Francis - Part 1

I like the name

Francis. My grandmother’s name was

Francis, although

I always called her grandma. My cousin’s name was Francis too. In President Jimmy Carter’s administration, Francis Goheen was appointed U.S. Ambassador to India. There was another famous Francis in history. Francis of Assisi is a saint for all seasons, a saint for all people. His popularity is partly because he understood so well the heart of the teaching of Jesus. He understood it, and he demonstrated it in his own life. Francis was born into a wealthy home. His father, a cloth merchant, was so proud of his son that he spent lavishly on Francis. His future was secure. His father wanted him to take over the family business to become wealthy in his own right. Here then was Francis, a young man with all the things many of us wish we had and are working so hard to acquire — but he gave it all up. God had other plans for this young man. Not just one, but several events occurred in Francis’ self-centered young lifestyle to bring about his conversion to a God-centered style of life. It began with a serious illness during which Francis had a lot of time to reflect on his life. He felt something stirring deep within. He became restless, and he began to search for new meaning. When he had recuperated, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. There he visited the religious shrines, which he found impressive. But he was even more impressed by the poor of the city. There had been poor people in his little village of Assisi, but never had he seen poverty on the scale of the poor in Rome. It was that “something” stirring within that drew him to the poor. One turning point for Francis centered on his encounter with a leper. Leprosy was an incurable disease in the twelfth century, and it caused great fear among the people. Not only did lepers suffer the physical effects of their condition, but also, they suffered because of isolation. They were forced to live in the tombs outside of town. They had to ring a little bell and call out “Unclean, unclean” wherever they walked. Francis felt great compassion for the lepers because they were the poorest of the poor. Nevertheless, he had a great personal fear of leprosy. One day, as he was riding on his horse, he came upon a leper on the road. Francis instinctively went around the leper. But something within him drew him back. He realized that, for him, this was a critical confrontation. He dismounted, walked over to the leper, gave him some money, got back on his horse, and began to ride away. But when he looked back, he saw no one on the road. The leper had vanished. Francis was convinced that he instead encountered the Living Christ in the form of a leper. For the rest of his life, Francis ministered to the lepers, always confident that he was ministering to Christ when he did so. I can’t help but wonder what I would have done under the same circumstances. I pass by people on street corners asking for help everyday. Sometimes I help, but I am also guilty of just driving by. Next week, I’ll have the rest of the story on Saint Francis of Assisi. My prayer is that you and I find ways of helping others this week.