Leisure as Opposition to the World

Jesus and Nicodemus, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872)

The relationship between Poverty, Penance, and the “world” is a common theme in most of the reflections I write.  Whenever I need to define either Poverty or Penance, I invariably do so in reference to the word “world.”  I like to suggest that in the Franciscan charism the core practice of both Poverty and Penance consists in the act of “turning away from the world and toward God.”

Please understand that in this context, the word “world” has an entirely different connotation than it does when it is used in relation to God’s Creation. 

Like Jesus, Franciscans attempt to “value created things attentively and lovingly” (Article 11 of the Rule).  We believe that Creation was sanctified by His Incarnation, and we also believe there are visible vestiges of His Father present in all of God’s creatures.  We remember enthusiastically that in the Canticle of the Creatures (and elsewhere) Francis taught us to refer to those creatures as “brothers and sisters,” and we understand Creation to be one of the primary means God uses to reveal Himself to us.  When we employ leisure to approach Creation peacefully and serenely, we find that glimpses into the nature and mystery of God are available to us. 

Article Eighteen of the Rule expresses our reverence for Creation like this:

Moreover they should respect all creatures, animate and inanimate, which “bear the imprint of the Most High”, and they should strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship.

When I suggest that Franciscans need to “turn away from the world,” I am referring to a characterization that places worldliness in opposition to heavenliness.  In this context, the word “world” encapsulates all of the negativity that accumulates when man dismisses his dependency on his Creator and becomes obsessed with himself.  This is modern life at its worst, where it seems that distractedness, busyness and cultural expectations are so overwhelming that there is no hope that one can ever be properly connected to God again.

In this “world,” achievement and the accumulation of wealth and goods is paramount.  We think that our significance is determined by the size of our house, the car we drive, and the fineness of our clothes.  This is the “world” of red carpets and advertising campaigns, where materialistic achievement and accumulation equate to power, status and adulation. 

In this “world,” the poor are not seen as “an image of Christ,” but instead as untouchable.  Those who have achieved material success naturally regard themselves as better than those who have not.  Worthiness is measure by the size of bank accounts and investments, not by character or moral attentiveness.  Cheating is acceptable, as long as the gain is big enough, and you do not get caught.

The “world” is a place where God is an afterthought, if not completely absent.  It is the place where the enemy dominates and is even sometimes worshipped.

Article Eleven of the Rule describes it nicely even though the word “world” is not present. 

Trusting in the Father, Christ chose for himself and his mother a poor and humble life, even though he valued created things attentively and lovingly. Let the Secular Franciscans seek a proper spirit of detachment from temporal goods by simplifying their own material needs. Let them be mindful that according to the gospel they are stewards of the goods received for the benefit of God’s children.

Thus, in the spirit of “the Beatitudes”, and as pilgrims and strangers on their way to the home of the Father, they should strive to purify their hearts from every tendency and yearning for possession and power.

The “world” is the place where people are attached to temporal goods and their material needs are ever spiraling.  People are consumers of goods to excess rather than stewards.  Instead of purifying themselves from every tendency and yearning for possession and power, they actively embrace these propensities, making them the center of their lives.

In this context, humanistic domination of the “world,” and humans being dominated by the “world,” become the enemy of a Franciscan.  The “world” is something to be resisted and something that seeks to drag us down.  It is a place where sin is not opposed, but openly embraced and enjoyed.  It is the opposite of a place that a Franciscan would choose to be, which is why the Rule suggests that we think of ourselves as “pilgrims and strangers on our way to the home of the Father.”  Ultimately, as we will see below, we are not meant to be “of this world.”

_________

In the gospel of John, the word “world” appears fifty-seven times.  This is more than double the appearances it makes in the other three gospels combined.  Not every instance of the word has connotations like those above, but the “world” as opposition is a theme that runs throughout.  Jesus emphasizes it consistently, enough that the theme is often present even when the word “world” is not.

In order to reinforce our understanding of this theme, I am going to present some passages from this gospel for your perusal.  I think the trend will be self-explanatory, so I am not going to present any commentary.  I will let you absorb them and draw your own conclusion.

(John 1:9-11)   The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.   

(John 2:23-25) Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

(John 3:19)  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

(John 3:31-32, 36) “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony…….  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”  (John the Baptist is speaking here.)

(John 5:41-44) “I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you (the Jewish leaders). I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; …….”        

(John 7:6-7) Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you (Jesus’ brothers) any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.” 

(John 8:23) But he continued, “You (the Pharisees) are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”

(John 9:39-41)  Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”  Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”  Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

(John 12:25) “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

(John 12:42-43) Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

(John 14:27) “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

(John 15:18-25) “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’”

(John 16:8-11) “When he (the Advocate) comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

(John 16:20) “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.”

(John 16:33) “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

(John 17:13-19) “I am coming to you (the Father) now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

(John 17: 25-26) “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”                   

(John 18:36) Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

I have given eighteen scriptural passages above, which I think is plenty to establish the theme I have put forth.  I whittled this number down from the thirty-eight that jumped out at me on just one reading of the gospel.  I am sure if I took my time and studied the text, I could come up with more.  An entire book could probably be written (maybe it has been?) on just this theme as it appears in the gospel of John. 

In many ways, the entirety of John’s gospel is a running commentary on the enmity between Jesus and the Pharisees.  I would invite you to read this gospel from beginning to end in one session.  It’s not that long.  It might take about two hours.  It could easily be done in one day if you put in the effort. 

If you do so, you get a much different picture than you do reading a couple verses at a time, or even a chapter at a time.  The persistent conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees jumps off the pages.  And you will see that the most prominent subtext of that conflict is the theme we are discussing here.  Jesus’ instruction to be wary of the “world” is evident in every chapter of the book, and it is rooted in Jesus’ assessment of the motives and behavior of the Pharisees.

_________

How then, does this relate to our conversation about leisure?

Or, I might better ask, how does leisure help one experience one of the passages above and come to an understanding of the teaching that Jesus is offering?

Let’s just take one of the shortest passages.  

(John 12:25) “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

This is one sentence, but it has volumes to teach us.  It contains contradictions and mysteries.  It mentions love and hate.  It speaks of the “world” and eternity.  When I read it, there’s a good chance I will find a different emphasis than you do when you read it.  At different readings, the same person will hear different messages depending on the circumstances of their life at that given moment.  An entire reflection and more could be written about it and the full meaning might not be discerned or explained.

In just this one sentence, we find, to quote from the first reflection, a “locus where the spiritual and divine meet the ordinary and earthly.”  These are the places that I need to seek out as a Franciscan.  I want to place myself in this scene with Jesus and listen to Him speak.  When I do this wholeheartedly, I can understand and believe that Jesus exists out of time.  He is not speaking in the past.  He is truly speaking to me in the present.  He is truly present to me as He is speaking.

When I enter these scenes, I must accept that action is verboten.  These are times for stillness.  These are times for practicing leisure according to my new understanding and its ancient definition.  They are times when listening and receiving according to my intellectus is mandatory. 

When I use prayer and contemplation to enter a scene with Jesus, I must do so with the proper mindset.  The only thing that matters is what Jesus wishes to teach me.  I need to set aside my perspectives and desires and simply revel in being in the presence of the Master.  Anything I might wish or feel is irrelevant unless He brings it into the conversation.  He knows my needs better than I do, and I must trust that He will guide me to whatever I require in the moment.

To quote the first reflection again, the goal is “to partake in the non-discursive power of vision enjoyed by the angels, to whom it has been granted to “take-in” the immaterial as easily as our eyes take in light or our ears hear sound.”

The ratio can only get in the way in this moment.  It can only distract me away from Him.  The moment I begin to actively work at possessing the message is the moment the message becomes unattainable.  Exercising the ratio in this moment will displace me from the scene and plant me firmly back in the “world.”  Any hope I have of glimpsing the mysteries of the heavenly and eternal is then lost.

This is not to say that the ratio has no place in my life.  It simply has no place in these moments.  As a human being, I am incapable of staying in this scene with Jesus indefinitely.  I am not made to dwell in the spiritual ad infinitum.  (At least not yet. Hopefully, I will be translated to that state when I encounter Sister Death.)  I will return to the ratio soon enough without needing to be conscious of it, and it is the ratio that will help me recall and process what was revealed. 

When I am back to the ratio, I am also back in the “world.”  But I still recall that I am a “pilgrim and stranger on the way to the home of the Father” who is not meant to be “of the world.”  To the extent I can be both of these things at the same time, I can then use my ratio to carry and spread the message of Jesus throughout the “world.”  This then becomes the active work of the ratio.  Indeed, these reflections are the work of the ratio, and any ability I have been graced with to organize themes into a compelling flow that will attract others to Jesus is a most fitting work for my ratio.  

But I can only be the messenger of Jesus to the extent that I listen to and receive His message via the art and discipline of leisure exercised in the way that the ancients and Francis understood it.                  

_________

I want to close by going back to the OFS Rule, specifically Article Four.

The rule and life of the Secular Franciscans is this: to observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people.

Christ, the gift of the Father’s love, is the way to him, the truth into which the Holy Spirit leads us, and the life which he has come to give abundantly.

Secular Franciscans should devote themselves especially to careful reading of the gospel, going from gospel to life and life to the gospel.

First, I want you to note the word inspiration and recall that I used this word in the first reflection to help define leisure and the intellectus.  “It is the intellectus and the intellectus alone that experiences the inspiration, grace and revelation that are at the core and foundation of human knowing.”  Here is another happy accident where the sources of our Franciscan life help to substantiate a point I have made.  Again we see Francis embracing leisure and its inspiration as indispensable to his spiritual life.

Next, I want to point out that I completely neglected the Holy Spirit in all three of these reflections, and that this was foolish of me.  As the Rule states, the Holy Spirit is instrumental in leading us on the Way to the Truth and Life that can only be found in Jesus.  In the last section, when I was speaking of listening and receiving from Jesus, I was remiss in not bringing the Holy Spirit into the conversation.  The intellectus is dependent on the Holy Spirit, and He should have been invoked in a conversation about the ancient understanding of leisure well before now.

And finally, I want to emphasize the word “observe,” and the phrase “gospel to life and life to gospel.”  I want to especially suggest to you that the authors of the Rule got it right when they put “gospel” first.  The phrase would have a completely different meaning if it were rendered as “life to gospel and gospel to life.”

Perhaps this entire set of reflections can made clear by substituting the words “leisure” and “work” into this sentence of the Rule. 

Secular Franciscans should devote themselves especially to careful reading of the gospel, going from leisure to work and from work to leisure.

As Pieper would have had it, leisure is preeminent.  It comes first.  It inspires the shape that work will take, ensuring its value, excellence, significance and import.  And work, at its conclusion, returns to leisure to seek another round of inspiration.  The pattern continues indefinitely but leisure always has the lead.  Leisure always points work in the right direction.

The same pattern applies to the gospel and life.  Observation and reading of the gospel are preeminent and these tasks cannot be completed without engaging in leisure.  Our longing to know Jesus and to imitate His life has to begin by immersing ourselves in the gospels.  The gospels then shape the direction our lives will take, ensuring that all my decisions and pursuits have value, excellence, significance and import.  Whenever the activity of my life pauses, I take that as an opportunity to return to the gospels in leisure to find further depth in my relationship with Jesus and to take additional direction from Him on what activity I will pursue next.  Jesus is always in the lead.  Jesus always points me in the right direction. 

The tension in my life between leisure and work informs the tension in my life between the earthly and the spiritual and the heavenly and the “worldly.”  This is essentially a tension between what Jesus teaches in the gospels and what “worldly” culture seeks to emphasize.  As Jesus underscored throughout the gospel of John, it is the Father that I should seek first, and it is the Will of the Father that guides me as I move through the “world.”

This then defines the balance I am seeking in my life between the ratio and the intellectus.  The intellectus must lead, but the ratio has a role to play, a role that can even be holy when it is guided by the listening and receiving that characterizes a proper definition of leisure, and by the inspiration, revelation and grace that proceed from repeated true and faithful encounters with Jesus.

All of this requires honesty.  I have to regularly examine my conscious to ensure that I am attaining balance according to this formula.  And I have to be unafraid in presenting my needs to Jesus when I falter, seeking His assistance at all times.       

If I could establish such a pattern in my life, then my hope that one day I might learn to “be still and know that He is God” has a chance to be fulfilled.

And if that were to happen, I would no doubt be moved to “exalt God among the nations, and exalt God in the earth,” just as the Psalm suggests, and just as Francis did so perfectly at the end of his life through the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures.

Back to the Last Reflection in the “On Leisure” Series

The Tension Between Work and Leisure

Scenes from the Life of St. Francis (Scene 7), Benozzo Gozzoli (1421-1497)

In the first reflection, I asserted that the ancients and the Greeks had a different definition of the word “leisure” than the one we use today.  I also asserted that the definition advanced by the Greeks would have been identical to the one understood by Francis.

It sometimes shocks me how the Franciscan sources never fail to contain just the passage I need to substantiate a point I am making.  The following is from The Major Legend of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure, chapter nine (slightly rearranged):

Jesus Christ crucified,
into Whom
he longed to be totally transformed
through an enkindling of ecstatic love,
always rested like a bundle of myrrh in the bosom of Francis’ soul.
As a sign of his special devotion to him,
Francis found leisure*
from the feast of the Epiphany through forty successive days
-- that period when Christ was hidden in the desert --
resting in a place of solitude,
shut up in a cell,
with as little food and drink as possible
fasting, praying, and praising God without interruption.

* Footnote: The Latin is vacabat [he found leisure], a word difficult to translate but one rich in the contemplative tradition, where it has the sense of vacationing or taking a holiday in God.

In this passage, we can see that our rediscovered definition of leisure clearly had a place in the life Francis, which means it has a place in the life of every Franciscan. 

The sources are full of instances where Francis isolated himself and spent time in contemplative seclusion.  Before now, I would have not associated the word leisure with the “fasting, praying and praising of God” that Francis engaged in at these times, but now I have an understanding that allows me to make that connection.  Leisure as I now appreciate it gives me a much deeper and richer admiration of what Francis was about when he retreated to the solitude that was instrumental in his development as a saint.

When Francis visited one of the many hermitages maintained by the order, he was separating himself from the everyday world in an attempt to know God more intimately.  The goal would have been to make space for his intellectus to work unimpeded.  Much of his prayer would have been geared toward listening, and he would have been doing everything in his power to make himself more receptive to whatever it was that God wished to reveal to him.

In the words of Psalm 46, he would have been endeavoring to be still so that he could know God as God.  No amount of vigorous work by the ratio could help achieve this.  Such striving could only get in the way and obstruct or forestall his ability to obtain what he was seeking.   It was only in opening himself unconditionally in peace and tranquility that he could hope to gain a glimpse into the mystery that is God.

And then, when Francis heard God and comprehended whatever it was He was offering, he would have responded by exalting and praising God in thankfulness for the revelations and grace received.  This pattern would finally achieve its climax at the end of Francis’ life, when, in the midst of his suffering, the stillness of his prayer led to an assurance from God that he had gained the Kingdom.  Francis’ response of praise then reached its apex in the form of the Canticle of the Creatures.   

_________

In the first reflection, the tension between work and leisure is evident throughout.  That tension is exacerbated in the modern world by the redefinition of leisure as the opposite of work, but it is evident even in the ancient and medieval outlook.  It would be very easy to look at our rediscovered definition of leisure and the excerpt above and come to the conclusion that leisure is the only thing we should be concerned about, to the exclusion of everyday work. 

We must remember that Francis did not spend all his time as a hermit.  Early in his conversion, the tension between prayerful leisure and the work of preaching troubled him deeply.  In chapter twelve of The Major Legend of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure, we hear how Francis sent brothers to Clare and Sylvester to ask them to pray for him and help him with his dilemma:  “Should he spend his time in prayer, or should he travel about preaching?”  They both responded with the same answer, that God wished Francis to do both.  Francis then “rose at once, girded himself, and without the slightest delay took to the roads.”

(This story also appears in The Deeds of Blessed Francis and His Companions, Chapter Sixteen. In this text, Francis is pictured contemplating a third order for the first time.)

Beyond this, Francis spent considerable time working with his own hands and he expected his brothers to do the same.  In chapter one-hundred-twenty from The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul, we hear from Celano how Francis could be less than charitable with those brothers who were unwilling to work.

How, Working Himself, He Despised the Idle

He used to say that the lukewarm, who do not apply themselves constantly to some work, would be quickly vomited out of the Lord’s mouth.  No idler could appear in his presence without feeling the sharp bite of his criticism.  This exemplar of every perfection always worked, and worked with his hands, not allowing the great gift of time to go to waste.  And so he would often say: “I want all my brothers to work and keep busy, and those who have no skills to learn some.”  And he gave this reason: “That we may be less of a burden to people, and that in idleness the heart and tongue may not stray into what is forbidden.”

This tension between work and leisure is a given in human life.  We even see it in the life of Christ, who, in the Gospel of Mark (6:3), is confirmed to have worked as a carpenter before he began His public life:

Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

When Jesus transitioned to His ministry, the work continued, just in a different form.  The scriptures tell us of the weariness He experienced from traveling. (John 4:6, “Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.”)  And a long day performing the work of healing must have left Him exhausted, because healing required the expenditure of power. (Luke 8:46, But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”)

However, we also see Christ as the epitome of prayer.  When Francis sought solitude, he did so because he was following the example of Jesus.  (Matthew 14:23, “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.”) And it was after an extended period of contemplation that Jesus authored the prayer we rely on most heavily today:

Luke 11:1-4

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

So clearly, when He was present here on earth as a man, even Jesus had to sort out the tension between contemplative leisure and everyday work and strike a balance that allowed Him to productively engage in both.

_________

If this tension between work and leisure is present in the life of Jesus and the life of Francis, it should not be surprising that it is also present in the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order.

Article Eight of the Rule says this:

As Jesus was the true worshipper of the Father, so let prayer and contemplation be the soul of all they are and do. 

But Article Sixteen says this:

Let them esteem work both as a gift and as a sharing in the creation, redemption, and service of the human community.

The first is a call to leisure as I now understand it.  The second clearly places significant value on the activity of everyday work.

My first reaction is to wonder, which is it?  If “prayer and contemplation are the soul of all I am and all I do,” that does not seem to leave much room for anything else.  The invocation of my soul in this formula seems to be asking for a complete and uncompromising commitment.  I wonder how I would be capable of making something the “soul of everything I do” if I do not spend every minute of every day seeking to achieve that goal. 

And yet, I am to esteem work.  And yet, Francis did both, and Jesus did both.

How am I to proceed? If I go back to the first reflection, maybe I can find something of help.

Recall Pieper’s insistence that leisure comes first.  If leisure is the basis of culture, then it is the fundamental act.  It has to be present to inform and guide the direction and the development of any culture and any work within that culture.  But it does not constitute the culture in and of itself.  Perfectly pursued, leisure might be able to provide a perfect philosophy of existence.  But without work, that philosophy will never be anything more than theory.  All the work that had to be done to rebuild the German culture still had to be done.  People still needed to eat.  They still needed electricity and fuel to power their lives. 

This means that one of the primary roles of leisure is to define the best possible application of work. 

The Rule has multiple examples of how this might work.  Certain assertions in the Rule require the exercise of leisure before they can be appreciated, absorbed and fully ingrained in my approach to life.  I cannot “seek to encounter the living and active person of Christ in my brothers and sisters ….” (Article 5), or “conform my thoughts and deeds to those of Christ” (Article 7), or “unite myself to the redemptive obedience of Christ” (Article 10), or “accept all people as a gift of the Lord and an image of Christ” (Article 13) if I am not intimately involved with Christ in the first place.  The only way to achieve that intimacy is through leisure.  (Which is why prayer and contemplation must be the soul of everything I do.  In many ways, the rest of the Rule assumes success on this front.)

But my intimacy with Christ has no value if it does not translate to work.  The Love engendered in me by these avowals in the Rule has no value if it does not culminate in some action.  The Rule calls on me to “create conditions of life worthy of a people redeemed by Christ” (Article 13), and to “build a more fraternal and evangelical world” (Article 14), and to “promote justice by the testimony of my human life and my courageous initiatives” (Article 15). 

These constitute practical and concrete manifestations of the Love I received, acknowledged, and learned through the contemplative leisure of the previous paragraph.  They are the action I take and the response I make to the grace and revelation that Jesus bestows on me in my time of leisure.  “Accepting people as a gift of the Lord and an image of Christ” is what leads to “creating worthy conditions of life” (Article 13).  If I do not believe that every person is precious, if I do not love every person just as God Loves every person, then I will not be motivated to perform the work it takes to “promote justice” in the world.      

In other words, leisure and work are both necessary and complementary.  The better I know God through prayerful leisure, the more effective my work will be in “bringing about the Kingdom of God” here on earth (Article 14).

But none of this is possible if leisure is not preeminent.  If I lose myself in the work and forget that prayerful leisure must come first, then I will lose my way completely and fail at both things.

_________

In the past, I have often struggled with this tension.  I struggle with it now.  That’s part of my motivation for writing this series.  I was wondering how leisure might relate to my vocation as a Franciscan so I googled the word.  I do not remember what phrase I used, but it generated a link to some comments on Pieper’s book at the top of the first results page.  I read a little and immediately ordered the book.  Now I am trying to sort out what Pieper has to offer and I am dragging you along in the process. 

I tend toward wanting to wallow in the intellectus.  I have a romanticized version of my life where I spend all my time, every day, doing nothing but engaging in prayer and spiritual reading.  Jesus often feels like a stranger to me, and I am sure that if I could just spend more time seeking Him or more time abiding in His presence, then I would start to feel closer to Him.

This means I tend to see anything other than prayer, even simple things like grocery shopping, doing my laundry, making the bed, fixing dinner, or mowing the lawn, as an intrusion on my ideal life.  These tasks are the everyday work of a normal human life.  They are not evil in any sense of the word.  To requote Article Sixteen of the Rule, I should “esteem them as a gift and a sharing in the creation, redemption, and service of the human community.”  This is especially true because these things are in service to my family, which is the subject of the next article of the Rule.

Instead, I tend to see this work as “of the world” in an entirely negative way.  I see it as an imposition.  I blame it for distracting me from my true purpose and desire.  “If only I was not bogged down in these mundane tasks, then I could achieve the level of prayer and contemplation I desire!  If I could set these tasks aside, then I could spend the time with Jesus I need to be firmly connected to Him!  I could finally know Him as I wish to know Him!”     

But the truth is, I am retired, and I have plenty of time every day for prayerful leisure.  The harder truth to admit is that I rarely engage in this leisure anywhere close to the extent that my idealized version of my life suggests I should.  I procrastinate.  I watch TV and play video games on my phone or computer for hours at a time.  I do everything but this thing I tell myself I cherish above everything else.  Or, worse yet, I simply do nothing.

When I read the quote on work by Francis above, I know he is talking about me.  I shudder to think about how much I “allow the great gift of time to go to waste” every day.  How often does my “heart stray into what is forbidden” because of my own idleness?  How harshly would Francis, or the Lord, criticize me if I met them face to face? 

I might spend more time in contemplative leisure than most, but I hardly spend as much time as I could.  I probably spend less time in work than most, but that does not make me particularly productive on either front.  And I often neglect or postpone the basic work I know I need to responsibly complete.

In some way I cannot complete express, I am blaming “the world” for keeping me from engaging in leisure to the extent I want to, while at the same time neglecting the must-do work that I know I am responsible for.  And, despite the neglecting, my prayer life is not as complete and fruitful as I know it should or could be.  Somewhere in there is a sin that I find myself incapable of naming, let alone acknowledging or confessing.  I think I need some help.  Like Francis, I need my brothers and sisters to pray for me and let me know the outcome of their prayer.  

_________

There is no denying that the modern world is set against me when it comes to leisure. It would gladly load me down with more work than I could ever complete.  The trend toward work as everything that Pieper was arguing against in 1947 post-war Germany has not abated.  It has only accelerated and become amplified.  Unfortunately, his point of view did not triumph.

I can look at my life and see how it would be possible to get lost in work even though I am retired.  The list of tasks above is a must-do list.  If I tried, I could easily expand that list so that it would take up all my time and then some.  I could also add some “want to” things.  I might even have a hard time telling the difference in many instances. 

I do need to be aware of not succumbing to the pressures and promptings of the everyday world.  But I also need to be more aware of identifying the work that is truly must-do and taking care of it promptly and competently. 

I ended the first reflection with some comments about the importance of balance.  I think I am back to that idea.

But I have to acknowledge that balance is impossible with honesty.  If I am not being completely honest with myself about how I view work and how I approach leisure, then balance is something I will never attain.  I may not be able to name the sin I identified above, but I know it has something to do with not being honest with myself.  In that dishonesty, I seem to open a third possibility that exists as a no man’s land between leisure and work, where nothing gets done, and true idleness and excruciating sin hold sway.

That true idleness is defined by Pieper like this: 

Idleness means that the human being has given up on the very responsibility that comes with his dignity: that he does not want to be what God wants him to be…….  It is the “despair of weakness” that consists in someone not wanting “to be oneself.”……..  It is the “sadness of the world” spoken of in the Bible.  (2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”) 

If, by my actions and inactions, I place myself in a gulf of idleness and sorrow where I refuse “to be myself,” is it likely that I would lie to myself about what I was doing?  Seems like not wanting to be myself and lying to myself would go hand in hand, so that answer must be yes.

Which means my balance is even more out of whack than I might have originally thought.  And the only way to correct this is to start being honest with myself.

Complete self-honesty, then, would seem to be a prerequisite for being able to live a life properly balanced between leisure and work.

If I cannot achieve that, then I cannot follow the instruction of the psalm, and I may never understand how to consistently “be still and know that He is God.”

Back to First Reflection in the “On Leisure” Series

Forward to Next Reflection in the “On Leisure” Series

Rediscovering the Meaning of Leisure

Psalm 46:10

The Lord says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

_____________________

If I were to ask someone for a contemporary definition of the word “leisure,” they would probably respond with something like this: “Leisure is free time meant to be used for personal enjoyment.”

If I pressed them to expound on that definition further, after pondering for a moment, they might suggest that the best way to define leisure is to say what it is not.  They might then express some version of the notion, “leisure is the opposite of work.” 

If I then instructed them to please succinctly define leisure using just a single word, a majority might be expected to come up with a word like “idleness.”

There is nothing revolutionary in these definitions.  They are commonplace and well understood in the modern age.

The problem I have is this:  I want to convince you that leisure should have a prominent place in the life of a Secular Franciscan.

Based on the above, that would be a hard argument to make.  In these definitions, leisure has a distinctly worldly focus grounded in the freedom of an individual to do as she or he pleases, with little reference to restraint or responsibility.  There is no mention of and no direct relationship to God.  Worse than that, “idleness” is a synonym for sloth or acedia, one of the seven deadly sins.

Article Eleven of the OFS Rule instructs the professed to “seek a proper spirit of detachment from the temporal.”  Indulging in leisure as defined above would seem to be in direct opposition to that.  Article Sixteen states that we should “esteem work.”  Again, leisure seems opposed.

But we need to understand that these definitions of the word “leisure” would have been unfamiliar to Francis and his brothers.  Leisure had an entirely different connotation and tone in Italy in the early 1200s.  If I am to persuade you that you need to embrace leisure as part of your Franciscan vocation, then I need to rediscover a meaning for the word that has been lost to today’s world, but that Francis would have known and understood intuitively. 

The quote from the Psalm should give a hint as to the direction we are headed.

_____________________

The book that suggested this set of reflections to me is entitled Leisure, the Basis of Culture.  The author is Josef Pieper, a German Catholic philosopher (born 1904, died 1997).  Pieper originally presented this material as a series of two essays/lectures in 1947 post-war Germany. 

At that time, Germany was emerging from their defeat in World War II.  The entire society was engaged in a rebuilding effort.  This renewal effort was not just physical.  It was also spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical.  Yes, the country needed to figure out how to meet day to day material needs on a permanent and ongoing basis, but it also needed to redefine its essence.  The people had to be united in a mutual vision of what the future would look like.  To best meet ordinary, everyday needs, the country needed to develop a common, shared understanding of the fundamental nature of reality, existence, truth and knowledge. 

In the second paragraph of the work, Pieper puts it like this: 

“to build our house (i.e., to rebuild the country), we must put in order again our entire moral and intellectual history.”  

He then states emphatically,

“before any detailed plan along these lines can succeed, our new beginning, our re-foundation, calls for ….. a defense of leisure.”

Take a moment to decide whether that second statement makes sense to you?  Is leisure fundamental to developing a cohesive and meaningful philosophy of existence?  If the definitions of leisure given above are the reference, it would seem not.  Or, if it does have a role, it might be along the lines of, “One needs a certain amount of downtime, a certain amount of leisure, to recharge their batteries.  Leisure is needed if I am ultimately to be as productive as possible.”  Leisure is at best an ancillary support to work. 

To the contrary, Pieper places leisure first.  The second quote indicates it as the starting place for the efforts at hand.  The title of the book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture, confirms this assertion.  Leisure is not meant to be an afterthought, subservient to work.  The logic of that title suggests that leisure is pre-eminent, and that work can only have proper meaning in relation to a proper understanding and exercise of leisure.  

Clearly, Pieper has an entirely different definition of “leisure” in mind.  What definition is he working from?  Could that definition be one that is sympathetic to and supportive of the Franciscan charism?  If I understand what Pieper is hinting at, will that help me live out my profession more successfully?  

To begin to understand where Pieper is coming from, we must delve a little deeper into the circumstances of post-war Germany.  With the country in a process of complete renewal, there is a great expectation that everyone must do their part for success to be achieved. The amount of work that needs to be done is enormous and extraordinary.  In that context, it is easy to understand how work would be seen as the primary concern.  Anyone engaged primarily in leisure at this time would immediately be accused of not pulling their weight. 

To engage in leisure in the modern sense, given the effort required for a successful rebuild, would be seen by most as an immoral act.

This leads to every activity in post-war Germany being redefined in terms of work.  Prior to the war, the study of Philosophy would have been seen as a leisure activity.  To lift a quote from Heraclitus from the text, Philosophy and the other Liberal Arts were seen as “listening-in to the being of things.”  Being a philosopher was not an endeavor filled with activity.  It did not involve “hammering out” ideas.  Those who taught in a university or wrote books about the Liberal Arts would not have been labeled as “workers.”  They would have been seen as part of an elite class who had the privilege of making a living “at their leisure.” 

Pre-war, the Liberal Arts were more about being quiet and still and attending to Creation rather than using mental acumen to actively discern or in some way conquer the nature of Creation.  Inspiration, revelation and grace would have been more relevant to the definition of a philosopher than discovery accomplished by the vigorous or even assaulting will of a man.     

Philosophy had to be an important and necessary part of the rebuilding effort.  A coherent and standardized metaphysical philosophy would serve as a great unifier for the people.  But it could only be countenanced if its authors were translated from the world of leisure to the world of work. 

So, to be made acceptable in the context of the work of rebuilding, the Liberal Arts were redefined as “intellectual work.”  Given the framework of already established philosophical movements present both before and after the war, this redefinition became more than just a matter of semantics.  It was put into actual practice.  Philosophers began to rely more on their own intellectual acuity and less on inspiration as they practiced their craft. 

The redefinition of the Liberal Arts away from listening and to active work then led to a redefinition of knowledge.  Inspiration, grace and revelation lost eminence as sources of knowledge.  The more man actively used his will and reason to search for knowledge and truth, the more convinced he became that nothing can be known or true unless it can be proven so by human logic and intelligence.  The idea that one can “listen-in to the nature of creation” became passé, and, in many quarters, tawdry and unacceptable.  Only that which could be proven by the human mind could be accepted as knowledge.

The book puts it like this:

To Kant, the human act of knowing is exclusively “discursive,” which means not “merely looking.”  “The understanding cannot look upon anything.” ……  In Kant’s view, human knowing consists essentially in the act of investigating, articulating, joining, comparing, distinguishing, abstracting, deducing, proving – all of which are so many types of active mental effort.  According to Kant, intellectual knowing by the human being is activity, and nothing but activity.      

In other words, human knowing is possible only through work.  And the philosopher therefore is a worker just like everyone else.

Given this, we can see how the present definition of leisure developed.  If work is conclusive and listening obsolete, then a definition of leisure based in listening is also outmoded.  Instead of leisure and work complementing each other, they become opposed, and the definition of leisure evolved to become the opposite of work. 

We can even see how leisure, in the modern context, developed a certain undesirable connotation.  In the added introduction to my copy of the book, written in 1998, that negative inference is expressed like this:   

“For the puritan, leisure is a source of vice; for the egalitarian, a sign of privilege.  A Marxist regards leisure as the unjust surplus, enjoyed by the few at the expense of the many.  Nobody in a democracy is at ease with leisure, and almost every person will say that he works hard for a living.” 

_____________________

Now that we have some sense of the modern definition of leisure and the circumstances that brought it into being, we can refocus our efforts on our primary task.  What is the definition of leisure that Pieper is advocating, and will that definition help us better understand and live out our profession to the Franciscan charism?

Let’s start our search by noting that the Greek word for leisure is “Scholé.”  In Latin, the word is “Scola.”  In English, the translation becomes “School.”  In the ancient world, leisure and learning were not just complementary but intimately linked.  Leisure had nothing to do with being idle.  Instead, it was directed toward the pursuit of knowledge.

If the ancient root definition of the word leisure has to do with knowing, then the next step is to investigate how the ancients understood the act of learning.

Ancient philosophers like Aristotle and Plato did not dismiss discursive learning.  However, they did not constrain access to the scope of human knowledge the way Kant does above.  In ancient times, and in the medieval times that Francis lived in as well, a broad definition of the sources of knowledge was embraced.  Attainment of knowledge through the type of discursive work that Kant champions had its place.  But there was also much more room for intuition, grace and revelation than contemporary times and definitions allow.

Pieper presents this distinction like this:

Medieval thinkers distinguished between the intellect as ratio and the intellect as intellectus.  Ratio is the power of discursive thought, of searching and re-searching, abstracting, refining, and concluding, whereas intellectus refers to the ability of simply looking, to which the truth presents itself as a landscape presents itself to the eye.  The spiritual knowing power of the human mind, as the ancients understood it, is really two things in one:  ratio and intellectus:  all knowing involves both.  The path of discursive reasoning is accompanied and penetrated by the intellectus’ untiring vision, which is not active but passive, or better, receptive – a receptively operating power of the intellect.      

Without going any deeper into the presentation and arguments, we can begin to see how the ancient and medieval thinkers would then have identified the word “leisure.”  Leisure becomes the conscious and deliberate act of learning by listening and being receptive to what our senses and our consciousness perceive separate from any deliberate, active work toward knowing that the mind might engage in.

Think about what it is like to look upon a rose.  Without any effort at all, you can appreciate the beauty of its varied colors and form.  If you lean in, you experience a delightful smell.  If you gently touch the petals, the texture of the bloom becomes apparent.  You might even experience a sensation of chalkiness if the pollen has blown onto the petals.  If you are outside, a zephyr might cause the slightest movement, and you then become aware of the breeze on your cheek.  A bee might enter the frame, and you can identify the buzz of its movement over the whisper of the wind.

You receive all these things through your senses, and your consciousness allows you to translate them into knowledge of the rose without engaging in any work at all.  The inspiration contained in this experience constitutes knowing through the intellectus. 

If you were a botanist, you could pick the bloom and identify the pistil and the stamen.  With a little assist from inspiration, you can deduce the relationship between the breeze, the bee and the pollen.  But to do this, you have now entered the world of work.  The parts of the flower and the mechanism by which it reproduces are discovered and advanced through the investigative and deductive capabilities of the ratio.     

Both human faculties are necessary if we are to fully know what a rose is.  But it is downright depressing to think about only knowing the rose as collection of petals, pollen, pistil and stamen revealed by the ratio.  What would we lose if we could not recognize the beauty of the infinite variety of colors and forms that flowers come in?  How would the experience of walking through a field and encountering a patch of wildflowers be diminished if we could not feel the breeze on our cheek, hear the buzz of the bees working the patch, or smell the perfume of a flower we pick and share with a companion?  

Pieper describes the act of knowing through the ratio as “decisively human” and the act of knowing through the intellectus as “surpassing human limits,” or “super-human.”  He further says of intellectus that it allows us:

“to partake in the non-discursive power of vision enjoyed by the angels, to whom it has been granted to “take-in” the immaterial as easily as our eyes take in light or our ears hear sound.”

In other words, the intellectus gives us a window into the divine.  It is the intellectus and the intellectus alone that experiences the inspiration, grace and revelation that are at the core and foundation of human knowing.  It is even arguable that everything the ratio discovers is ultimately dependent on the intellectus.  The ability to identify a pistil or stamen and discern its function within the overall concept of a flower originates initially in an inspiration that can only be sourced in the divine.

In the modern world, the activity of ratio has reached the point where it has become counterproductive.  It has moved from being the partner of intellectus to fully suppressing it.  Instead of helping us learn, it now impedes us.  It obscures our imagination and therefore limits our ability to discover and know, especially about God and the mysteries He embodies.  In an act of great irony, we have learned to follow Kant religiously.  As a result, our knowing has become one-dimensional and stunted. 

The ancient Greeks had no word that corresponds to our concept of everyday work.  Instead, they described work as “not being at leisure.”  This tells you everything you need to know about their priorities. 

This set of priorities also existed at the time of Francis.  The onset of the merchant class (Pietro Bernardone was certainly a worker) was one of the markers signaling the beginning of a slow transition to modernity.  But Francis would still have embraced the pre-eminence of the intellectus.  That inclination is what made him a willful troubadour in his youth, and the saint he became as he matured.

_____________________

We need to rediscover the importance of intellectus to our human condition.  We need to learn once again how to be “not active.”  We need to reacquire and then reassert the skills of receptivity and “listening to the being of things.”

The ability that Pieper has labeled intellectus is transcendent.  At the same time, it is both not human and the highest fulfillment of what it means to be human. 

That mystery itself can only be grasped by the intellectus, which is the locus where the spiritual and divine meet the ordinary and earthly.  It is the place where a human touches the divine, however briefly and fleetingly, and learns Truths that the discursive work and reason of ratio cannot fully observe, comprehend or define.

And it is only possible to reach this place if we redefine leisure as the ancients understood it, and as Francis understood it.

  • How often in your everyday life do you “stop to smell the roses?”  How often are you too distracted, too busy and too caught up in everyday tasks and responsibilities to stop and appreciate the paradise that God has blessed you with?
  • How much of your life is spent in the work of ratio?  How much in the listening and the receptivity of intellectus?
  • Is there proper balance in your life between the “decisively human” and the transcendently “super-human”?

If you are like me, the answer is, “I am out of balance.  Way out of balance!”

I rely too much on ratio.  I neglect intellectus almost entirely. I intentionally stop and metaphorically “smell the roses” only rarely, and when I do, I am almost always pulled back into busyness before I have learned anything.

The only way for me to correct this imbalance is to spend more time in leisure.  But not leisure as understood by modern definitions.  I need to spend time in leisure as it was understood by the ancients.  I need to spend time in leisure as it was understood by Francis.

I need to learn to listen attentively. I need to be undistracted and available.  I need to be more receptive to whatever it is that God wishes to teach me through all the faculties he has blessed me with.  This includes work and reason, but it also includes the senses, my intuition and my imagination. 

Most of all, I need to learn to see with not just my human eyes, but with my mind’s eye, the power of vision enjoyed by the angels.

In other words, as the Psalm intones, I need to “be still and know that He is God.”

Forward to the Next Reflection in the “On Leisure” Series

Canticle of the Creatures: The Flow of Creation

Genesis 1:14-19

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Last month, we looked at the context Francis was living in prior to his composition of the Canticle of the Creatures and we witnessed Francis experiencing a very human moment of despondency related to the suffering he was enduring.  To counteract his despair, he turned to God in prayer.  God responded by promising Francis the Kingdom and Francis then committed himself unconditionally to the praise of God from that moment forward.  The Canticle is the culmination of Francis’ desire to teach all of Creation to properly praise God, as is His due.

Francis likely composed his masterpiece in three pieces at three separate times.  Strophes one through nine and fourteen came first.  One and two are introductory and praise God directly.  Fourteen, also a direct statement of praise, is most likely a refrain that would have been repeated after each of the others.  Three through nine are exhortations directed to the Sun, Moon, Stars, Wind, Water, Fire and Earth.  Each begins with the words “praised be you, my Lord,” ensuring that the theme of praise is preeminent throughout the whole of the composition.

Strophes ten and eleven, with their message concerning pardon and peace, came next in response to a dispute between the Mayor and Bishop of Assisi.  Finally, the last two strophes, focused on Sister Death, come at the very end of Francis’ life as he is facing his own mortality.

The most typical way to view the structure of the Canticle is to see it in three parts corresponding to the three distinct time frames in which it was composed.  But over the years, commentators have discovered other ways to interpret how the work is organized.  In this reflection and the next, we will look at two of those alternatives in the hope of gaining a more profound insight into the depth and quality of Francis’ work.

_________

In his book Francis: Master of Prayer, Leonhard Lehmann, OFM Cap, suggests that the Canticle can be organized into five sections as follows:

  • Strophes 1-2: Opening
  • Strophes 3-5: Concerning Heaven
  • Strophes 6-9: Concerning the Four Constituent Elements of Creation
  • Strophes 10-13:  Concerning Man
  • Strophe 14: Closing

When the Canticle is looked at from this perspective, we find that it is organized according to the flow of Creation.  The first section is directed to the source of Creation, God. God existed before Creation, and it is His Love that causes Creation to come into being.  The very first verse of Genesis confirms this:

               “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

After acknowledging and praising the Creator, Francis then moves to the first aspect of God’s Creation, His own personal domain, the heavens.  These are represented in the composition by Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and the stars.  Brother Sun comes first and is given special accord because he “bears a likeness to You, Most High One.”  As the source of light, he is “beautiful and radiant with great splendor,” and he alone merits the honorific “Sir.”  His proximity to God the Creator is indisputable. 

From there the flow moves to the earth.  To fully appreciate what Francis is doing here, we must recall that before the advent of modern science, the ancients defined the four classical constituent elements of matter as Air (or Wind), Water, Fire and Earth.  These classifications held in medieval times as well.  Francis predates modern chemistry and physics, and he would not have been aware of atoms or the more than one hundred chemical elements we now use to define matter. 

When he refers to Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire and Sister Mother Earth, he is referring to what he believed to be the building blocks of all matter.  It seems strange to us to identify them as creatures, but to Francis, they are in fact the initial creations that God then used to create everything else.  By labeling the fundamental elements creatures and insisting that they praise their Creator, Francis is effectively calling on all matter within Creation to praise God in a concrete and tangible way.

From here, the flow then moves to man.  If you review the entire first chapter of Genesis, you find that everything else is created before man.  The heavens, the sea, the dry land, plants, the creatures of the sea, the birds of the air, and the animals on the land all precede man in Creation.  Only at the end of the sixth day does God fashion man in His image to rule over all that He has already brought into existence.

Man appears to be at the end of the flow of Creation, but the flow is ultimately not linear, but circular.  For the flow to be complete, the final movement must be back to God.  Creation does not become whole until it is referenced back to the Being who initiated the process and who perpetually sustains it via His Love.  Thus, the final strophe returns to praise for the Creator.

_________

  • Were you aware that Air, Water, Fire and Earth were thought to be the constituent elements of all matter in Francis’ time?  How does understanding that illuminate Francis’ desire to exhort all of Creation to the praise of God through the Canticle?  Article 8 of the Rule says that “prayer and contemplation” should be “the soul of all they are and do.”  How does praise fit into your prayer life?  Will praise receive a greater share of your prayer time after seeing the Canticle from this perspective? 
  • This structure suggests a circular pattern to the flow of Creation, including your creation.  God is the alpha and the omega, the initiator of Creation and its destination.  God deliberately loved you into being and He desperately wants you to return to Him.  Sister Bodily Death plays a key role in this pattern.  Does looking at the Canticle as a circle help you understand what it means to “serenely tend toward the ultimate encounter with the Father” as you are called to by Article 19 of the Rule?     

Return to Last Reflection

Proceed to Next Reflection

The Canticle of the Creatures: Context

As we start a new year, we are also starting a new series for Ongoing Formation.  January 2025 marks the start of the third of four consecutive Centenary years that are being observed across the entire Franciscan family.  The first year focused on the Later Rule and the Christmas celebration at Greccio.  The second on the Stigmata.  This year the emphasis is the Canticle of the Creatures.  The four-year-long commemoration will then culminate in 2026 by remembering and honoring the 800th anniversary of the Easter of St. Francis in 1226.

This month we will start our examination of the Canticle of the Creatures by returning to the scene of the last two years of Francis’s life.  We spent considerable time there last year as we immersed ourselves in the suffering that was integral to the Stigmata and the other illnesses that Francis endured at the end of his earthly life.  The idea now is to make sure we have a firm understanding of the background and situation that led Francis to compose his great masterpiece.

For each entry in the series, the formation materials will include the Canticle itself, which can be found here:

-Canticle of the Creatures

For this month we will also read and consider these two excerpts from the Franciscan source materials:

-The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul [Chapter 161] (pages 384-385 in the link.)

-The Assisi Compilation [Number 83] (pages 184-187 in the link.)

 After reading the full material several times, please expend some effort concentrating on this passage:   

In His mercy He has given me, His unworthy little servant still living in the flesh, the promise of His Kingdom.  Therefore for His praise, for our consolation and for the edification of our neighbor, I want to write a new “Praise of the Lord” for his creatures, which we will use every day, and without which we cannot live.

———————————-

It is no accident that the Centenary for the Canticle of the Creatures follows the one that focused on the Stigmata.  As the readings demonstrate, the suffering that Francis endured during the last two years of his life was the catalyst that led him to the Canticle.  Without the Stigmata and the associated suffering, it is highly unlikely the Canticle could have come into being.

In this month’s readings, we see that Francis’ anguish culminated in a very human moment:

One night, when he was more worn out than usual because of various serious discomforts from his illnesses, he began to feel sorry for himself in the depths of his heart.

I think we can all identify with this scenario.  There have definitely been points in my life where I have experienced enough sorrow and distress that I reached the point where I began to feel sorry for myself.  I did not understand why my life had taken such a negative turn and I just wanted everything hard to go away.  My energy dropped and I faced the very real possibility that I could become stuck in my distress for an extended stay, perhaps even permanently.  Confronted with a bottom such as this, it can be very hard to find the way back to health, joy and positivity.

In the very next sentence, Celano reminds us that Francis possesses the outlook of a saint.  Therefore, he demonstrates a strength and determination that might be hard for the rest of us to muster:  

……. lest his willing spirit should give in to the flesh in a fleshly way even for a moment, unmoving he held the shield of patience by praying to Christ. 

Because of his holiness, Francis does not get bogged down in his despondency.  He identifies the truth.  Feeling sorry for himself is an indication that his being is oriented strictly toward the world.  He steels (shields) himself against the danger by reaching toward God via the mechanism of prayer.  If you doubt what I am suggesting, note that the word flesh appears three times in these three short quotes. Francis is obviously setting himself against the earthly concerns of his body.

The power of his prayer transports Francis firmly to the spiritual realm, where he encounters God directly.  This moment is the culmination of a lifelong pursuit of closeness to God.  The idiom says “Practice makes perfect.”  Francis practiced prayer hour after hour, day after day, year after year. The accumulation of this effort made his prayer perfect.  That perfection then allowed him to encounter God personally when he needed the support of God the most.       

During this encounter, God makes a promise to Francis.  The reward, not just for enduring anguish, but also for patiently pursuing proximity thru purposeful prayer, will be nothing less than an eternity spent in the presence of God in His Kingdom.

“Rejoice, then,” the Lord said to him, “for your illness is the pledge of my Kingdom; by merit of your patience you can be firm and secure in expecting the inheritance of this Kingdom.”

Next, Celano says this:

Can you imagine the joy felt by one blessed with such a happy promise?

There were many turning points in the life of Francis, but this is perhaps the final and most dramatic.  In one last act of Penance, Francis turns incontrovertibly away from worldly focus and anchors himself in the spiritual realm.  From this point forward, he has only one concern.  The balance of his time on earth will be spent in joyous praise of God for the great promise of the Kingdom He made to Francis in the midst of his suffering.

All the hardship is thus forgotten and washed away as Francis focuses on the surety of the future joy he will experience in the Kingdom.

As the first quote indicates, the need to praise that will dominate Francis’ outlook going forward will find its final and fullest expression in the Canticle of the Creatures.  At its core, the Canticle is a joyous hymn of praise to God.  In response to the promise of salvation given by God, Francis determines that he will teach the entirety of Creation to praise God as it is rightfully obligated to do.  

  • Is it comforting to know Francis faced the same kind of low points that we do and that he was able to translate his hardship into something as spectacular as the “Canticle of the Creatures?” 
  • Do you agree that Francis’ personal encounter with God in the midst of his suffering was the culmination of a lifetime spent in continuous, prayerful pursuit of a close relationship with Jesus?  If you rely on Him, will Jesus help you muster a prayer practice worthy of Francis? 
  • Do you hope that someday you will have the same kind of direct experience of God that Francis achieved at the end of his life?  What does that mean for how you organize your life going forward?  How can you embrace Penance and set aside bodily and worldly concern? Can you focus on the spiritual now so that you might have an experience like Francis later, when you are most in need of it?

Proceed to Next Reflection

Petition and Supplication

Introduction:
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
– Amen.

God, come to my assistance:
– Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
-As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Hymn: Just a Closer Walk With Thee

I am weak but Thou art strong. Jesus, keep me from all wrong.
I’ll be satisfied as long, as I walk dear Lord, close to Thee.

Just a closer walk with Thee. Grant it Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

Through this world of toils and snares. If I falter Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

Just a closer walk with Thee. Grant it Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

When my feeble life is o’er, and time for me will be no more.
Guide me gently, safely o’er to Thy kingdom, dear Lord, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee. Grant it Jesus, is my plea.
Daily walking close to Thee. Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

On Presence:
Antiphon 1:  Lord, help me, as I live and pray, to be present to you as you are always present to me.

Good and Gracious God, you knew me in the void, at the time before time,
in the place where there was only you and chaos.
You stood apart from the chaos, considered it, brought the power of your Love to bear upon it, and ordered it into Creation.

The sun rises and sets, the moon goes through its phases,
winds blow, clouds gather, rains fall to nourish the land,
all at your direction.

Earth and sky, mountain and valley, forest and meadow,
lake, stream, river, and ocean,
animal, bird, and insect.
All these are the Creation of your Love.

So too is it with me.  I am also the Creation of your Love,
brought into being for the express purpose of expanding and returning that Love,
given free will to enable my ability to love.

Your Creation is your gift to men.
Anything in Creation that helps me to love you, I am to embrace.
Anything that hinders me, I am to reject.

In your wisdom, you neither expect nor force me to discern the difference.
Instead, you are present to me always, always available to teach me to love as you Love,
if only I will let you.

You know my thoughts before I think them,
My words before I speak them,
My steps before I take them.

There is no place so deep and dark I can retreat to where you are not present,
for darkness is as light to you.

Good and glorious God, help me, as I live and pray,
to be present to you as you are always present to me.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
-As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Psalm Prayer: 
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Hear me; Come quickly to my rescue.
You are my rock, a strong fortress to save me. Be my aid and my refuge.
Lead me, guide me. Reveal your Will to me. Conform me to your Love.
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Deliver me, my faithful God.

Antiphon 1:  Lord, help me, as I live and pray, to be present to you as you are always present to me.

On Discernment:
Antiphon 2:  Lord, make known to me your Will, that I might conform myself to it.

Father,
You sent your Son Jesus to be our inspiration,
and Jesus taught us if we ask, we shall receive.

In His Name I ask the gift of your Grace.
Please, make known to me your Will for my individual life.
Please, make known to me my role in your Kingdom.

Lord Jesus.
You are the Grace I seek embodied.
You are the Truth that walked upright upon the land.
You are the Word of God, spoken in flesh.
You are the Way, the path that leads to love and salvation.
You are the Light, the beacon that lights the path in times of trouble.

Lord Jesus.
Increase in me my desire to know you.
Strengthen in me my need to love you.
Embolden in me the courage to follow you, completely.

Send me your Spirit with the gift of patience.
Patience as I pray, that I might sit still, quietly, and know the revelation of God.
Patience as I live, that I might embrace God as my continual Creator.

Send me your Spirit with the gift of awareness.
Awareness as I pray, that I might experience the revelation of God.
Awareness as I live, that I might see the Hand of God at work in every moment of every day.

Send me your Spirit with the gift of humility.
Humility as I pray, that I might come before God without preconceptions.
Humility as I live, that I might acknowledge my overwhelming dependency on my Creator.

Father, Son and Spirit, make known to me your Will, that I might conform myself to it.
For I know that in the act of conforming, I will find peace,
the peace of an active life, well lived, with the affirmation of your Glory at its core.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
-As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Antiphon 2:  Lord, make known to me your Will, that I might conform myself to it.

On Discipline:
Antiphon 3:   Lord, lend me your Strength! Drench me in your Mercy and Grace!

All my life, Lord, I have avoided the discipline necessary to properly and completely return the Love you shower upon me despite my inadequacy and unworthiness.  I preferred to live for myself, neglecting my obligations to you without a second thought.

On the rare occasion I attempted to achieve that discipline, I relied solely on my own strength and found it completely inadequate to the task.  I failed immediately, inevitably falling back into the ease of old habits and patterns.

Help me to accept and embrace this truth:
I do not possess the power or the wisdom needed to achieve the discipline I require. 
The wherewithal I lack lies only in you.

Therefore, my discipline depends entirely on my proximity to you. 
Only in your presence and only with your assistance can I hope to master my will and return to you the selfless love I undoubtedly owe you.

Please, Lord, hear my pleas!

Turn my face toward you!
Lead me to the mountain!
Envelop me, draw me close!

Convince me to dwell always with you!
Hold me near and never let me stray!
Make me resolute in pursuit of your aid!

Lend me your Strength!
Drench me in your Mercy and Grace!
Free me from the bonds of sin that I might abide joyfully and permanently in you!

Send your Spirit to increase and deepen my poverty and humility,
enabling me to embrace and treasure my dependence on you,
allowing me to finally live a discipline that glorifies you impeccably!

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, Amen!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
-As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Psalm Prayer: 
Here I am, Lord.
Heart, soul, and mind completely for you, Lord.
What would you have me do?
Possess me.  Uphold me as I struggle and strive to embrace your example in the garden.
Not my will, Lord, but yours be done!

Antiphon 3:   Lord, lend me your Strength! Drench me in your Mercy and Grace!

Reading:  (Phillipians 4: 4-9)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Responsorial:
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth!  Chant a psalm in His Name, give glory to His praise!
-Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who alone does great wonders! 

Come, listen and I will tell you, all you who fear God, how much He has done for my soul! 
-Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!

From His holy temple, He heard my voice!  My cry reached His ears! 
-This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad! 

Blessed forever be the name of His Majesty!
-Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!!! 

Canticle of Mary: (The Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55) 
Antiphon:   My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

“My soul glorifies the Lord
    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has been mindful
    of the humble estate of his servant.
 From now on all generations will call me blessed,
    for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
 He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
 He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
-As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Antiphon:   My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

Intercessions:
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.
-Lord, guide me to charity and wisdom.

Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance.
-Lord, fill me with patience and humility.

Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither greed nor avarice.
-Lord, grant me poverty with joy.

Where there is rest and meditation and mindfulness, there is neither anxiety nor restlessness.
-Lord, teach me to rest, meditate and be mindful.

Where there is fear of the Lord to guard an entrance, there the enemy cannot enter.
-Lord, help me to fear you, fearlessly.

Our Father:
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Concluding Prayer:
Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,
give us miserable ones the grace to do for you alone what we know you want us to do.
May we always desire what pleases you.
Inwardly cleansed, interiorly enlightened and inflamed by the Holy Spirit,
may we follow in the footprints of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
By your Grace alone may we make our way to you, Most High,
Who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified God almighty, forever and ever.
Amen.

Dismissal:
May the Lord bless me, protect me from all evil, and bring me to everlasting life.
-Amen.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
-Amen.

Thanksgiving and Praise

Invitatory:
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
-Amen.

Lord, open my lips.
-And my mouth shall praise your name.

Antiphon: He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

In the morning, Lord, I will pray to you.
I will place myself before you and hope in your Mercy.
Please, Lord, hear my pleas.
-He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

By day the Lord sends His kindness upon me.
At night His song resounds within me.
Be not sad, my soul; Put your trust in the Lord.
-He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

My soul thirsts for God, the Living God.
Deep calls to deep.
His rushing waters overflow me.
-He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

I will rejoice in the Lord and acclaim Him my Salvation.
I will come before the Lord proclaiming my thanks,
praising Him with songs.
-He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

For the Lord is a great God, a King above all Gods.
He holds the depths of the earth in His hands, and the peaks of the mountains are His.
The sea is His: He made it.  And His hands formed the dry land.
-He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

I will worship and bow down, bending my knee before the Lord who made me.
For He is my God and my Shepherd,
and I will follow His way.
-He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Antiphon: He is my God and my Shepherd, and I will follow His Way.

Hymn: Lead me, Guide me

Lead me, oh Lord, won’t you lead me.

I am tired and I need thy strength and power,
to guide me over my darkest hour.
Lord, just open my eyes that I may see.
Lead me, oh Lord, won’t you lead me.

I am lost if you take your hand from me.
I am blind without thy light to see.
Lord, just always let me, thy servant be.
Lead me, oh Lord, won’t you lead me.

Lead me, guide me, along the way.
For, if you lead me, I cannot stray.
Lord, just open my eyes that I may see.
Lead me, oh Lord, won’t you lead me.

Lead me, oh Lord, won’t you lead me.

The Praises to be Said at All Hours
Antiphon 1:  Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty,
Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come:
Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

O Lord our God, You are worthy to receive praise, glory, honor and all blessings.
The Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity, wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and blessing.

Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit:
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord.
Sing praise to our God, all you His servants.
Praise Him, you who fear God, the small and the great.

Let Heaven and earth praise Him who is glorious.
Every creature in Heaven, on earth, and in the sea,
praise and glorify Him forever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm Prayer:  All powerful, most holy, most high, supreme God:  all good, supreme good, totally good, You Who alone are good, may we give you all praise, all glory, all thanks, all honor, all blessing, and all good.  So be it!  So be it!  Amen.

Antiphon 1:  Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

The Praises of God
Antiphon 2:  You are the Holy Lord God Who does wonderful things.

You are strong. You are great.
You are the most High. You are the Almighty King.
You are the Holy Father, King of Heaven and earth.

You are Three and One, the Lord God of gods;
You are the Good, all Good, the highest Good,
Lord God Living and True.

You are Love and Charity; You are Wisdom, You are Humility.
You are Patience, You are Beauty, You are Meekness,
You are Security, You are Rest, You are Gladness and Joy,
You are Hope, You are Justice, You are Moderation,
You are all our Riches to sufficiency.

You are the Protector, the Custodian and the Defender,
You are Strength, You are Refreshment, You are our Hope,
You are our Faith, You are our Charity, You are our Sweetness,
You are our Eternal Life.

You are the Great and Wonderful Lord, Almighty God, Merciful Savior.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Antiphon 2:  You are the Holy Lord God Who does wonderful things.

Excerpt from the Earlier Rule, Chapter XXIII, Prayer and Thanksgiving:
Antiphon 3:  Let us Love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind!

All Powerful, most Holy, Almighty and Supreme God,
Holy and just Father, Lord King of Heaven and earth,
we thank You for Yourself,

for through Your Holy Will and through Your Only Son with the Holy Spirit,
You have created everything spiritual and corporal and,
after making us in Your image and likeness,
You placed us in paradise.

All of us, lesser brothers and useless servants,
humbly ask and beg those who wish to serve the Lord God,
to persevere in true Faith and Penance.

With our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind,
with our whole strength and fortitude, with our whole understanding,
with all our powers, with every effort, every affection,
every feeling, every desire and wish,
let us Love the Lord our God!

Let us desire nothing else, let us want nothing else,
let nothing hinder us, nothing separate us, nothing come between us,
let nothing else please us and cause us delight,
except our Creator, Redeemer and Savior!

Wherever we are,
in every place, at every hour, at every time of every day and continually,
let us truly and humbly believe, hold in our heart,
love, honor, adore, and serve,
praise, bless, magnify, glorify, exalt, and give thanks
to the Most High and Supreme Eternal God,
Trinity and Unity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Creator of all, Savior of all.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm Prayer:  Believe and hope in Him, and Love Him, Who, without beginning and end, is unchangeable, invisible, indescribable, ineffable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, blessed, praiseworthy, glorious, exalted, sublime, most high, gentle, lovable, delightful, and totally desirable above all else, forever.  Amen.

Antiphon 3:  Let us Love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind!

Reading: Readings for Today’s Mass

Responsory (from the Exhortation to the Praise of God):
Fear the Lord and give Him honor.
-Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive praise, glory and honor!

All you who fear the Lord, praise Him. Heaven and earth, praise him! 
-Worthy is the Lamb!

All you children of God, praise the Lord.  Let every spirit praise the Lord!
-Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive praise, glory and honor!

The Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79)
Antiphon: Show us your mercy, Lord; remember your holy covenant.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Antiphon: Show us your mercy, Lord; remember your holy covenant.

Intercessions:
Come Holy Spirit! 
Fill these faith seeking souls! 
Kindle in us the fire of your Divine Love!
-Blessed are you, O Lord our God.  Please, hasten to our aid.

Immaculate Mary, full of Grace, the Spirit is with thee. 
Blessed art thou in all of Creation,
and blessed is the Fruit of thy most Holy, Complete and Perfect Yes,
Jesus. 
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, as we seek to emulate your Yes!
-Blessed are you, O Lord our God.  Please, hasten to our aid.

St Michael the Archangel, pray for us. 
Defend us in battle. 
Protect us from the snares and wickedness of the enemy!
-Blessed are you, O Lord our God.  Please, hasten to our aid.

Lord Jesus, we believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, who came into the world. 
Have Mercy on us!  Forgive us our Sins!
-Blessed are you, O Lord our God.  Please, hasten to our aid.

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend our spirits. 
Bless us, O Lord, and keep us from all evil. 
Bring us to everlasting life! 
-Blessed are you, O Lord our God.  Please, hasten to our aid.

Our Father:
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Concluding Prayer, (The Prayer Before the Crucifix):
Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of our hearts.
Give us true Faith, certain Hope, and perfect Charity, Sense and Knowledge,
that we may carry out your holy and true commands.

Dismissal (A Blessing for Brother Leo):
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
-Amen.

May He show His face to us and be merciful to us.
-Amen.

May he turn his countenance upon us and give us peace.
-Amen.

May the Lord bless us,
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
-Amen.

The Good News of the Incarnation

The Greccio Nativity Scene, Giotto, the Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi, Italy

The Story of Greccio from The Life of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano, Chapter XXX

(A program for use in Fraternity Meetings or other similar settings.)

Opening Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

   Refrain: Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads to Thee, and close the path to misery.

O come Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orders all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in your way to go.

Opening Prayer: (Christmas Dawn Prayer #2)
Let us Pray:

Almighty God and Father of Light;
a Child is born for us and a Son is given to us. 

Your Eternal Word leapt down from Heaven in the silent watches of the night, and now your Church is filled with wonder at the nearness of her God. 

Open our hearts to receive His Light and increase our vision with the rising Dawn, that our lives may be filled with His Glory and His Peace, Who lives and reigns forever and ever.  Amen.

Scripture Reading #1:  The Birth of Jesus Foretold (Luke 1:26-38)
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Response: (The Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55)  (all, together)

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
      for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
  From now on all generations will call me blessed,
      for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
  His mercy extends to those who fear him,
      from generation to generation.
  He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
     he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
  He has brought down rulers from their thrones
     but has lifted up the humble.
  He has filled the hungry with good things
     but has sent the rich away empty.
  He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
      to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Scripture Reading #2: The Birth of Jesus, Part 1 (Luke 2:1-7)
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Hymn: Away in a Manger

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky,
and stay by my cradle ‘til morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay,
close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
and take us to heaven to live with thee there.

Scripture Reading #3: The Birth of Jesus, Part 2 (Luke 2:8-21)
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Hymn: Silent Night

Silent night, Holy night.  All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child, Holy Infant, so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace.  Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, Holy night.  Shepherds quake, at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven above, heavenly hosts sing alleluia.
Christ the Savior is born. Christ the savior is born.
Silent night, Holy night.  Son of God, Love’s pure light.
Radiant beams from thy Holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.  Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Reading One: The Humility of the Incarnation

Francis’ chief intention, his principal desire and supreme purpose was in and through all things to observe the Holy Gospel, and with all watchfulness, all zeal, all the longing of his mind and all the fervor of his heart to perfectly follow the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and tread in His footsteps.  He would recall the words of Jesus assiduously and meditate on His deeds with fervent consideration. The humility of the Incarnation and the charity of the Passion so occupied his memory that he would scarce ponder anything else. Therefore, what he did at Greccio to reverently remember the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be devoutly celebrated and eagerly commemorated each year.

Response: (The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul, Chapter 151)  (all, together)

Francis used to observe the Nativity of the Child Jesus with inexpressible eagerness.  Above all other solemnities, he affirmed it as the Feast of Feasts, when God became a little child, hung on human breasts.  He would kiss images of the “Babe of Bethlehem” and the melting compassion of his heart made him stammer sweet words as babies do.  The name “Baby Jesus” was to him like honey and honeycomb in his mouth.

Reading Two: The Celebration is Prepared

In Greccio there was a man named John, of good repute, but of better life, whom blessed Francis loved with special affection.  Although noble and greatly honored in that town, he sought nobility of spirit over that of the flesh. About fifteen days before the Nativity of the Lord, Blessed Francis sent for this man and said to him, “If you desire to celebrate the Birth of our Lord at Greccio, then make haste and diligently prepare what I tell you. For I wish to re-create the scene in Bethlehem, so that we will behold with our own eyes how He did not have even the barest necessities, and how He lay in a manger on the hay, with the ox and the ass standing by.” When the good and faithful man heard Francis’ plea, he made haste and prepared everything according to Francis’ instructions.

Hymn: Angels We Have Heard On High

Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains
and the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strain.
  Refrain: Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds why this jubilee?  Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be, which inspire your heavenly song?
Come to Bethlehem and see, Him whose birth the angels sing.
Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord the newborn King.

Reading Three: Francis Rejoices

The day of gladness drew nigh, the time of triumph arrived. The brothers were summoned from many places; with exulting hearts the men and women of that town prepared tapers and torches to brighten the night whose shining Star has illuminated every day of every year since. The manger was made ready, the hay carried in, and the ox and ass were led to the spot. At length the Saint of God came, and finding all things prepared, beheld them and rejoiced.

Hymn: O Come, All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem!
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels!
  Refrain: O come, let us adore Him!  O come let us adore Him!
           O come let us adore Him!  Christ the Lord!
O sing, choirs of Angels, sing in exultation!
Sing all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest!
Yea, Lord we greet thee, born this happy morning!
Jesus to thee be all glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!

Reading Four: Mass is Celebrated

The Simplicity of the Gospel was resplendent.  Poverty was exalted and Humility commended.  Greccio was made as it were a new Bethlehem. The night was bright as the day and made delightful to men and beasts alike. The people came and rejoiced at the Mystery made new. The woodland rang with voices and the boulders echoed the gleeful throng. The brethren sang due praises to the Lord and all the night resounded with jubilation. The Saint of God stood ecstatically before the manger, full of sighs, overcome with tenderness, his spirit trembling with compassion, ineffable Love and wondrous Joy. The solemnities of Mass were celebrated over the manger, and the priest enjoyed a consolation he had never tasted before.

Response: (Letter to the Faithful, 2nd Version)  (all, together)

Behold the Word of the Father, so worthy, so Holy, so Glorious, who’s coming in the womb of the Holy and glorious Mary was announced by the Father through His angel Gabriel!  From the Virgin Mary’s womb He received our flesh and our frailty.  Though He was rich, above all things He wished, together with the most Blessed Virgin, to choose Poverty as His lot in this world.

Reading Five: Francis Preaches

The Saint of God was clothed with Levitical vestments and with an earnest, sweet, clear and sonorous voice he chanted the holy Gospel–ravishing everyone there with heavenly desires, calling each to the highest rewards. Then he preached to the people, uttering melodious words concerning the birth of the poor King and the little town of Bethlehem. When he would name Christ Jesus, with exceeding love he would call Him the “Babe of Bethlehem,” uttering the word “Bethlehem” in the manner of a sheep bleating.  He filled his mouth with the sound, but even more his whole self with sweet affection. When naming Jesus he would lick his lips, relishing the fragrance of the Word.

Responsorial: (The Office of the Passion: Vespers of the Lord’s Birth)

Leader: The Most Holy Father of Heaven, our King before all ages, 
        sent His Beloved Son from on high, and He was born of the   
        Blessed Virgin Holy Mary.                                 
            -Exult in God our help!
Leader: On that day the Lord sent His Mercy, and at night, His song.
            -This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and 
             be glad!
Leader: For the Most Holy Child has been given to us.  He was placed 
        in a manger because there was no room at the inn.
            -Shout to the Lord God, living and True, with cries 
             of gladness!
Leader: Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult, let the sea and 
        its fullness resound, let the fields and all that is in them 
        be joyful.
            -Sing a new song to the Lord!  Sing to the Lord all 
             the earth!
Leader: The Lord is great and worthy of praise.  He is awesome
        beyond all gods.
            -Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those 
             of good will!

Reading Six: “The Babe of Bethlehem” Awakens

There the gifts of the Almighty were multiplied, and a vision of wondrous worth was seen by a virtuous man. In the manger he saw the little Child lying lifeless.  Then Francis, the Saint of God, drew near and roused the Child from the lethargy of sleep. This vision was fitting, for the memory of the Child Jesus had been forgotten in the hearts of many. But by the working of Grace and the efforts of the holy man of God, it was brought to Life again and imprinted deeply on every diligent memory. And when the solemn vigil ended, each present returned to his home with unspeakable joy in his heart.

Hymn: What Child is This?

What Child is this, who laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet, with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping.
  Refrain:  This, this, is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and 
            angels sing. Haste, haste, to bring Him laud, the babe, 
            the Son of Mary.
So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh, come peasant, king, to own Him.
The King of kings, Salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone him.
Raise, raise, a song on high, the Virgin sings a lullaby.
Joy, joy, for Christ is born, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

Reading Seven: Miracles Flow from the Celebration

The hay that had been placed in the manger was kept so that the Lord might save many beasts of burden and other animals through it.  And verily it came to pass, for many animals in the region were freed of diverse diseases and sicknesses by eating of that hay. Moreover, women in long and difficult labor delivered safely when some of the hay was placed upon them, and many persons of both sexes suffering from various ailments gained long-wished-for health in the same way.

Hymn: Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies.
With angelic hosts proclaim, "Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time, behold him come. Offspring of the favored One.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity.
Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"

Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.
Risen with healing in His wings, light and life to all He brings.
Hail the Son of righteousness! Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace!
Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"

Reading Eight: Francis’ Requests for Christmas Day (The Mirror of Perfection, #114)

“If I ever speak to the emperor, I will beg and persuade him, for the love of God and of me, to enact a special law forbidding anyone to catch or kill our sister larks or do them any harm.  Likewise, all mayors of cities and lords of castles and villages should be bound on the day of the Nativity to scatter wheat and other grain along the roads so that our sister larks and other birds may have something to eat on such a solemn feast.  Also, out of reverence for the Son of God, whom on that night was laid in a manger between ox and ass by the most Blessed Virgin Mary, I would add that whoever has an ox or an ass be bound to provide them a generous portion of the best fodder.  Likewise, on that day, all the poor should be fed good food by the rich.”

For blessed Francis held the Nativity of the Lord in greater reverence than any other of the Lord’s solemnities, saying: “After the Lord was born to us, it was certain that we would be saved.”  On that day, he wanted every Christian to rejoice in the Lord.  For love of Jesus, Who gave Himself for us, he wished everyone to provide generously not only for the poor, but for the animals and birds as well.

Response: (The Earlier Rule, Chapter 23)  (all, together)

We thank You, Lord,
For through Your Son You created us.
 And through your Hallowed Love,
With the Glorious, ever-Virgin, most Blessed, Holy Mary,
You brought about His birth as true God and true man.
You Willed to redeem us, captive to sin,
By His Holy Cross, Blood and Death.

Reading Nine: A Church is Dedicated

Today, the place where the manger stood is revered as a temple of the Lord, and in honor of the most blessed father Francis, over the manger an altar was reared and a church dedicated. This was done so that where beasts had once eaten fodder of hay, men might hereafter, for the healing of soul and body, eat the flesh of the spotless and undefiled Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who in highest and unspeakable charity gave Himself for us. 

He Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God eternally glorious, world without end. Amen. Amen. Alleluia. Alleluia.

Hymn: Joy to the World

Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven, and nature sing!
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns, let all their songs employ!
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,
repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat, the sounding joy!
He rules the world, with Truth and Grace, and makes the nations prove,
the glories of His righteousness,
and wonders of His Love, and wonders of His Love,
and wonders, wonders, of His Love!
Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven, and nature sing!

Pace e bene:  Peace and all good things!

What if Unity is Impossible?

When I first published something under the heading “The Things I Wish They’d Say,” I was experimenting. I had written a short story, or the beginning of a longer story, and I wasn’t sure if it belonged as part of this website. As part of the experiment, I posted it not as a blog entry, but as a series of pages.

That made it harder to co-locate it with the two new blog posts about the Vice-Presidential Debate, which also fit under that broad heading.

This post simply consolidates that story into a single post and allows me to group everything under the same category.

If you have not seen it before, I hope you enjoy it, or at least find it intriguing or thought provoking.

The Things I Wish They’d Say
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four

The Vice Presidential Debate, Part II

As it happens, the next topic of the debate was “America’s gun violence epidemic.”  In the clip, you will hear Norah O’Donnell introduce the topic, then ask JD Vance a specific question about whether or not parents should be held liable for a child who engages in a school shooting.

Senator Vance does a nice job of answering the question, using it as an opportunity to talk about his own young family and humanizing himself neatly in the process.  A little later he begins to talk about the need for increased security in our schools.  He says flat out that he does not like the idea, but that he thinks it’s necessary.

I have no issue with the portion of his reply that is in the clip, but I think there is a specific reason why he doesn’t like his answer when he starts talking about security, even if he can’t put his finger on that reason.  The problem is, increased security does not address the core problem.  In fact, none of the proferred solutions, including the gun control that is favored by the Democrats, addresses the core problem.  There does not seem to be a politician in the entire country who is willing to publicly delve into the depths of the issue.  Perhaps they think the American people are not sophisticated enough to understand the arguments?

If any of them have ideas similar to what I am about to suggest, they certainly are not speaking them out loud. Instead of giving an answer based on increased security, I wish JD Vance would have had the courage to say something like this:  (Note that the answer I suggested in the first post about the VP debates lays the ground work and opens the door perfectly for this one.  That is not my doing.  CBS picked the order of the topics for the debate, not me.)

“Norah, in your introduction, you stated that the leading cause of death of children and teens in America is fire arms.  Tonight, I would like to suggest that America consider having a frank discussion about whether or not this is true.  I wonder, perhaps, if we ought to open up ourselves to the possibility that the leading cause of death in America for children and teens is actually abortion.

In the last segment, I suggested that our country is suffering from a fifty-year long “abortion epidemic” and that we have been deeply injured as a people as a result.  I also suggested that we need to start talking about this in order to heal the entrenched divisions that are currently plaguing our politics.  So I want to thank you for asking this question about gun violence at this juncture, because it allows me to further expand on that idea.

We have to understand that our children are watching what we do as adults.  They are paying attention and they are learning from the examples that we set.  They may not process the consequences of the last fifty years as precisely as I am about to, but they internalize the implications deeply nonetheless. 

As I noted earlier, our country has openly sanctioned the death of 64 million innocent unborn children in the past fifty years.  A significant portion of our population and one of our two major political parties has not only enthusiastically consented to these deaths, they have overtly campaigned in favor of disallowing any reasonable attempts to limit the availability of abortion. 

Governor Walz sidestepped this issue in the last segment, but the truth is the Minnesota law has no restrictions in it whatsoever.  It grants a right to abortions without a single caveat or clarification.  The reason the Governor is charged with signing a law that does not protect the life of a baby born during an attempted abortion is because his law does not require the doctor to treat the baby if he or she is alive when removed from the womb.  It is completely silent on the issue. 

We are asking, if the intent of the procedure is to end the life of the fetus, what are the obligations of the doctor if the fetus survives the procedure?  This is the question both the law and the Governor do not answer.

But putting that aside, we have to understand that there are teenagers watching this debate.  Some of those teenagers may be deeply troubled.  Some of them may be considering the very violence that was at the heart of the question that has been asked.

When those teenagers consider the 64 million lives that have been aborted, when they consider the reality that Minnesota has passed a law that does not expressly protect the life of a fetus that survives an abortion, when they see that thousands of convicted murderers and sex offenders have crossed the border uninhibited, what conclusions will they draw about the value of life in American culture?

The answer is obvious, isn’t it?  America simply does not see life as precious.  It does not value life the way it ought to.

When I suggest that we, as a country, need to start discussing the fallout of the “abortion epidemic,” I am suggesting that we need to begin to address the possible root causes of what Norah named the “American gun violence epidemic.”  Are these two things related? 

Is the “abortion epidemic” and the callousness toward the preciousness of life that is unavoidably inferred from it a contributing factor to the gun violence that plagues our schools and streets today?

Should we have anticipated that a decreased respect for the value of life is the lesson our children would learn from making unfettered access to abortion the law of the land?     

 And there is another aspect of this, Norah, that also needs to be brought into the open.

When the Supreme Court promulgated Roe V Wade, it essentially transferred responsibility for final decisions on morality from the hands of God to the hands of men.  When we decided as a country that we could negate the Creative Will of God via a simple medical procedure, we took the responsibility of Creation from God and placed it on ourselves.  God might be present at the moment of conception, but the decision on whether or not a fetus should be brought to fruition was no longer His.  We usurped that power from Him and in the process made ourselves our own gods.

Have our children also absorbed and internalized this lesson in ways we never would have expected? 

If we are all equal, and we have assumed the power of God, then we are all gods.  Our equality and our godhood gives each of us the right to determine our own moral code.  There may be cultural norms, but they are under constant assault.  Words like marriage and gender are being redefined and those former cultural norms are passing away.  When there is no Truth with a capital T to define the difference between good and evil, then any cultural norm, including norms that prohibit violence against others, can be altered to suit our own individual sense of justice because each of us now possesses the power of God and the final right of decision.

The cultural revolution of the past fifty years has done everything it can to eliminate God not just from our schools, but from our public life entirely.  God is no longer sovereign.  Man is, which means every individual man is.  No eternal Truth means the elimination of cultural norms entirely.  Justice becomes completely individualized and therefore, quite literally, anything goes.

We have taught our children to internalize the notion that they have not only the ability, but the human right, to define justice on their own terms. 

And they are acting on it.  Why are we surprised that when they feel abused by a classmate, or a teacher, or the system as a whole, that the take matters into their own hands?  The last fifty years has done everything it can to teach them to do just that.  They are taking the deepest lessons preached by our evolved culture and applying them.  We should have expected these things to happen.

But we didn’t foresee it, because we are unwilling to talk about such things in public. To do so opens us to the possibility that we might have to admit that we made some grave errors in our recent political history and that is the last thing any politician wants to do.

We need to bring these things into the open.  These verboten topics cause the divisions that currently grip our nation.  There are millions of Americans who understand intuitively exactly what I am saying, but they have no voice and no one speaks on their behalf.

I know that as soon as this debates ends, I will be attacked vociferously for suggesting that there is even such a thing as an “abortion epidemic.”  You, Norah, and you, Margaret, and your entire network will help lead those attacks.  You will shout me down and drag me through the mud from every angle you can muster in an attempt to discredit the arguments I have just made.

As journalists, your responsibility is to foster the discussion.  But you are not really journalists, are you?  You are advocates for the Harris campaign and you will therefore be unable to do what the American people so desperately need and want you to do, which is simply to report fairly on both sides without surrendering to your overwhelming need to editorialize instead of just presenting the opposing arguments and leaving the decisions and conclusions to the American voter.  

You need to be aware that your efforts to quash this discussion will fail.  Now that it is opened, President Trump and I will continue to speak directly to the American people about the things they most wish to hear about.  No matter the outcome of the election, this discussion will move forward.  We, and Americans in general, are tired of being told what to think. The efforts to sensor our campaign and our point of view will escalate but we will remain undaunted.  We will use whatever means necessary to make sure our voices are heard.

We will do this because the lives of our children, my children, are at stake.  The question you asked, Norah, is valid.  There is a “gun violence epidemic” in America.  Discussions on security and gun control are fine, but they are at best temporary solutions.

This discussion I have suggested is about root causes, and we can never resolve the problem completely until we identify those root causes and begin to address them honestly and openly from both sides of the aisle.     

It will take all of us to tackle the issue, but we have to start, now, today, to talk about the real causes behind the problems that are plaguing us.

We have to figure out as soon as possible how to make respect for life a precious tenet of American culture once again.

Return to Part I of the Vice Presidential Debate