Seeing Francis

As we begin to celebrate Francis of Assisi this evening, there’re stories from his life that can still inspire us today. With all of the stories of his life, there are two that always seem to offer something in the difficult times of life.

The first happens to be my favorite depiction of Francis. It’s not the famous Cimabue Francis or what we would consider the “bird bath” Francis, but is instead a statue of Francis that sits out front of the basilica in Assisi where his remains are found. The statue depicts Francis coming back from war. By his body language, we can see that he’s sad, depressed, maybe frustrated, and even the horse he rides on shares that same feeling. We can imagine that this is the moment that Francis realized that he had to give up on his dream of being a knight. And yet, while he is depicted in what is one of his lowest points, he rides and faces the grand basilica where he now remains and that is dedicated to him. When I first saw this statue, I was at a point in my life where I had to almost unwillingly give up on a dream of the life I wanted to have. But this statue gave me comfort. Not only do I believe that it shows the symbolism of how giving up on the harder things in life can lead you to the most beautiful places and where you’re supposed to be, but it’s the Francis that I can relate to the most. I cannot so much relate to life during the 13th century, but I know exactly how Francis feels at that moment, and I look at him and have sense that I’m not alone. I think all of us can relate to this Francis that we see here.

The second is not so much an image of Francis, but more of a lifestyle choice. During his life, Assisi was at war not just with other towns but with itself as well, so much so that the working class of Assisi would come to take stones from the city’s high fortress to build up the walls around and in parts of the city. Tradition tells us that Francis would have been part of this. It’s ironic to think that a young Francis took part in building up walls that for the rest of his life he tried to bring down. From the moment of returning from war, Francis begins to see the world differently, coming to recognize the beauty of the divine in the other. We hear stories of him going out to the lepers, going out to the Sultan, going out to the wolf. We went outside of the walls of both the city and his comfort zone to help not just his society to see the beauty of the other, but to help them see the beauty of themselves. Going out to the marginalized helps them to see themselves as part of the whole. Going out to those who are different from us helps us to see the uniqueness and similarities we hold. And sometimes, the wolf that we need to go out to is a wolf inside of us that we need to make friends with. Whatever it may be, there are traditions or walls that exist in our societies, our faiths, in ourselves that can be broken down, as long as we have the courage to go out.

Francis may have lived many hundreds of years ago, but his life still offers us inspiration to change what’s in and around us, knowing that even when we do things imperfectly, the grace, love, and mercy of God we always be there to journey with us and comfort us.