Life in the Way of St. Francis: Seeing the God of Love Everywhere

Suzanne English, a secular Franciscan, shares her thoughts on the example of St. Francis of Assisi.

As the Feast of St. Francis approaches, I find myself reflecting on the meaning and expression of Franciscan life. What does it mean to live a life in the way of Francis, whose entire life after his conversion was dedicated to imitating Christ – and am I?

A core belief of the Franciscan way of life is that it is a life of love, one of the heart more than the mind. We know the source of that love. During a St. Bonaventure summer conference kicking off the celebration of the centenary of Thomas Merton's birth, fellow Bonaventure graduate Fr. Dan Horan, O.F.M., noted that Merton himself was a proponent of supralapsarian belief – that God did not send Jesus simply to repair the damage done by man's fall from grace, but would have sent Jesus even had the fall not occurred, out of his surpassing love.

That sense of God's overflowing, undeserved love and grace, too powerful to contain, washing away all my sins and holding me in his loving gaze, is what sustains me every day and is at the heart of our faith.

Beyond that basic characteristic, though, the two aspects of Francis' life - contemplative and evangelistic - are both attractive to me.

Francis was deeply prayerful. In her book Franciscan Prayer, Sr. Ilia Delio, O.S.F., notes that "to enter into the mystery of Christ through prayer ... is to enter into the mystery of the Trinity, and to live in the Trinity is to live in relationships of love.

"Because Franciscan prayer is focused in the person of Christ, it is affective. It is prayer of the heart rather than head, and it seeks to center one's heart in God. The heart that is centered in God views the world as the place where God dwells."

That perspective of seeing the world - all creation, all people, not just the good and the beautiful – as of God, is a wonderful gift. But God did not call us as people of faith just to contemplate his goodness. Francis, in addition to being prayerful, was an evangelist and an exemplar to all those around him, of dedicated, penitential practice. His life was a reflection of the Gospel call.

We are to go out to all the world - God's amazing, glorious world, filled with beautiful, imperfect people like us - and let God's love shine through us as we go out about our work and the normal tasks of daily life. Perhaps our most difficult task is to get out of the way so He can.

A simple phrase attributed to Francis – based in his admonition to his brothers to preach with their deeds – is "Preach always. When necessary, use words." May our lives be open to God's action in us so that His love and joy draw others, not to us, but to Christ. Wishing a happy Feast, and a life of love and joy to all!