The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
September 30, 2001
(transferred from Oct. 1)

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on the Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30

One night, close to the end of his life, sleepless and in great pain, St. Francis wrote a poem praising God for creation. It is called the Canticle to the Sun and is the basis for our opening hymn.

Most people think that the most important thing about Francis is that he loved nature, birds and flowers. This poem certainly reflects that great love, but above all it reflects his love of God the creator of such beauty and wonder. We hear in it the sense of divine joy that permeated his life.

"Don’t worry! Be happy!" is a theme that has permeated North American culture. We strive for happiness. We work hard to acquire all the things that we assume will make our lives easier and therefore more fulfilled. We suspect that having a lot of money will mean an end to worry, which will bring us a real sense of joy.

That was certainly not Francis’ experience. For him, there was first of all the joy of not owning anything. Although he grew up surrounded by wealth, he rejected material things and took on a vow of poverty. For him poverty meant owning nothing but the clothes on your back. He begged for his daily food. He lived trusting in God’s providence.

The other part of the joy that filled his life was his trust in God’s love and compassion. Even at the darkest times in his life, times of pain and suffering, he felt a sense of divine joy. He knew that God was with him in his darkest hour.

The lections chosen for this celebration lead us to discover a saint of great depth, a committed Christian who sought to live his life in the very image of Christ. He was above all a down-to-earth person who listened to the call of God and followed down whatever pathways he was led.

For Francis, to follow Christ meant to be an active instrument of God’s peace, a bearer of forgiveness. That begins with an understanding of God’s forgiveness in our lives. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light," Jesus says. Most of us are not active instruments of God’s peace because we do not travel light. We carry heavy loads. We remember the harm and damage done to us more easily than we remember the joy and affirmation that we have met. We find it difficult to forgive.

I have a friend who, like Francis has chosen to live a life of divine joy. She never has a bad word for anyone. In fact, I wondered when I first met her, back in my college days, if she were for real. I suspected that she had lived an extremely sheltered life. Then she told me her story of growing up in an abusive home, of leaving home at sixteen to make her own way, of the struggle to get her degree and begin her teaching career. I asked how she could be so free of anger. She said that she made a conscious decision to be a forgiving person. She prays every day for a forgiving heart.

Today we celebrate not only the life and witness of our patron saint, but also the new birth through baptism of two of our children, Geneva and Alexander. It is an opportunity for us to re-dedicate our own lives to God. What a wonderful reminder Francis is to us that Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light. Taking his yoke upon ourselves means ending much of the tension, depression, negativity and discouragement we so often choose to carry around with us. If we can get to the place where we can forgive – and let us acknowledge how difficult that really is – the terrible burdens pass away. We forgive ourselves. We come back into relationship with those we have hurt or who have hurt us. We become instruments of God’s peace. We allow ourselves to become more like Christ, to see the face of Christ in those we meet, to reflect divine joy.