Today we observed the Feast Day of Clare of Assisi, founder of the Poor Clares, a religious community that continues to this day in both the Anglican and Roman churches. She was also a companion and and colleague of Francis of Assisi. At this morning's celebration of the Holy Eucharist,given Clare's connection to Francis, I thought it appropriate to close with a contemporary version of the four fold blessing that Francis offered to his followers and friends. A number of folks were touched by the blessing so I'll share it with all of us now.
A four-fold Franciscan blessing:
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word Who is our Brother and Savior, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.
Amen.
Faithfully,
Lex
This prayer has me searching my bookcases for G.K Chesterton’s essay on Friar Francis Bernadone (“Saint Francis of Assisi”); I believe it was published in the early 20s. I plan to reread it after guest departs.
ReplyDeleteI always knew Saint Francis to be an astounding character & a key figure in the evolution of Western thought & spirituality; Chesterton artfully demonstrated to me what those of us living in this crass materialistic world could learn from this wonderful saint.
As I recollect, the world could take nothing from Saint Francis (Money from a man having taken a vow of poverty; food from a being prone to fasting?). I am looking forward to finding & rereading this book!
By the way, last month, I bookmarked this delightful piece on Chesterton: http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/07/an-homage-to-chesterton/
Since, I suspect, Chesterton’s views on spirituality, religion, the world, etc. are expressed through his bios on Aquinas, Francis, and others; I found this excellently written article filled with beautiful aspects of the brilliant Chesterton, and hence, further insight into his subjects. While no sentence in the article is wasted, I was particularly taken by: “He saw his age as trying to ‘mean well’ but believing in nothing, his society had a big heart but located in the wrong place, and its drumming beat expressed a deafening and indeed bullying confidence in material and moral progress without ever asking, ‘progress toward what?’”
Is this ever a salient comment in context of the world in which we live, or what!
Or, this one:
“…Chesterton would have us think boldly, trusting that our fellow men, God, and our own sense of reason will correct us when need be. Being wrong, after all, is a part of a complete life—it is its own kind of peculiar gift.” My wife usually preempts God, my fellow man, and certainly my own sense of reason on this one. Oh, but for the gifts of the complete life!
Oops, so sorry to ramble; a gift of the wee hours.
Thanks for the wonderful prayer! Hope you find the Chesterton article of interest.