When we think about St. Francis of Assisi, we all think of a saint with intense love for and devotion to God, and humility. However, Francis was not always that way. Sometimes we see him as intolerant and short-tempered. On his way back from his missionary journey to Egypt, he was not greeted with good news. On the way, he heard that they had abandoned the ideal life of seeking Christ without acquiring anything material in intense poverty, and had built a more practical and permanent convent and started living more comfortably. Francis was quite disappointed and angry. They had taken upon themselves the rule that they would live in complete poverty.
When he returned, what he heard was right. A not too bad house! Francis, got furious, climbed to the top of the roof and began to throw the tiles down. The Brothers came and persuaded Francis and got him down. Francis thought that everything he and his brothers had done so far had been in vain, and that the renewal of the Church was over. Completely broken down, that night Francis prayed to the Lord crying.
During his prayer, Francis had a vision. Christ appeared and asked Francis.
"Francis, whose Order is this?"
Francis's answers to such questions were always the right one.
"Yours Lord" - Francis answered.
"Then why do you think of it as your own?"
The matter became clear to Francis. Francis cooled down. There was no longer any disappointment, no frustration, no sadness, no anger in him. Francis was free. Contentment and joy enveloped him.
The day after the feast of St. Francis, that is, on October 5th there is a good tradition in the Franciscan family to remember all those who lived and died before us.
I was thinking. Eight centuries have passed. Today there is no such thing as intense external poverty or little huts or barefoot walking or sleeping on the floor. Even though hundreds have been declared Blesseds and Saints in the Catholic Church from among these people who were members of the three Orders founded by Francis, the majority of the members were individuals with faults, shortcomings, imperfections and limitations. Yet somehow generation after generation this torch has been handed down this far! Wasn’t it these poor little people with limitations, shortcomings, and weaknesses that brought it thus far? The little people I have seen and have not seen! On their own they could never have done this! This stands as a proof that this Religious Order is not the work of Francis. The reality is not what we see, right?
The Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Augustinians, the Jesuits, the Norbertines, the Vincentians, the Salesians, the Camillians, the Claretians, and all the other small and great communities of men and women Religious, each fulfilling it's own functions, are flowing forward through people with much limitations imperfections and shortcomings.
He, the fuel; He, the current; He, the mover; He, the path; He, the goal!
Little lamps afloat in the Ganges!
