Another Way of Life

He lived a life beyond the ways of this world... Let this Saint change your life!

Recently, I’ve been finding myself “moved” more and more by the Franciscan way of life. (Perhaps this is because it’s a time of simplicity and poverty in life while answering God’s call for my family right now… *hint of sarcasm*.) 

Anyone who has followed this ministry or listened to the “Draw Near” podcast knows that Sts. Francis and Clare have been a part of my journey for many years; however, for the first time I began diving deep into his teaching and encounters with friends, followers, brothers. What I have discovered, put simply, is another way of life–a life of humility, poverty (materialistic and interior), charity, complete surrender, intentional purgation and suffering, obedience, and more. 

I’ve had many “conversions” throughout my life. The first was an emotional love for God. The second was an intellectual love for his Truth and the Church. The third was a moral call to live beyond simply the “precepts of the Church” and truly live for God each day. The fourth was the deepest… It was when I met St. Therese and her “way of love” and my life was forever changed. Through this walk with St. Francis, here begins the fifth. And it is one of profound movements to which only God knows the outcome.

This shift began when I started reading a book called, “The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi.” It’s a collection of accounts or exchanges between St. Francis and countless people, or “flowers.” There was one particular story that broke me… truly. 

In this account, St. Francis was traveling with Brother Leo to St. Mary of the Angels in painfully cold weather. St. Francis, yelling up to Brother Leo walking ahead of him, began explaining what would bring perfect joy. He began with what it was not. Brothers living holy and edifying lives witnessing to God is not perfect joy. If Friars performed miraculous healings to the lame, the blind, the deaf, the possessed, or even the dead… this would not be perfect joy. If Friars knew all things in Scripture and science or prophecy speaking to all souls, you guessed it, this is not perfect joy. Naturally, Brother Leo asked, “where is perfect joy?” It was the answer that St. Francis gave which began this journey for me.

He said:

“If, when we shall arrive at St. Mary of the Angels, all drenched with rain and trembling with cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from hunger; if, when we knock at the convent-gate, the porter should come angrily and ask us who we are; if, after we have told him, “We are two of the brethren,” he should answer angrily, “What you say is not the truth; you are but two imposters going about to deceive the world and take away the alms of the poor; begone, I say”; if then he refuses to open to us and leave us outside, exposed to the snow and rain, suffering from cold and hunger till nightfall… if we accept such injustice… with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, believing with humility and charity that the porter really knows us and it is God who maketh him to speak thus against us… O Brother Leo, this is perfect joy.”

He continued this explanation further saying even if they ask to enter through tears and the porter comes out and throws them to the ground and beats them but they bear it with patience and joy thinking of the suffering of Christ, that is perfect peace.

WOW!

How often, in our culture today, is one’s first reaction to be offended or to get angry in having been offended by another? I had a recent experience in ministry when I felt just like Francis in this account… minus the patience and the charity. I felt unseen as someone living for God… an imposter; I felt punished for following the will of God; and I felt cast off into the snow and rain (because I was literally cast off). But in this account of Francis, I see another way of life for myself and for all of mankind. It’s a way of humble unity to the one who truly brings joy – Christ. 

When someone offends us, harms us, judges our character harshly, or the like, it is an opportunity to become more like Christ on the cross. I’ve often noticed the opposite approach, that is, as the world becomes louder in its distaste for the Church, or Christians in general, we Christians become louder in our distaste for their judgements and mockery. I’d like to propose another way; the way of Francis, which is ultimately the way of Jesus.

Let us embrace mockery, chastisement, persecution, and suffering with patience and forgiveness. Was not Jesus mocked as the Roman soldiers stripped away his clothes and placed a crown of thorns upon his head? Was He not chastised when he was brutally scourged for “crimes” he had not committed? Was he not persecuted, ordered to carry his cross, walked to the place of his death, nailed to the cross, and hung for all to see as he suffered the most painful death for each of us? Through all of this, Jesus was patient and forgiving: “forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). Can we not do the same for Him if he asks? 

Through this “other” way of life, I have found myself falling deeper in love with Christ than I ever thought possible. Embracing crosses out of love more than I was ever willing to or could have apart from God. Accepting chastisement, discouragement, or persecution with eyes towards God… (though these are all works in progress in my heart that will not be complete this side of Heaven). 

St. Francis was given the charge by Christ to “Go. Rebuild my Church.” I share this personal experience with the hope that St. Francis, 800 years after his death, continues to rebuild the Church through you! — Through living a life that is counter to everything the world wants from you; focusing solely on Christ’s example. Together with Christ, let us rebuild our hearts–making each a haven for the love of God.