Feast of St. Francis, Sermon

"Francis, A Saint for the 21st Century," A Homily Preached by The Rev. Canon Dr. C. Denise Yarbrough on Sunday, October 3, 2010, celebrating the Feast of St. Francis at Church of the Ascension, Rochester, New York

Today we are celebrating the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, which falls tomorrow on October 4. In honor of this famous and much beloved saint, we have invited our pets to church today, which certainly livens up the place and brings a whole different dimension to our worship experience. While it is easy to reduce St. Francis to “the saint who loved animals” to do so does not do this amazing saint justice. Francis lived in the 12th century, in Italy, but his ministry and his legacy continue to be important models for our ministry in the 21st century in many ways.

Francis was born in 1182 to a wealthy cloth merchant. He grew up with privilege and wealth and considerable material comfort. As a young man he suffered a severe illness, during which time he had his religious awakening. His years in military service, where he experienced the violence and destruction of war were formative in his spiritual journey as well. One day while praying in the church of San Damiano he heard Christ say to him, “Francis, repair my falling house.” Francis took this literally to mean repair the church at San Damiano, and in order to do so he sold an expensive bale of silk cloth belonging to his father to acquire the funds to repair the dilapidated church. His father was outraged. They had a significant confrontation during which his father disinherited and disowned him. He, in response, renounced his father’s business and material wealth, gave back to his father the purse containing the money he had acquired for the San Damiano repairs, stripped himself naked and placed the clothes at his father’s feet in front of the crowd that had gathered as the two men argued and walked away, leaving his father dumbstruck and bewildered, not to mention outraged.

Francis then declared himself wed to “Lady Poverty,” renounced all material possessions and devoted himself to caring for the poor. He also devoted himself to caring for those stricken with leprosy, a disease much feared in his time because of its contagion and the fact that it caused severe disability and disfigurement to its victims. Lepers were shunned by society and separated off from healthy people so as not to contaminate them. Francis ministered to the lepers in the most personal and intimate way, kissing them, touching their sores and their diseased bodies and treating them with gentleness, kindness and love. He repaired the church at San Damiano with his own labor, digging stones and painstakingly repairing the church. He moved in with the priest and scrounged food from trash bins. He worked as a day laborer asking only for food as pay while he worked on the church. Francis was nothing if not dedicated and passionate about his ministry and his calling. Over time, he attracted followers and in 1210 the Pope authorized the founding of the Friars Minor, the order we now know as the Franciscans. They were devoted to poverty and would own no property or money, either individually or collectively. They wore simple burlap robes, they travelled around the countryside ministering to the poor and the sick, living as the poor lived. Francis is famous for the advice, “at all times preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.”

Francis is the subject of numerous legends, including the story that he loved animals and was known to preach to the birds and creatures of the field who apparently listened to him. He is also believed to have tamed a wolf that was threatening a village in Gubbio where he was living. The wolf had been killing animals and people so Francis went to the woods where he tamed the wolf, made a peace pact with it and led it back to the town where it lived peaceably with the townspeople and the dogs of the town, having been blessed by Francis.

Francis is also known for his engagement in interfaith dialogue, at a time when interfaith encounter took the form of brutal Crusades with Christians and Muslims killing one another in bloody battles. Francis went to the Holy Land, then ruled by the Muslims, and preached to the Sultan Melek-el-Kamel. While he was not able to convert the Sultan or his followers to Christianity, he did negotiate a peace agreement which he then took back to Italy. Unfortunately, the Christian pope did not accept the peace pact and Francis was deeply disappointed that his own religious brethren would not make peace with the Muslims. As a result of his work with the Muslim Sultan in the Holy Land, the Franciscans were given authority over all Christian shrines in the Holy Land after the fall of the Christian Crusaders. Francis goes down in history as a pioneer in Christian Muslim dialogue.

And here we are eight centuries later and the issues that captured Francis’ passion are still issues today. Concern for the earth and reverence for all of the creatures of the earth is as critical in these days of global warming, environmental disasters like the Gulf Oil Spill, the extinction of many species of plant and animal life on the planet as was Francis’ concern for the birds, the flowers, the animals and stars. We have advanced greatly since Francis’ day in our understanding of the interconnectedness of all of creation and we have managed to do infinitely more damage to the earth than Francis could ever have imagined possible. To take on issues of ecology and environmental sustainability is to engage in very Franciscan spirituality.

Poverty continues to plague millions of people throughout the world, with many people in the developing world suffering from diseases that those of us in the developed world do not encounter at all. HIV/AIDS is the leprosy of our time, and those who choose to work with those populations most affected by that disease, both in this country and abroad follow in the footsteps of St. Francis whether they know it or not. To choose to embrace those affected by HIV/AIDS, not to mention other diseases considerably easier to cure such as malaria and water borne diseases that kill millions in the developing world is to follow in the footsteps of St. Francis.

As Thomas Friedman wrote several years ago, “The World is Flat.” Today we live in an interconnected global society, where we encounter people of different world religious traditions and cultures, right here in our own city and across the globe. For the past 100 years, religious leaders throughout the world have undertaken interfaith dialogue, not for the purpose of converting others to their particular faith tradition, but for the purpose of building cooperation, mutual respect and understanding in the hope of fostering a more peaceful and just world. Francis was an early pioneer in interfaith dialogue, and I suspect he would be at the forefront of efforts to educate Christians in the 21st century about their Muslim brothers and sisters in order to dispel myths and misconceptions and to promote peace. Francis was all about peace, alleviating poverty, respecting every human being however humble, and caring for the beautiful creation God has made so that future generations may enjoy it in good health and comfort.

As we bless our pets this morning, let us do so remembering the depth and breadth of the ministries of the saint in whose name we do it. Francis was not just an animal lover – he was a true lover of God and with that love of God came love for all that God has made, human, plant and animal. Francis would delight in our care for our pets but I suspect he would want us to show the same love and devotion and respect for the poor of our society, for our brothers and sisters of different world religious traditions, and for our environment, as we do for our cats, dogs, fish and turtles. May the blessings we bestow on our pets today be a symbol of our intentions to bless all of God’s creation with our stewardship, care, compassion and love. In the name of blessed Francis we pray. Amen.