Deus Meus et Omnia! The Feast of Saint Francis!!

The first two pictures here are taken of one of the small side chapel niches at Old Mission Santa Barbara. The first one shows the entire sculpture setting with statues of St Francis and St Clare along with the San Damiano Cross in the background. The second is a close up of a portion of this setting which I have used before; it was a gift given to me on this Feast Day [several years ago now] and is my favorite statue of St Francis. The third stands in the (private) covenant courtyard of the Mission and is another contemporary rendering through which a Father (sculptor) worked out his grief over the loss of his son.

Today St Francis' popularity and influence (inspiration!) is more striking than it has been in a very long time. We see it animating a relatively new Pope to transform the Church in light of Vatican II and to live a simple Gospel-centered life just as Francis of Assisi was inspired by God to do. We see it in the renewed emphasis of the Church on evangelization and ecumenism where the One God who stands behind all true religious impulses is honored while he is proclaimed most fully and revealed with the most perfect transparency in the crucified Christ. We see it in a renewed sense of the cosmic Christ and in a growing sensitivity to the sacredness and interconnectedness of all creation.  Saint Francis lived the truth of the Gospel with an honesty, transparency (poverty), and integrity which captures the imagination of everyone who meets him in some significant way -- something that happens for so many in his papal namesake. This saint inspires a hope and joy that only the God who overcomes death and brings eternal life through an unconditional mercy and love that does justice could do. He renews our hope in Christ that our own Church and world might well reveal the glory of this God as they are meant to do. Saint Francis is a gift to the Church in ways which are hard to overstate.

On this Day dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi I feel privileged to celebrate this great man (saint) and all those who go by the name of Franciscan. In particular I celebrate friends and Sisters like Ilia Delio whose book, Making All Things New, I am reading right now --- and which I highly recommend! [It is as readable as her books on Saint Clare, Franciscan Prayer, or The Humility of God and explores some of the theological implications of an unfinished universe and the "new cosmology. What is "new" here is that she does so with regard to classic topics more typically associated with the whole history of systematic or dogmatic theology (e.g., the nature of Catholicity and the Church, the last things, putting on the Mind of Christ, etc).]  I also especially give thanks for Pope Francis, a shepherd so clearly inspired by Saint Francis and the Crucified Christ. . .. Our world is simply a better place with a more truly Christian presence, sensibility, and spirit because of Saint Francis and those who seek to live his way. 

In my own life I am watching as God makes all things new as well! It is exciting, not only to see the efforts of long years come together, but to watch as the mutual efforts with my Directors pay off in growing wholeness, energy, and creativity. I never heard God call me to rebuild his Church, of course. What I heard was his delight over my perception of the beauty of c 603 and a call to explore it and make it understood! And I am starting to see glimmers of the beginning of that happening. With my Scripture class we are exploring a theology that was new for the class when we did Romans, and that stresses not heaven, but the new heaven and earth that is our ultimate goal and God's ultimate promise to us in Christ. That means we are also looking at the reshaping of the Church in terms of working for the coming of the Kingdom that will exist beyond life after death. As NT Wright puts the matter, we are not working toward life after death, but rather life after life after death when God will be all in all and all creation is brought to fullness!!

Peace and all Good to my Franciscan Sisters and Brothers!!

Picture of the crucifix is of a painting by Rev Arthur Poulin, OSB Cam. Fr Arthur is formerly a Franciscan and transferred to the Camaldolese. His painting style is unique and recognizable. In this one, we see the crucified and risen Christ and what looks like it could be the coastline around Big Sur's New Camaldoli Hermitage. It hangs in the chapel at Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley.