hancock, J. (2020, March 14). Coronavirus map: See every case in Texas, county by county. Dallas Morning News.
Originally published at http://rsatrio.com on April 17, 2020.
