The humanity has been plagued with a myriad of
problems, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve to Satan’s tempting trick
(Genesis 3). Their older son, Cain, killed his brother, Abel, out of jealousy
and anger (Genesis 4:1-16). So, vices have been plaguing the humanity, resulting
in sins, bringing brokenness and dysfunctionality, throughout God’s creations,
from humanity corrupt with sins.
One aspect that characterizes the broken humanity is that many marriages are broken, and divorce has become a business as usual, especially in countries like the United States. And as matrimonial brokenness has become so prevalent, it had to be made “legal” biblically and civilly. Furthermore, many families are broken and dysfunctional. And so many children suffer, as a result. As to reflect these problems of marriage and families and children, we find what Pope Francis calls “our common home”, the earth, so broken.
In the Gospel Reading for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Mark 10:2-16, Jesus has reminded that marriage, which is the foundation to build a family, was instituted by God in the context of the Creation (Mark 10:6-9). And Jesus was referring to the content of the First Reading for the 27th Sunday (Genesis 2:18-24). In the Creation, God not only created human as both male and female but also for them to have matrimonial union as one flesh so that marriage leads to procreation to build human families (Genesis 1:26-31; 2:18-24). And St. John Paul II said that families are building blocks of the Church (Familiaris Consortio, 1981). However, building with broken and dysfunctional families, the Church also becomes dysfunctional, bearing brokenness of families. And little ones, children, suffer the belittlement, neglect, and abuse, while “our common home” in the Creation also suffer greatly, as evidenced in abuse of natural resources, pollutions, destruction of ecological harmony, and so forth.
In response to these multitudes of problems in the
Creation, including marriage, the Father in heaven has sent the Son, incarnated
in the human flesh of Jesus through Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit (John
1:1, 14; Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35), not only to save us (John 3:16-17) but to
restore the broken humanity, by being made a little lower than the angels, by
going through humiliation and great suffering, and even tasting death (Hebrew
2:5-18). Starting with the Apostles, those who follow Christ are to continue on
with Jesus’ mission to restore the original harmony and unity of humanity, as
well as, the rest of God’s creations, because we are also the stewards of the
creations (Genesis 1:28).
As Christians, are we serving the Creator, God, as
his entrusted stewards for His creations?
Had we been so, God’s creations, including the humanity, would not have been
plagued with brokenness and dysfunctionality as it has been reflected in the
Bible from Genesis 3 on and as we have faced throughout history. Even though
Christ has been sent to restore the brokenness in God’s creations (Hebrews
2:5-18) and many followers of Christ have carried out this work of Christ since
the Apostolic time, many of us continue to inflict the creations and our own
humanity with out of vice-filled hearts and sinful acts. However, God the
Creator has not given up on us to serve as His entrusted stewards for the
creations. So, out of us, God calls certain people to serve on a greater scale.
And, God picked Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, for restoration of the brokenness
in creations, including the humanity, as well as, the Church, calling him, “Francis, go repair my house, which, as you
can see, is falling completely to ruin.”
This man is known as St. Francis of Assisi.
On October 4, we celebrate and honor the
extraordinary life of St. Francis of Assisi in the Church’s Liturgical
Calendar.
The Gospel Reading for the feast of St. Francis of
Assisi (Matthew 11:25-30) reminds us of the importance of humility, because
God’s great truths are revealed only to those who are as humble as children. And
this kind of humility is what characterizes St. Francis.
The life of Francis shows how humility is associated
with the virtue of sine proprio
(without (having) anything for oneself), especially, as one voluntarily embraces
this virtue. Certainly, Francis enjoy
truths revealed to him by God for his humility as he was sine proprio.
Upon hearing God calling him to “repair” His house,
Francis totally gave up and left all the material wealth that he could inherit
as a son of a wealthy merchant behind. And, he willingly chose to be sine proprio in order to focus on “repairing”
God’s house. As he first thought God wanted him to repair dilapidated Chiesa di
San Damiano in Assisi, Francis began repairing this church brick by brick,
while he lived on God’s providence through kindness of good neighbors and even
strangers.
And this way of Francis’ life began others to abandon their materialistic lives and followed him in a simple and humble life style of sine proprio, solely trusting God’s providence to live. Out of this, the Franciscans were founded. One of those who were inspired by St. Francis’ life of humility and sine proprio was St. Clair of Assisi, and she founded the Order of Poor Ladies.
Because he was a man of humility and sine proprio, not only that God revealed
His truths to him but he was in harmoniously in tune with the rest of God’s
creations, including the humanity. So, he praised the beauty and greatness of
God’s creations with his personal affection and affinity, in his “Cantico delle Creature”(Canticle of
Creation). In this, Francis praise God, with this phrase, “Laudato si, mi Signore”(Praised be to you, my Lord), and this is
where Pope Francis took the title for his first encyclical, “Laudato Si”(2015).
By living a life of humility and sine proprio, St. Francis of Assisi was relatively
free from what obstruct his vision to God and revelation of His truths. And he
certainly recognized God’s revealed truths in God’s creations and all aspects
of humanity, even in their brokenness and dysfunctionality. So, he was able to
discover and rediscover the beauty of God’s truths in all aspects of the
creations, including the humanity, as he repaired the brokenness and restored
the original beauty, harmony, and unity.
So,
Francis prayed, as famously known as “Prayer of St. Francis”:
Lord, make me a channel of thy
peace,
that where there is hatred, I may
bring love;
that where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may
bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may
bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may
bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may
bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may
bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may
bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather
to
comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be
understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that
one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is
forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to
Eternal Life.
As we faithfully serve God as His entrusted stewards of the creations, we become channels and sowers of peace and unity, repairing brokenness and restoring the functionality. And this leads us to eternal life – our salvation. For this reason, Christ was sent and crucified – so that we also take active roles in his salvific mission by serving as good stewards of God’s creations, doing necessary repair and restoration works, as exemplified by St. Francis of Assisi, living a life of humility and sine proprio. This kind of life style of simplicity facilitates the repair the brokenness not only in human relations, including marriage and family, but all aspects of God’s creations. Such a life style is definitely gentle to the ecology.
The First Reading (Galatians 6:14-18) humbly reminds
us that the focus is the Crucifix, the Cross of Christ, as the mark of Christ,
is the focus and center, in our commitment to the stewardship of God’s
creations to bring force the new creation as we repair and restore. Remember,
to restore the peace and unity that were broken by human sins and vices of
human hearts, Christ was sent and put to death (Hebrews 2:5-18).
Now, how has St. Francis of Assisi, an exemplary repair
service man for God’s house, the Church, which is built with broken and
dysfunctional families, inspired you to join in him for this repair mission
work with our eyes focused on the Crucifix?
When we cite the above listed Prayer of St. Francis, do you really mean
to wish to be made as a channel to bring a new creation out of broken and
dysfunctional creations, including humanity – human relations, including
marriage and family?
If you truly desire to be a channel to bring force a
new creation through your repair and restoration works, then, first and
foremost, you must embrace a life of child-like humility so that God’s truths
are revealed to you. And you also need to live a life of sine proprio – nothing for yourself, so that you are fully in
communion with the rest of God’s creations, fitting to discover and rediscover
the beauty and sweetness in God’s truths throughout the creations – so that
you, too, can sing Francis’ joyful canticle, “Cantico delle Creature”, praising God, as Francis did, “Laudato si, mi Signore”.
Do you still have a hard time to be like St. Francis
of Assisi, because your personal assets and wealth are too good to be given up?
Then I hope you learned a lesson from the Gospel Reading for the 28th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Mark10:17-30.
Let us follow St. Francis of Assisi, embracing a
life of child-like humility and sine
propri, so that matrimonial unity is restored, broken human relations and
families are repaired, and all other aspects of God’s creation is renewed as a
new creation. And the Church, the house of God, is repaired through this.
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