The eCrozier

When I first reflected on what the Holy Spirit might be prompting me to write today, I felt drawn to offer a reflection about Blessed Francis on his Feast Day. But I also felt a nudge to offer some commentary on the reality TV show that our current federal government has become. Right now we’re witnessing the lust for political power overtaking serving the common good, the desire for political advantage trumping basic common sense. It’s like watching middle school boys on the playground when one of them has their emerging manhood ridiculed by another. Backing down isn’t an option when that much testosterone is so fresh in the bloodstream. As we watch that proverbial playground we know it won’t end well no matter who’ll claim victory afterward.

But as I continued to pray about this, I realized that if I allowed these “middle school boys” to determine what I was going to write, then, as the saying goes, I’d “allow the terrorists to win.” I won’t give them that power. The Blessed Saint of Assisi is too important a witness to the Truth not to write about. Anyway, maybe if we all just ignore the political middle schoolers in Washington and stop stoking their egos, then they’ll end this WWE Smackdown and behave themselves. I found from experience that such a strategy actually does work with middle school boys. They want attention. If you don’t react to them, they often calm down all by themselves. Worth a try, at least.

But back to Francis. I think the Holy Spirit working through Francis probably saved the Church from itself. By the early 13^th Century when Francis came of age, the Church that had begun as a mass movement of following Jesus, the incarnate, crucified God, had become something akin to a large leaky barge of an institution taking on water but still afloat. The Church had morphed into a political power broker with little resemblance to the Church of the Acts of the Apostles. It was hawking the Crusades (the 4^th Crusade was ending and they were planning, believe it or not, a 5^th one) and through raw political power the Church was bending the will of various princes forcing them to accept Papal control. You can read all about it in the annals of the Fourth Lateran Council, much of that Council being the Papal reaction to those same princes who 35 years before had installed antipopes to rival the popes they didn’t like.

On to this scene comes Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, nicknamed Francesco, who left the luxury of his father’s estate and profitable silk business to live among the poor. He preached a simple message: “follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and walk in his footsteps.” And he didn’t mean that metaphorically. Soon he had some brothers join him and later sisters with St Clare. Together they all kept alive the path of following Jesus and laid the groundwork for the Reformation centuries later. The Church is still learning and relearning the indispensable truth of Francis’ virtuous witness.

Come to think of it, maybe there is a connection between honoring what St Francis did for God’s mission and the lunacy in Washington? Maybe we will be blessed to have a secular St Francis rise up and remind Congress of the virtues of compassion and generosity that Americans have always had?

+Scott