Love Your Neighbor

In what is surely one of the most ironic developments in human history, I can stand before you today and say with crystal clear certainty that St. Francis never intended to form a religious order. Yet here we are today celebrating the commitment of two individuals to the Franciscan way of life in the Secular Franciscan Order.  What makes it doubly ironic is the fact that the Franciscan Order in its various forms and with its myriad congregations is the largest single religious family – all begun by a man who didn’t mean to found an order or way of life.  As the old joke goes, there are two things that our all-knowing God really doesn’t know.  The first is what a Jesuit is really thinking!  The second is how many different Franciscan communities there are.

All St. Francis had in mind was to live a life of penance.  He stripped himself of his clothing and stood naked in front of the Bishop of Assisi promising that he would spend the rest of his life doing penance in the hopes that God would forgive him his many sins.  No sooner did he take on the clothing of a beggar than another man of Assisi, Bernardo Quintavalle, decided to join him. Before he knew it, there were twelve of them, all wanting simply to live as penitents. 

Shortly after his conversion, a relative, Clare Offreducio, left her family home in the middle of the night in a desire to follow Francis.  Days later, other women joined her including her mother, her sister, and the servants of their family home.  Now there were Franciscan brothers and Franciscan sisters. 

The preaching of St. Francis, as well as his example, exercised such a powerful attraction on people that many married men and women wanted to join the First or the Second Order, but this being incompatible with their state of life, Francis found a middle way and gave them a rule animated by the Franciscan spirit.  That group of penitents is now known as the Secular Franciscan Order. Throughout the entire world, men and women pledge themselves to St. Francis’ vision of living the Gospel while maintaining their station as people living in the secular state. 

If time permitted, I could give you a detailed account of how we got to a point where there are now hundreds of communities who follow the Gospel ideal of life in the spirit of St. Francis. If you are interested, go home and call up Brother Casey Cole’s video on YouTube entitled: Why are there so many different Franciscans?

Living a way of life compatible with the Gospel of Jesus is the aim of every Franciscan, cleric or secular, married or single, priest or sister.  Indeed, it is really the aim of every Christian.  The profession or commitment that we witness today is really simply a matter of renewing our baptismal promises, but doing it according to the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Gospel we proclaim every day at the celebration of the Eucharist puts a rudder on our boat, steers our lives in a specific direction, and guides us on the path of life.  The passage that we heard today tells us how to deal with conflict – inevitable in any human life.  St. Matthew outlines a procedure for resolving conflicts in a three step process.  If none of the steps work, we are told to treat the offending party as if he were a Gentile or a tax collector.  This may seem a little harsh until we remember who wrote this Gospel!  St. Matthew was a tax collector and makes sure that we know how Jesus treated him.  Did he scold Matthew?  Did he humiliate him?  Did he cast recriminations upon him?  No.  He simply invited him with the words, “Come follow me!”  If this is the way that Jesus treated tax collectors, then this is how we are to treat those with whom we disagree.  St. Paul writes to the Romans that they obey the commandments which are summed up in the two great commandments to love God and love our neighbor.  Love is faithful, therefore no adultery.  Love overcomes anger, therefore no killing. Love respects others and their property, therefore no stealing. Love respects the rights of others, therefore no covetousness.  We are to owe nothing to anyone which really means that we are owe everything to everyone because love requires self-giving. Once again we are faced with the selfless love of Jesus as an example. 

It is that example that draws us to the table of the Lord and which draws our brothers and sisters to make a commitment to the Franciscan lifestyle.  Those of us who are already committed to this life style are reminded at each profession ceremony of the words of St. Francis who at the end of his life said, “Let us begin, for up to now, we have done nothing.”  

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M.