FRIDAY AFTER CREATION 4
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
4 October 2013
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
2 Thes. 3:5: “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.”
Luke 21:17-19: “You will be hated by all… for my name’s sake. And not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will win your lives.”
Reflection
Jesus today paints a grim picture of what has come to be known as the “End Times”. The world will be full of war, earthquakes, famines, plagues, and “great signs from heaven”. Closer to home, Jesus’ followers will be threatened with persecution, hatred, abandonment by family and friends, and even death. Through all of this, the Christian is to endure, to have patience, to trust that s/he will “not perish, but have eternal life”, as that notorious verse from John puts it.
Today’s scriptural meditations happen to fall on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is known for many things: his commitment to poverty and to preaching the Word; his founding the Order of Friars and the Poor Clares; his love of creation, the environment, and especially animals. In the spirit of the latter, many churches will bless companion animals this coming Sunday. He is apparently the originator of the “Christmas crèche” or “Nativity scene”, and was the first person recorded to have received the “stigmata” or the sacred wounds of Christ’s passion.
However, the lesser things—though arguably, perhaps, the more important ones—St. Francis is known for are his mystical poetry, two examples of which are below in the Prayer of the Day and the Hymn. We’re not sure if St. Francis actually authored the Prayer. But its determination to plant God’s peace in the most unexpected places certainly resonates with the Hymn, where animate creatures like us share an unexpected kinship with inanimate ones—the four elements, the sun, the moon, and even death—and singing God’s praise is, perhaps surprisingly, our common purpose.
When reading heavy stuff like the End Times, we need to invoke and cling to St. Francis’ mystical and transcendent view of creation. For in the midst of all the chaos and destruction that Jesus describes, the sense that the Divine will be present with us—even in that—can unmistakably still be heard. It’s not a new idea. The Psalmist, in a moment of spiritual ecstasy, reminds us that God is found both in heaven and in hell, and we cannot flee his presence—ever (Ps. 139:7-8). Paul knew it too. Having experienced hell on earth—insults, beatings, shipwrecks—he was still able to discern God’s love, eternal comfort and good hope, as his Church in Thessalonica recalls (2 Thes. 2:16-17). These gave him confidence, and inspired him with the patience of Christ. The word for ‘patience’ here can also be translated as ‘endurance’, as in the very endurance that Jesus assures us will win our lives.
In times of trouble and danger, we can’t forget that God is still with us. We must be patient and try—even to the very end—to retune ourselves to the elements of God’s creation, using them to tell us where else, how else, and to whom else, we can still bring God’s peace. In times of extreme danger to life, may we remember that Christ has gone that way before us, that even death now sings God’s praise. There is to be no fear, for we are eternally in God’s presence.
Prayer of the Day
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
—“A Prayer attributed to St. Francis”, as translated in the Book of Common Prayer, p. 833
Hymn: “All creatures of our God and King”
(Words: St. Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226; translated by William H. Draper, 1855-1933; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013
Tune: ‘Lasst uns erfreuen’, from Auserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengeseng, 1623; arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958)
All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voices, let us sing:
“Alleluia! Alleluia!”
Bright, burning sun with golden beams;
pale, silver moon that gently gleams,
Refrain:
O praise him! O praise him!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleuia!
Great, rushing winds and breezes soft,
You clouds that ride the sky aloft,
O praise him! Alleluia!
Fair, rising morn, with praise rejoice.
Stars nightly shining, find a voice,
Refrain
Swift, flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for your Lord to hear.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Fire, so intense and fiercely bright,
You give to us both warmth and light.
Refrain
Dear mother earth, you day by day
Unfold your blessings on our way,
O praise him! Alleluia!
All flowers and fruits that in you grow,
God’s glory let them also show.
Refrain
All you with mercy in your heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
O sing now: “Alleluia!”
All you that pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God, and cast on him your care.
Refrain
And even you, most gentle death,
Waiting to hush our final breath,
O praise him! Alleluia!
You lead back home the child of God,
For Christ our Lord that way has trod.
Refrain
Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship him in humbleness.
O praise him! Alleluia!
Praise God the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!
Refrain
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