“Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Heb 13:7).
When a man dies he leaves behind him a legacy; but when a father dies he bequeaths an inheritance. And when Saint Francis of Assisi, a man perfectly conformed to Jesus Christ, died in 1226 he bestowed upon his spiritual children a patrimony so rich and life-giving that for eight hundred years it has been producing a harvest of sanctity within Christ’s Church.
The Person of Jesus
In a way no other saint had done before his time, Saint Francis brought Christ alive to the people who knew him – not the Christ reigning in glory at the Father’s hand coming to judge them, but rather the Christ who for their sake became a poor child in Bethlehem, a convicted criminal at Cavalry, and the Bread of Life in every tabernacle. The spirituality flowing like a river from the life and teaching of Saint Francis is centered on the Person of Jesus Christ, poor, humble, and crucified. Its overriding motivation is love; its chosen means is imitation of Love Incarnate; and its promised goal is union with the God of Love.
Total conformity
The Letter to the Hebrews invites us to consider how his life ended. All the major characteristics of what came to be known as Franciscan spirituality can be glimpsed by looking inside a hut on the outskirts of Assisi at a small, thin man with holes in his hands, feet, and side, his face radiating peace and joy, surrounded by devoted brothers and awaiting Sister Death.
For the last two years of his life Saint Francis bore in his frail flesh the holy stigmata – the wounds of Christ. This unprecedented grace of God can be seen as the divine seal confirming the authenticity of the way of life he adopted for himself and his followers while at the same time manifesting his total conformity to his Divine Master. With literal truth Saint Francis could say in the words of Saint Paul, “With Christ I am nailed to the cross.” From that day early in his conversion when he heard Christ say to him from the crucifix of San Damiano, “Francis, go rebuild my Church,” to his final days in Assisi where he completed his passion, Francis’ whole mind, heart, and soul was continually absorbed in meditating on the sufferings of his Savior. He immersed himself in the love and sorrow of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and thus marked out a path for his disciples to follow. It is a path of conversion and penance in which all who travel it are drawn like a magnet away from the love of self and the world and towards Love Incarnate and Crucified. The devotion to the passion of Christ gives Franciscan spirituality a depth and power which can renew souls and societies. One well-known example of how this devotion is manifested is the “Way of the Cross” popularized by many Franciscan preachers through the years.
Gospel Spirituality
Saint Francis began his Rule of Life with these words: “The rule and life of the Friars Minor is this: to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Franciscan spirituality is Gospel spirituality. The life, words, and revelation of Jesus in the four-fold Gospel is every Franciscan’s object of meditation and standard of life. Moments before his death Francis returned to this privileged source which had shaped his whole way of life, and he asked one of the brothers to read to him from the Gospel according to Saint. John. Like a wise man who built his house on rock, Saint Francis always sought to hear and follow the words of Jesus. His spirituality derives its vitality from the inspired words of God sown like a seed in the good soil of receptive and generous hearts. When Saint Francis asked for the Gospel to be read to him before his death he specified that he wanted to hear the account of the Last Supper. This reflected Francis’ great devotion to the Holy Eucharist in which he saw revealed the awe-inspiring love and humility of God. Francis frequently encouraged others by his words, by letters, and by his own example to show proper reverence and adoration to the “Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the Sacrament of the Altar he saw and encountered the personal love of his Lord and God. His intense devotion to the Eucharist has been promoted ever since by his followers, and to large extent has influenced the sacramental life of the Catholic Church. Franciscan spirituality cultivates eucharistic adoration and worthy reception of Holy Communion as two very effective means of growing in the love of God.
Other Aspects
Other significant aspects of Franciscan spirituality can only be mentioned: it gives prominence to the Mother of God, Mary Most Holy, views Christ as the Head of Creation through whom all creatures become our brothers and sisters, and finally, it is careful to remain firmly anchored in the Catholic Church and her orthodox teachings. These aspects and others have been described by many writers through the centuries since Saint Francis’ death. Anyone seeking to explore Franciscan spirituality would profit by reading Francis’ own writings found in Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (Paulist Press), his early biographers, especially Thomas of Celano and Saint Bonaventure, and a contemporary synthesis, The Ideals of Saint Francis (Franciscan Herald Press) by Hilarin Felder, O.F.M. Cap.
