This year, 2014, the holiest day in Jewish life, Yom
Kippur, coincided with the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4. This
is no coincidence. Given the meaning of
Yom Kippur and significance of St. Francis of Assisi for us to be more intimate
with God, there is a reason at least both for the Jews and the Christians to
ponder upon our relationship with God.
Yom Kippur is the concluding day of the Yamim Noraim
(Days of Awe or Days of Repentance), which is the 10-day high holy days,
starting with Rosh Hashanah. These 10
holy days of the Yamim Noraim also mark the beginning of a new Jewish year.
Yom Kippur is the climax of the 10 days of
repentance leading to atonement with God. It is a progressive process from Rosh
Hashanah toward Yom Kippur, to mark the these 10-day period of high holy
days. It is first to commemorate God’s
Creation as the feast of trumpet (Yom Teruah), remembering how good God’s
creation was. So, we, as being created
by God, were good in the beginning. But,
we have turned away from the Creator, God, who made us good, as tempted by
Satan and his tricks, throughout history.
Thus, we turn our acknowledgement of God’s creation to our repentance,
in moving through these high holy days toward Yom Kippur, which means the day
of atonement, to start a new year in good terms with God, as we were once
before at the time of Creation.
St. Francis of Assisi is an Italian Saint, living during
the medieval time, from 1181/2 to 1226, who is considered as the most beloved
Saint, not only among Christians but also non-Christians, as well. Perhaps, it is because the way St. Francis
loved not only people of all kinds, including those who were regarded as
enemies, but also all created beings and things. He must have sensed God in all of these
things he loved and embraced. St. Francis
has been known for allegedly preaching to birds and taming wolves. Francis’ love
for all created beings and things, including planets, is well reflected in his
canticle of the sun, calling the sun, as his brother.
In praising all God’s creations, singing St.
Francis’ canticle of the sun, is like joyfully blowing the horns and trumpets
on Yom Teruah for Rosh Hashanah, remembering how good God’s creation was and is
to be. St. Francis’ canticle of the sun
reflects the spirit of Yom Teruah.
As these 10 high holy days move from Rosh Hashanah
to Yom Kippur, the joyful and grateful acknowledgement of God’s creation shifts
to recognizing our sins against God for not keeping the Covenant that was
established between God and humans, through the Ark of the Covenant, which was
first established with Noah (Genesis 6:11-22).
This reflective focus on our sins and need for atonement is culminated
on Yom Kippur.
The life of St. Francis of Assisi also reflects this
shift from joyful acknowledgement of God’s creation of Yom Teruah to somber
acknowledgement of our need of penance and atonement of Yom Kippur, as his
mission was to restore our relationship with God, through a metaphor of
rebuilding a ruined church of San Damiano in Assisi, Italy. According to St. Bonaventure, St. Francis
heard God telling him, “Go Francis,
rebuild my house which is falling down” (St. Bonaventure, Legenda Maior,
Ch. II), as cited by Pope Pius XI in paragraph 31, Rite Expiatis.
St. Francis not only responded to this calling of
God literally but also figuratively. He and his followers, later becoming early
Franciscan friars, rebuilt this ruined church of San Damiano. The mendicant
religious order he formed, the Franciscans, strove to turn the world from a
life of sins to a blessed life in God. Thus, St. Francis spearheaded a
rebuilding of the falling house of God, the Church as people of God, by
inspiring people to convert to a God-centered simple life of joy.
The way St. Francis worked to rebuild the falling
Church by turning people from sins to God was pretty much like the way Jesus
ministered people.
Neither St. Francis nor Jesus asked people to bring
sacrificial animals for reconciliation and atonement with God, though the law
of Moses in the Book of Leviticus demands sacrificial animals as sin offerings
for atonement. It is particularly so for Yom Kippur. But, as Jesus has become New Passover through
his death on the Cross, Yom Kippur has been renewed into the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, a bloodless form of atonement process, through the blood of
Jesus Christ. Thus, St. Francis simply ministered to touch hearts and souls of
sinners warmly with compassion to remind them what they miss and what they
deserve –rather than guilt-tripping them, like the Pharisees.
The life of St. Francis was so exemplary as to
living a Christ-centered life, as addressed by St. Paul (i.e. Philippians
1:21-23; Galatians 2:20). It is a life of beatitude, as taught by Jesus
(Matthew 5-7), because it is the best possible life that we can live in the New
Covenant that Christ has brought to us through his own blood. This New Covenant
was announced during the Last Supper with these words:
While
they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it
to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body”. Then he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave
it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the
covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins”
(Matthew 26:26-28).
These words in incorporated in the Eucharistic
prayer during the Liturgy of the Eucharist in Catholic Mass, as our practice of
anamnesis. But, this is not just remembering Jesus instituting the Sacrament of
the Eucharist during the Last Supper but remembering the korban in the Holy of
Holies for Yom Kippur for atonement.
In this sense, the Last Supper marks the beginning
of Christian Yom Kippur, as it was when Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
as the new sin offering once for all for our atonement with God. Because of
this, we no longer have to slaughter goats as our sin offerings (korban
practice) for atonement. That is why the Liturgy of the Eucharist during
Catholic Mass is now a bloodless sacrifice.
Remembering the Last Supper and the
above his words in Matthew 26:26-28,, let us not forget that the Liturgy of the
Eucharist during Catholic Mass is Christ’s self-sacrifice with atonement
nature. And, next day, Jesus offered himself as the new Yom Kippur korban to
shed his blood for this New Covenant for atonement and salvation, making him
both as the new high priest and the paschal victim for atonement and salvation.
This is why, before citing Matthew 26:26-28 in the Eucharist
Prayer, as we begin the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the presiding priest, like
the high priest at Yom Kippur ceremony in the Holy of Holies, says, “Orate,
fratres, ut meum ac vestrum sacrificium acceptabile fiat apud Deum Patrem
omnipotentem”, which mean,” Pray,
brethren (brothers and sisters), that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable
to God, the almighty Father”. In response, we say, “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and
glory of His name, for our good and the good of all His holy Church.”.
This is a new way of practicing Leviticus 17:11and Isaiah 56:7
for our New Yom Kippur, remembering how Jesus offered up himself and shed his
blood for our atonement. Instead of eating the roasted meat of sacrificial goats
of Yom Kippur, we receive De
Corpore et
Sanguine Christi Domini during the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Catholic Mass.
Thanks
to this, St. Francis brought a bunch of animals to the alter, not for korban
but to simply celebrate their presence as God’s creations, coexisting with us.
Only Christ can be both the high priest and the
sacrificial victim. As he meditated in front of the cross in the church he rebuilt, San
Damiano, he was completely immersed himself in the Passion of Christ to a point
of receiving stigmata.
Whenever St. Francis of Assisi calls us to align our
hearts and souls more closer to God, he is speaking from the depth of his
Christ-centered life of joy, where he is one with Christ, who is our redeemer.
It is where St. Francis experiences the redeeming blood of Christ for our
atonement and salvation.
Once we realize what Christ’s paschal sacrifice
means in light of Yom Kippur, we can be moved into conversion to live a
Christ-centered life of beatitude, as St. Francis did. As we reconcile and
atone with God, we humbly ask God to make us His loyal servants and channel of
His Covenant – the New Covenant that the blood of Christ has brought. The New Covenant is characterized by the Mandatum
Novum:
A new commandment I give to you, that you
love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another (John 13:34 ).
As we convert our life
from a life of sin to a life of Christ, exemplified by St. Francis of Assisi,
and atone with God, then, we are ready to live a new life in the New Covenant
brought by Christ’s sacrificial Yom Kippur blood. We are ready to live a life
of love in a way to embody these words of St. Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of Your
peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And 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.
May we always live
in harmony with God and all of His creation, as reflected in the above prayer
of St. Francis of Assisi, as we pass Yom Kippur into a new spiritual life.
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