Following Francis (of Assisi)

By Fr Michael Plekon

When Jeanne and I bought our place in Borrego almost 10 years ago, St Francis of Assisi came with it. Not the actual “little poor guy,” as he used to call himself, but a lovely statue of him in the front of the house, underneath the trees there. We have come to take him as a welcoming figure to our friends and others who come to the house. We celebrate him on the day of his “heavenly birthday,” his day of his death, October 4. And this year, the blessing of animals, an ecumenical event in which all the clergy in town take part, will be on that day, a Saturday, at The Christmas Circle. It’s sponsored by the Borrego Ministers Association. But what does this 13th century little friar from Tuscany have to do with us today?

A lot, I believe. Francis was living the fast life when an injury, sustained in mercenary fighting, slowed him down. His partying days abruptly came to an end as he looked at his pointless life, and he looked around for what next. His father’s prosperous garment trade, no. Marriage to a wealthy family’s daughter—not that either. Maybe training in the law, or perhaps for priesthood. None of these. Rather he started living in the simplicity and poverty Jesus displayed in the gospels. He literally followed words from the same Jesus and tried to rebuild a ruined chapel, when what was really asked of him was to rebuild the world and church in his time. That he sought to do dressing like a poor peasant, begging for food, taking care of sick and homeless folk.

Miraculously others came to live this rough life of faith and service and he called them the “little brothers.” Later his friend Clare would gather a community of “little sisters.” 

Francis was the original hippie. Animals loved him. Listened to him. He preached to the birds, sang songs about the sun and moon, stars and oceans as our sisters and brothers. He tamed a vicious, predatory wolf and convinced the animal to leave the sheep and villagers of Gubbio alone. He even created the first ever Christmas creche or nativity scene, assembling shep, a cow and ox, an empty feed trough with straw and an image of the child Jesus in it. Still it’s called in Italian praesepio, the manger. 

Rather than think about heaven, Francis talked about heaven being right here among us, if only we would recognize it. Heaven is when we feed someone who’s hungry, listen to the grieving or discouraged friend, forgive the family member who hurt us, accept our own weaknesses and refuse to let them drag us down. Francis constantly pointed to the sick and poor and hungry as where Jesus was and loving them was loving him. When asked to come up with a rule of life for his little brothers and sisters, he simply strung together some words of Jesus from the gospel. The bishop and eventually Rome said this wasn’t enough! So another brother pulled together some regulations that looked more like what other religious communities had for their rules. Francis could care less. Living like Jesus was the point, nothing else.

In our world, isn’t this crazy little man not a breath of fresh air, a bit of relief from the heat not just of the desert summer but of the anger, division and fear all around us. Francis is not just a great lawn ornament or decoration for a bird bath. He’s an example of how to let go of so much and let God show us how to live, how to do what God does. He would say, don’t worry about getting rid of your stuff, it may very well be of use to your helping others. Just allow the Spirit to breathe in yourselves. Look at the beautiful world and that’s prayer, along with what you say in church. Make peace, be tools for that. Love where there’s anger. Forgive where there’s vengeance. Thus you’ll make heaven appear around you.

~Father Michael Plekon, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, president, BMA (borregoministersassociation.org)