We are living in a time of searing hostility. Fear, hatred and violence are spreading like wildfire in our communities and around the globe. Sometimes, it seems like the whole world is on fire, leaving the char of death and destruction in places like Ukraine, Gaza and Orem, Utah (the home of Utah Valley University), and in lesser-known places too, like Burkina Faso, Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan and Syria.
These days feel like we are in a place that we have never been before. And, while it may seem so for us, they are sadly nothing new. It was into just such a world that Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone was born in 1182 in the Duchy of Spoleto, Italy. The son of a wealthy fabric merchant, Francesco grew up enjoying the privileges of riches and status. He was a happy-go-lucky bon vivant, partying with the beautiful people, reveling in the good life.
What he really wanted, however, was the honor of being a knight and the glory of battle. So, in 1202, he joined the fight against the neighboring enemies of Perugia. Most of his fellow soldiers were slaughtered in battle, but Francesco was captured and held for ransom in prison for over a year. Foiled in this chance for a soldier’s glory, he joined a new quest, the knights of the Fourth Crusade.
Bedecked in magnificently expensive armor, off he rode to war — but only for one day. On the first night of his journey, he had a dream. He dreamed that God was calling him to return home and to be a different kind of knight. Francesco obeyed.
When he returned, he was ridiculed as a coward. No longer the toast of the town, he was now the joke of the town. Even his father turned against him, shaming him for the small fortune he had wasted on his battle armor.
Guided by his dream, however, a new life was emerging in Francesco, aimed not toward war but toward peace, not toward having but toward giving. When his father pushed him before the Bishop, demanding that he repay him for the armor, Francesco stripped naked, gave his clothes to his father, telling him that he would gladly give him all his possessions.
His former attraction to the beautiful people was changing into love for the poor and broken. One day he encountered a leper whose decaying flesh smelled foul and looked sickening. The old Francesco would have hurried on his way, skirting far around the leper. But this new Francesco came up to the leper and kissed his moldering hand. Instead of feeling repulsed, he surprisingly felt joy.
Slowly, Francesco was being transformed by the voice that called to him in his dream. He showed love and kindness to everyone, even to thieves who beat and robbed him. He felt a companionship with Creation, Brother Sun and Sister Moon, the wolves and the sparrows. He rejected the way of “othering” that turns neighbors into enemies to be defeated and Creation into commodities to be exploited.
Out of this changed and newly centered life comes this prayer, the “Prayer of Saint Francis.” I offer it as one that I hope is guiding me through these days.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I 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,
Craig
