Matthew 16:24-26:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
The last reflection began with a summation of what the word “Victory” means in the context of the celebration of Easter. I stated “the Victory of Easter must be centered on God’s (Love’s) desire to forgive sin and overcome death.” I then recognized how “Jesus conquered and overpowered sin via His Passion, how God established the possibility and promise of eternal life through the Resurrection, and how these two together constitute a pathway for Love to triumph over the death that the enemy ultimately hopes to inflict upon each of us. Finally, I argued that this manifestation of Love is much more resplendent than what would have been possible if Adam and Eve had never failed in the Garden.”
I also noted the primacy of “belief” in the realization of this Victory, defining it at least in part like this: “I am to believe in the saving power of Christ and allow it to transform my life. This belief, properly enacted, is much more than an intellectual decision. It is a commitment to plunge myself into the life of Christ by prayer and by immersing myself in scripture, most particularly in the gospels.”
I then took the word “transform” from this quote and used it as a leaping off point to discuss the conversion that St. Francis experienced during his life, using the first chapters of The Life of St Francis by Thomas of Celano to demonstrate how Francis began his adult life in a state of sin. I suggested that the entire religion of St. Francis could be seen as a prolonged and persistent movement from a beginning point of “being in sin” to a final state of having “left the world.” (Both phrases being taken directly from Francis’ Testament.) The process of conversion required to make the transition from one place to the other is arduous and extended. It is full of starts and stops and progress and relapse. It necessitates an ongoing commitment that will likely never be fully or truly realized in our earthly lives.
Finally, I proposed that this process of conversion represents Francis’ teaching on how the Victory of Easter can be accessed.
The starting place of “being in sin” is the condition that humanity was left in after the failure of Adam and Eve in the Garden. It is from this circumstance that Francis began his journey of conversion and it is also the station that each of us inevitably occupies as we contemplate our own need for conversion.
The destination of having “left the world” is the condition of eternal life and Salvation. It is the opportunity that Jesus, through His Passion and Resurrection, makes available to us when we live purposefully and abundantly into the promise of Love that is the underpinning of God’s entire purpose for Creation. During our earthly lives, this possibility can only be attained partially and/or imperfectly because of our “human frailty,” but it defines our earthly goal nonetheless. If we have enough success and our lives are deemed worthy, at the end, our “leaving the world” becomes literal, our sins are hopefully forgiven, and we have faith that we will find ourselves victorious and “living” in the company of Jesus and God for the balance of eternity.
At its core, Francis’ religion is about what needs to happen in between. We start in a state of sin. We hope to end in a state where we have left that sin behind in favor of a life worthy of salvation. Francis’ own personal conversion is an exemplar that shows the way, the path from one state to the other. Jesus invites us into salvation by His Passion and Resurrection. Francis demonstrates the best possible way to live into that invitation.
It is tempting to claim for Francis a position of preeminence even among Saints in terms of his understanding of the dynamics of salvation and the prerequisites needed to take full advantage of the Sacrifice of our Savior. He is unsurpassed in terms of defining how worthiness can be achieved. His emphasis on Penance, Poverty and Conversion is unequalled anywhere in history, and as a result the outcome of his life serves as an example beyond comparison.
But, of course, Francis would be deeply disturbed by any claim of preeminence. Humility is another of the hallmarks of the example he set for us. He spent his entire life acting upon the assumption that he was unworthy. Words like “minor” and “lesser” are also crucial to understanding the approach to holiness that he lays out for us. In the end, it his ability to be true to these ideals and reject any desire for preeminence that make a claim of preeminence possible.
This feels like a paradox, but it is an example of how Francis, in his desire to extend his belief, fulfilled the second half of the definition I gave for that word above. He plunged himself into the life of Christ via the gospels and found plenty of paradoxes in the teaching of Jesus. The gospel quote above is an example, shrouded in apparent mystery. How can losing our life be the key to saving it? It is an oxymoron. But Francis was not dissuaded by such mysteries. He sought and encountered them in scripture, and then turned to prayer in an effort to understand them. When given the Grace of understanding he accepted and believed the revelations he experienced unequivocally, making them the foundation of his entire religion and way of life.
Thus Francis sought not to gain the whole world, but to reject it in favor of discipleship and cross bearing. As a result, He preserved his soul for eternal union with Jesus.
He “lost his life” (his earthly life to be precise), and in the process found eternal life.
There’s a lot to unpack. If we just list key words (Victory, Sin, Death, Life, Salvation, Love, Belief, Conversion, Poverty, Penance, Humility, Minority, Paradox, Mystery) it’s too much to readily distill into a set of easily digestible thoughts.
In order to progress, we need to embrace another characteristic Franciscan word and find a way to simplify our approach.
To do this, I am going to take the word “humility” and concentrate on it. How does humility relate to sin and conversion in the life of Francis? And then, at the end, how does that answer relate to a Franciscan understanding of the Victory of Easter?
———
In chapter ten of The Little Flowers of St. Francis there is a story about an encounter between Francis and Brother Masseo. (In order to make this completely approachable, I am going to paraphrase the quotes.)
Francis is returning from a day spent praying in the woods when Masseo stops him and asks “Why does the entire world seek you? Why does every man desire to see you and hear you and obey you? You are not fair to look upon, have not done great deeds and are not of noble birth. Why does the whole world follow after you?”
Francis’ reply gets to the heart of the issue.
First of all, he does not respond immediately. It is almost as if he does not know the answer, or has never considered the question before. He “raises his face to heaven and remains quiet for an extended time with his soul uplifted to God.” He seems to be referring Masseo’s question to God in prayer. Then, after hearing the answer from God but before relating what he has learned to Masseo, he kneels and “gives praise and thanks to God.” (This emphasizes the definition of belief we are working with. Francis did not consult his own intellect. Instead, he turned to prayer, believing God would give him the answer and that this was the best way to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of his reply.)
Francis then tells Masseo this: “God has never beheld a more vile, more imperfect or greater sinner than I. Since He found no viler creature on earth to accomplish the marvelous works He intended, he chose me to confound the nobility, the majesty, the might, the beauty and the wisdom of the world. To make manifest that every virtue and every good thing comes from Him the Creator, and not from the creature, He chose the least likely example possible. This way, none may claim glory before Him, but he that glories shall glory in the Lord, to whom belongs all glory and all honor forever and ever.”
The text then closes by describing Masseo as “waxing sore afraid at this lowly answer given with great fervor, knowing surely that Francis was grounded in great humility.”
———
That story is ideal in terms of conveying the tenor of the humility that filled Francis’ life, but The Little Flowers are not actually contained within the sources we typically reference. However, the theological basis for this story is present in multiple places, several of which can be found in The Assisi Compilation.
In chapter ten, we find an anecdote that begins with Francis preaching in the piazza in front of the bishop’s residence in the town of Terni. When the sermon was complete, the Bishop told the crowd:
“Now, in this final hour, God has beautified his Church with this little poor man, lowly and unlettered,” pointing all the while to blessed Francis. “And because of this, you should love and honor the Lord and avoid sin, for He has not done this for every nation.”
Upon hearing this,
Francis bowed down before the Lord Bishop and fell down at his feet, saying to him: “I tell you the truth, my Lord Bishop; no person in this world has yet honored me as much as you have today. Other people say, ‘That man is a saint!’ They attribute glory and holiness to the creature, not to the Creator. You, however, like a discerning man, have separated what is precious from what is vile.”
Then in chapter sixty five, we find a story where Francis is praying in a church at Bovara. Brother Pacifico accompanies him, but Francis sends him away so he might spend the night alone praying and sleeping in the church. In the morning, Brother Pacifico returns and finds Francis praying in front of the altar inside the choir. He waits outside the choir, praying to the Lord himself, and is taken up into ecstasy.
He saw many thrones in heaven, one of them higher than the others, glorious, resplendently adorned with every precious stone. As he admired its beauty, he began to wonder what kind of throne it was and whose it might be. All at once he heard a voice telling him: “This was Lucifer’s throne and blessed Francis will sit on it in his place.”
As he came back to himself, Francis came out. He prostrated himself in the form of a cross at Francis’ feet, asking Francis to forgive his sins. Francis extended his hand and lifted him up, realizing that he had seen something in prayer.
Brother Pacifico asked him: “What do you think of yourself, Brother?” Blessed Francis responded: “It seems to me that I am a greater sinner than anyone in this world.”
And immediately Brother Pacifico was told in his heart: “In this you can know that the vision you saw is true. For as Lucifer was cast down from that throne because of his pride, so blessed Francis will merit to be exalted and to sit on it because of his humility.”
In chapter fifty two of The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul, the Second Book, Thomas of Celano gives us this description of the humility of St. Francis in verse.
Humility is
the guardian and embellishment
of all virtues.
Any spiritual building without this foundation
may appear to rise higher
but is headed for ruin.
So that this man,
adorned with so many gifts,
should lack nothing,
this gift filled him more abundantly.
In his own opinion
he was nothing but a sinner,
though he was the beauty and splendor
of every kind of holiness.
It was on this
that he strove to build himself,
to lay the foundation
as he had learned from Christ.
Forgetting what he had gained,
he kept before his eyes only what he lacked,
considering that more was lacking in him than present.
Not satisfied with his first virtues,
his only ambition was to become better,
and to add new ones.
Humble in manner,
he was more humble in opinion,
and most humble in his own estimation.
———
There are other examples, but the gist is clear. All of this points to the idea that sin cannot be justified or explained away in some fashion. There is no hiding from who we are and what we have done. It’s another paradox, but the only way past sin is to embrace it. This is not an embrace of approval or acceptance or inevitability, but an embrace of ownership. We must acknowledge and confess our sin and admit our own powerlessness to overcome it. We must wholly embrace the truth of our sinful condition and meekly and in all humility seek out Jesus and place our need for forgiveness before Him with no expectation that He will choose to heal us.
Francis spent his entire life telling himself that he was the greatest sinner there was. In modern psychological terms, we often hear that what we say to ourselves goes a long way toward determining what we become. If we believe we are happy or miserable, either way, that thought has a tendency to fulfill itself.
In the case of Francis, this convention did not seem to hold. He said to himself “I am the greatest sinner there is” but he did not turn into an extravagant sinner. Instead, he wound up a Saint.
What is happening here?
First, he may have actually believed he was the greatest sinner ever. That line of thought would go something like this: “Jesus has been so good to me. He called me over and over again and never relented. He even spoke to me directly from the Cross at San Damiano when I was confused and lost. When I began to answer and inquire, he revealed everything to me, holding back nothing. He revealed Lady Poverty to me completely and taught me all the secrets of the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection. Every day He continues to fill me abundantly with everything I need to know to understand the deepest of mysteries. Yes, there are people who sin in greater than volume than me, and there are also those who commit much more serious sins than me, but none of them have been blessed by Jesus as I have been. Because of the unfathomable Love He has shown me, even a single sin makes me a greater sinner than all of them.”
Next, we have to ask, what is the thought that follows? If Jesus has loved me that much, and I am still “a greater sinner than anyone else in the world,” how am I to respond?
Clearly, if the goal is to return the boundless Love that has been showered on me, then I must convert. I must move from “being in sin” to the state of salvation and eternal life, the state of having “left the world.” Along with being “a greater sinner than anyone else,” I must also become “a greater penitent than anyone else.”
The desire to be “the best penitent in the world” is then the unspoken corollary to the “greatest sinner” label that Francis allowed himself. It is unspoken because to claim such a title, or even such a goal, would be to boast. That pretention in and of itself would be sinful. Like living without sin, it is a goal that is unachievable in this life, unreachable without the intervention of Jesus on our behalf.
But it is still the goal. Francis sought the label “greatest sinner” because it motivated him to live completely into the label of “poor penitent.” But this second level is solely between God and the individual soul. It is not something that can be publicly claimed without paradoxically destroying the claim in the same instant. The best we can do is hope that when the time comes, God will accept our meager attempts.
———
One of the amazing things about Francis is that he never wavered from this construct. When we get to the end of Francis’ life he is still expressing the exact same thought pattern.
In The Life of St. Francis, the Second Book, Thomas of Celano confirms for us that the emphasis Francis placed on humility remained until the very end of his life. In chapter six, we get this:
He burned with a great desire to return to his earliest steps toward humility. Rejoicing in hope because of his boundless love, he planned to call his body back to its original servitude, although it had now reached its limit. He cut away completely the obstacle of all cares and silenced the noise of all concerns. When he had to relax this rigor because of illness, he used to say: “Let us begin, brothers, to serve the Lord God, for up until now we have done little or nothing.” He did not consider that he had already attained his goal, but tireless in pursuit of holy newness, he constantly hoped to begin again.
Not long before, Francis, in the hope of learning God’s Will, opened the gospels three times and received a message of coming hardship. Celano tells us “The brave soldier was not disturbed by oncoming battles, nor was he downcast in his spirit as he was about to fight the wars of the Lord in the camps of the world.” That promised hardship now stands mostly fulfilled. Francis already has the Stigmata. His eyes have been cauterized. His body is generally failing and the four who will care for him until the end are already attending him.
He has also already been promised entry into God’s Kingdom. (The Canticle of the Creatures: Context – OFS Ongoing)
One would think that he would feel secure enough at this stage to relax a little. But not Francis. He is still telling himself he is the greatest sinner in the world, and he is still seeking to become a more perfect penitent.
Here is one last quote in closing, conveniently in the form of another paradox.
Since he was the most perfect among the perfect, he refused to think he was perfect and thought himself wholly imperfect.
Celano calls Francis “the most perfect among the perfect,” and in the process assigns Francis the position of preeminence that I suggested earlier.
We can be sure Francis would have continued to refuse such a glorious declaration to his last breath. He would have been unable to think of himself as anything other than “wholly imperfect.”
- Has it ever occurred to you that you should follow Francis’ example and think of yourself as “a greater sinner than anyone else in the world?” Would such a thought be self-defeating for you, leaving you feeling hopeless? Or would it motivate you toward conversion as it seemed to do for Francis? How would you describe your personal battle against sinfulness to God if required to do so? Are you happy with your commitment to and progress toward the goal of eternal life?
- Earlier I said I wanted to investigate how humility related to sin and conversion in the life of Francis. For Francis, humility required an honest acknowledgement and acceptance of sinfulness. Because Love was present, it enkindled in him a desire for conversion seldom equaled since. That desire then manifested as a yearning to live into the Victory of Easter by distancing himself from sin and single mindedly orienting his gaze toward eternal life. Do you agree with that assessment? What would you correct or add?
- Is humility a prerequisite for conversion?
OFS Ongoing 