Remember not against us the iniquities of the past - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Today’s readings are not what I anticipated on the Memorial of Saint Francis. The first reading expounds upon disobedience to the Lord and the failure of the kingdom of Israel to listen to the prophets through the ages. Ancient Israel is taken to task in Baruch for its evil ways and failure to please God. As I turn to the Psalms the theme continues. The Gospel of the day heeds a similar warning. However, reading the gospel in context of Luke’s chapter 10 does present a different picture.

The passage is sandwiched between the mission of the seventy-two and the return of the seventy-two. As the disciples are sent out they are also told they will be rejected and if so shake the dust off your feet and move on to the next town. As the disciples return the report to the Lord “even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Understanding the context of the readings gives hope to us on earth and myself personally.  Even in my worst moments when I reject Christ and fail to follow God, I’m given confidence that in his name all things are possible.  And with him his mercy.  The mercy St. Francis showed to all creation, especially his fellow man; a mercy emphasized and modeled for us in our current day by Pope Francis. 

The Psalmist prays, "Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low." And so on a daily basis I know that as the responsorial to the psalm proclaims “For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us”, that I too can call upon God in my daily life to help protect and guide me as I move forward in my spiritual life.

(Adapted from Joe Zaborowski)

The Enlightenment that darkened the world to the idea of the common good - Tomorrow's reading reflection

For us, in these United States, and perhaps in most of world culture influenced by the Enlightenment, we have a cultural aversion to law unless we establish it ourselves.  We are so deeply committed to the absolute rights of the individual that the scene painted for us in the first reading is utterly “mind blowing”.   These people are listening all day long, and then sobbing in joy and celebrating with dancing and feasting the reception of a pattern of directives that challenged them in virtually every area of their personal and social relationships to address first and foremost the “common good.” Tomorrow's saint of the day, St. Francis, did not need anything like what the Enlightenment purported. Francis, like Ezra in the first reading, was enlightened by God.  And that was enough because it led him to lose sight of himself as the center of the world and focus on caring for the world as the center of his life.

(Adapted from Eileen Burke-Sullivan)

St. Francis & the birds...ugh

I never got the thing with St. Francis and the birds.  I mean, I know he preached to the birds but that was only once, maybe twice, according to solid, academic, biographical resources on the saint’s life.  Why are the birds such continuous companions to St. Francis art work? Even Friars themselves joke of their beloved founder’s statues as the “typical garden-type bird baths”.  I mean the man raised people from the dead, drove out demons, cured the sick and boldly preached the Gospel!  Enough with the birds already.

Anyway, now that I’m off my soapbox I want to talk about birds.  No, really.  To wake up in Assisi is to wake up to the most beautiful sights and sounds this side of the great divorce.  Death, I mean.  Only heaven and its hosts of angels could sound more beautiful than the swooping, soaring, sitting, singing birds that populate the Assisi skies at the break of day.

On a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi a few years ago, I had no idea I would wake up to such a glorious array of birds singing so beautifully.  Opening the real, wooden shutters I was struck by the patchwork of green and brown fields in the valley below.  Never could I have been prepared for the amount of birds that seemed to being joyfully playing in the air above St. Francis’ hometown.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote about St. Francis as only Chesterton could.  His book became famous.  In chapter 2 of the same he masterfully commented on Francis’ greeting of the dawn after a long night in prayer. This is what he wrote.

While it was yet twilight a figure appeared silently and suddenly on a little hill above the city, dark against the fading darkness. For it was the end of a long and stern night, a night of vigil, not unvisited by stars. He stood with his hands lifted, as in so many statues and pictures, and about him was a burst of birds singing; and behind him was the break of day.

Assisi and its birds still greet waking pilgrims as they greeted the still-awake saint who prayed through the night, often.  Making a pilgrimage to Assisi is worth every cent.  Seeing the birds is worth a few more.