Pilgrimage for the feast of St Francis of Assisi
A parish address for the feast of St Francis of Assisi — on the real Francis, untamed and radical, not the cute garden statue. And why pilgrimage to Assisi is one of the most transformative things you can do. (4 min read)
In the lead up to our pilgrimage to Italy and Poland in 2018, our Parish priest agreed to surrender the pulpit to me occasionally. This week I use the feast of St Francis of Assisi to promote the pilgrimage, eternal salvation and the cause of small pores.
Francis of Assisi was a mystic who sought unity with God. The mystic way is inherently mysterious. And yet we seek to understand the spirituality of the mystics in the hope that some of their great light can be experienced by us.
Pilgrimage provides us with the opportunity to focus our attention on, and to have a personal experience with, great lights like Francis.
The mainstream population has woolly ideas about Francis. He is the world’s most popular saint. He is commonly associated with kindness to animals and jolly friars and peace. But not many people understand his mission to live the Gospel and to follow the example of Jesus literally.
There are hundreds of resources – books, articles, films – about Francis. But nothing beats the experience of visiting Assisi. In that historic town we can pray in the Basilica where Francis is buried, at the Portizuncula where he died and in front of the crucifix that spoke to him, which is now in the Basilica of St Clare. We can visit San Damiano – the church which he rebuilt – and even his family home.
Many people describe an overwhelming sense of peace in Assisi. The town is picturesque, the natural environment is stunning… and the local produce is superb.
Francis once said of his home town: “Be blessed of the Lord, O you holy city, faithful to God, because many souls will be saved through you, and many servants of the Most High will dwell within you, and from you many will be chosen for the eternal kingdom.”
Fr James Martin SJ, the author of “Who Cares about the Saints”, speaks in a contemporary voice about St Francis and encourages us to go deeper into his charism:
“Francis’ life was one of total conversion and I think we have tamed Francis into something that is really domesticated and cute, like a little doll. But if you met the real Francis of Assisi, the guy that stripped himself naked in the public square, the guy that lived the most austere poverty, the guy that took the Gospel literally in terms of being as radical a Christian as you could be, the guy that basically transformed the medieval church, you would not see him as cute. You would see him as someone who was really untameable, someone who was wild in a sense and who had this incredible energy. Here was the guy who really sacrificed everything to serve Jesus. I think that by taming the saint we not only distance ourselves from the real story, which is unfortunate, but we separate ourselves from the reality of the Christian message which is impinging on all of us. It is a lot easier to see Francis of Assisi as a little concrete garden statute than it is to see him in all his complexity, but I think as Christians that is what we are called to do”. Our pilgrimage to Assisi is the opportunity to explore this idea from our own unique perspective.
BTW, if you are interested in small pores, you may want to subscribe to my youtube channel for my videos about St Francis.
© Paul McCarthy & Iluminar.au
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