A Franciscan Call for Civility

Lack of civility has recently reached epidemic proportions in the world. The Franciscan Action Network has recently developed a F.R.A.N.C.I.S. Commitment to Civility in Discourse. The 7 promises you take spell out the name Francis.

Take a minute and promise to work towards a greater degree of civility in discourse.

"I commit to:

FACILITATE a forum for difficult discourse and acknowledge that all dialogue can lead to new insight and mutual understanding.

RESPECT the dignity of all people, especially the dignity of those who hold an opposing view.

AUDIT one's self and utilize terms or a vocabulary of faith to unite or reconcile rather than divide conflicting positions.

NEUTRALIZE inflamed conversations by presuming that those with whom we differ are acting in good faith.

COLLABORATE with others and recognize that all human engagement is an opportunity to promote peace.

IDENTIFY common ground such as similar values or concerns and utilize this as a foundation to build upon.

SUPPORT efforts to clean up the provocative language by calling policymakers to their sense of personal integrity."

Look around the Franciscan Action Network website.  They are committed to a consistent ethic of life for all and stewardship for God's earth.  They promote peace, both individually and globally, and economic justice.

Hug an Animal Today

For today's feast of St. Francis of Assisi, click on the following link to give to Animal rescue.  It's free!

Animals are God's gift to show us unconditional love.

Canticle of the Sun by St. Francis of Assisi

In honor of earth day, here is a prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology:


Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord!
All praise is yours, all glory, all honor
And all blessing.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy
To pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,
And first my lord Brother Sun,
Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;
In the heavens you have made them, bright
And precious and fair.

All praise be yours, My Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all the weather's moods,
By which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,
So useful, lowly, precious and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
Through whom you brighten up the night.
How beautiful is he, how gay! Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother,
Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces
Various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon
For love of you; through those who endure
Sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace,
By you, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,
From whose embrace no mortal can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those She finds doing your will!
The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,
And serve him with great humility.

St. Francis of Assisi

Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.  St. Francis is probably one of the most popular saints of all time and is embraced by many people both Catholic and non-Catholic.  He is best known for his love of animals and is a popular saint to have watching over a garden.

He lived at a time of great controversy and falling away in the Church.  Rather than leave, as so many were doing, God asked Francis to stay within the Church and reform it from within.  When Jesus spoke to him from the cross at San Damiano (pictured here) He said, "Francis, rebuild my church, for you see, it is falling into ruins."  Francis at once began collecting rocks to literally rebuild the church building at San Damiano, but he soon realized Christ was calling him to a radical lifestyle of poverty.

St. Francis speaks especially to us today who are going through world wide economic difficulties and asks us to re-prioritize our lives to be more in line with Christ's.

St. Francis, pray for us! 

St. Francis

Tomorrow is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, first environmentalist. He lived simply and back to the earth, embraced poverty and lepers. He was a true reformer in his age, and probably would be in ours too. Yet he stayed with God and the Church.

St. Francis, we need you!!

October 4--St. Francis of Assisi

October 4th is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Aside from his popular patronage of animals and ecologists he is a revolutionary saint whose love for Jesus caused him to literally give everything he owned that he hadn't given to the poor back to his father who had contested his right to donate his belongings. He walked away naked and the bishop had to give him his cloak to wear.

He was a Christian at a time when many in the Church were not living as Christians should. One day, Francis was praying before a crucifix and Jesus spoke to him. "Francis," He said, "Rebuild my Church." Francis took the directive literally and began collecting stones before he realized that Jesus meant for Francis and his small band of followers to radically live out the Christian message and change the Church.

We are called to the same today. Today, Franciscans across the world live Jesus' message of radical poverty and total surrender to Christ.

One such group is the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. They serve the poor completely free of charge throughout New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, Ireland, England, and Honduras.

There are many other such groups living out the gospel in a radical way all over the world.

Saint Francis and the Divinity of Christ

While visiting Assisi recently, Pope Benedict XVI warned against viewing Saints of the Church, and even Christ, as "good people" alone. Saint Francis was not a mere environmentalist. Many people today, he said, "accept a diminished Christ, admired in His extraordinary humanity but rejected in the profound mystery of His divinity." To do this, misses the point of the heroic lives the saints led, and of the very sacrifice of Christ.

Saint Francis, and his female counterpart, Saint Claire, were deeply rooted in the divinity of Christ and His Passion, and did not see Christ as a "good person" alone. Francis was the first recorded saint to have recieved the stigmata--the 5 wounds of Christ--in his own body.

Francis of Assisi was, indeed, a radical--a revolutionary. When his father took him before the bishop for giving away the father's money and goods to the poor, Francis gave his father the very clothes on his back, and went away naked. Francis was a radical reformer--not outside the Church, but within it. Someone once asked him about the validity of a Mass said by a priest who was living with a woman. Francis went to that priest and kissed his hands, because they held Christ. It is that kind of radical reverence for the Real Presence that is the heart of the Church.

Viewing Christ in His Divinity demands that we follow His teachings. Seeing Christ as only an "enlightened person" demands nothing of us but admiration.

Thought for the Day

No one is to be called an enemy,
all are your benefactors,
and no one does you harm.
You have no enemy except yourselves.

~St Francis

Peace

Today is the Feast of

St. Francis of Assisi.

I think the

Prayer of St. Francis

is especially appropriate

in these troubled times.

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not
so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to
understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are
born to eternal life.

Saint Francis had some important firsts. He experienced the first recorded incident of the stigmata--or the wounds of Christ manifested in his own body.

He also made the first nativity scene or creche. He used live people and animals to depict the birth of Christ on Christmas Eve. Today nativity scenes are common around the world.

St. Francis was a reformer in his time who stayed with the Church, however troubling and corrupt parts of it may have been. He can be an inspiration to all of us on so many levels today.

Saint Francis of Assisi

I'm not sure whether I'll get the chance to post tomorrow, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to mention tomorrow's feast day.

October 4, is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, beloved garden-statue-saint, animal lover and lover of the environment. Saint Francis is the patron saint of the Franciscan order, ecologists, environmentalists, animal welfare societies and animals as well as lesser known things such as lace makers and such causes as against dying alone.

He wrote many prayers including the Canticle of Brother Sun, Prayer for Animals and the famous Prayer of Saint Francis also known by its first line, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

One lesser known fact about Saint Francis is that he was the first known Christian to receive the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ, in his hands, feet and side. This phenomenon was also shared by Saint Rita of Cassia, Rose of Lima, Gemma Galgani and Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Another lesser known fact is that Saint Francis was the inventor of the much used Christmas creche, or manger scene, as it is used today. During Christmas Eve of 1223 in Greccio, Italy Saint Francis re-enacted the first Christmas complete with live animals in a cave. The scene awaited the faithful who came to hear Francis preach at the Christmas Eve Mass.

The famous San Daminano cross (pictured above) is the crucifix that spoke to Francis telling him to "rebuild My Church." Francis took this directive literally at first, collecting stones to rebuild the crumbling church building at San Damiano. Eventually, Francis realized that God was asking him to rebuild his Church in a more spiritual sense. Thus, Saint Francis is a saint we can turn to for help when we become discouraged about the current state of the Church.

The Franciscan Order numbers 1.2 million people today, in the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox traditions.