A Sermon for St Francis' Day, October 4th.

October 5th ST FRANCIS HARRISMITH 2008

Yesterday was St Francis’ Day. As a member of the Society of St Francis, I’m supposed to preach at least one sermon per year on St Francis or the Franciscans. I don’t always do so, but when his day comes so close to a Sunday like this, I try to keep to the rule.

St Francis of Assisi is one of the most popular of the great saints. People who don’t know much about any other saint will have heard about St Francis and his friendship with all of God’s creation. Or from reading some of the many books written about him, or seeing one of the many films made of his life.

He was the son of a wealthy fabric merchant and never had to do a day’s work in his life. With his similarly rich friends, living off their fathers’ hard work, he had a great life, painting the town red on a regular basis. It was a completely selfish life, looking only for self-satisfaction.

He joined the army when war broke out and got a fever which nearly killed him. It was while he was so sick that he began to think about how pointless his life was. He started praying. Kneeling in front of a simple crucifix, Francis had a vision. The figure of Jesus on the cross came to life and called on Francis to “Rebuild my Church”.

At first, Francis thought that Jesus meant a little chapel building which was falling down in the valley and, when he was well, he began to rebuild it with his own hands. To finance this work, he sold a deal of his father’s cloth. His father caught him, charged him, got his money back and disowned his son.

But soon Francis realised that God was rather calling him to devote all his boundless youthful energy and talents, previously wasted on selfish things, to rebuild the Church to what it was before it had become very worldly and rich.

The Holy Spirit truly converted him; he revolted against the traps of riches and possessions and devoted himself to a simple life of poverty. He called poverty “Lady Poverty” and dedicated himself to serving the poor – both those who had nothing of the world’s good things and those who didn’t know how much they needed God.

And his lifestyle transformed the church.

He wrote plays and acted them out. He composed poetry and music. The well-known song “Make me an Instrument of thy peace”, Bernard’s favourite, is credited to Francis. He also wrote a Canticle of the Sun which has come down to us as the hymn All Creatures of our God and King, which we shall sing shortly. He’s credited with inventing the Christmass Carol service which we now take for granted – but it was the first time that popular Christmass songs were sung in church instead of Latin chant. His Nativity Play included real animals instead of children dressed up.

His living faith in Jesus witnessed to the challenge of the Gospel. He wasn’t one of the wicked tenants in the vineyard in today’s Gospel who gave God nothing of the fruit he expected.

Within 3 years he attracted 5,000 followers of his new way of poverty, chastity and obedience. 5,000 people who lived in Gospel faith and simplicity.

In the process he aroused the whole of society and made lots of enemies, especially among those who were making themselves rich within the church. But uncountable thousands besides those who joined him, discovered the joy of putting Christ’s principles into practice in their own lives. He was truly rebuilding the Church as Jesus had challenged him.

The Church, as well as society always needs such a challenge. People today are longing for a living faith, longing to be delivered from a sick and violent society; longing for an escape from corruption, self-indulgence, hypocrisy and double standards. In a way, we all long to be Franciscans. We long for our own renewal, the renewal of Church and society.

Not all of us are called to be set apart as monks and nuns like Francis. But we can try to adapt his ideals – which are the ideals of the Gospel and our Lord Jesus Christ – to our own situations. I try to do this by having a proper respect for the sanctity of all life, refusing to take part in war and violence. By working for the good of other people through the church, charitable organisations, SPCA and so on. By supporting them with my money as well as with my time. By being hospitable to people who call on me. By sharing the blessings which God has given me. By tithing my income to God’s work.

For me, this is a beginning of an attempt to follow the Gospel as inspired by St Francis. I’ve sometimes wondered, first as teenager, if I shouldn’t have left the security and comfort of the life I have to join the Franciscan monastery.

Our whole church and society needs the Franciscan challenge and new life in the Spirit. We can all try rather harder in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform the Church. Jesus says to us, just as much as he did to St Francis: “Rebuild my Church”. Amen.