What is it that captivates us about the great stories of romance? There seems to be a common thread that weaves throughout the tales across the ages, igniting them like a cascade of lightning. It is the all-or-nothing radicality of love, a love that seems to defy worldly prudence and challenge the very terrors of hell for the sake of the beloved. And yet, all these stories pale in comparison to the relentless, searing fire of love that accompanies the Lord’s pursuit of us. A saint is someone who is enraptured by this celestial fire and is entirely consumed with requiting the love that went to the limits of crucifixion for us—or in the words of the Beloved Disciple: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Tomorrow, we celebrate such a romance with the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.
It is easy to be fascinated by the poor man of Assisi who healed lepers, cast out demons, commanded wolves, raised up the paralyzed, and brought the dead back to life. But if we look at the man behind the miracles, we see a saint whose heart yearned for a perfect imitation of the Heart that loved him. As Christ “emptied himself and took the form of a slave” (Phil 2:7) in perfect obedience to the Father, so did St. Francis humble himself and embrace a radical poverty whereby he could not even eat unless he was fed from the hand of God’s providence. Throughout his life, Christ continually called St. Francis to a deeper and deeper imitation of himself, even going so far as to bestow the stigmata upon him, so that he might share the wounds of his Master’s passion.
Saint Francis heard our Lord’s intimate call: “sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But even more importantly, St. Francis knew that such an invitation came from the fact that “Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:21). This is the backbone of our spiritual life: everything we do, we do because God first calls us and gives us the grace to act. We do not pray or fast or embrace poverty so that God will love us more, but rather we do such things in recognition that God is infinitely good and worthy of all our love. When we realize that we are so intensely loved, we can’t help but show our love back. And at the close of our earthly life, our own romantic story will be the hymn of praise that we sing for all eternity. The Seraphic Father himself exhorts us: “Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, so that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally” (St. Francis, A Letter to the Whole Order).
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Image: Cassie Pease, St. Francis of Assisi (used with permission)
