On October 4th 2020, St. Francis of Assisi Day, I delivered my first homily for our service for my church. I will tell you I was so nervous, excited and freaking out. Why you ask? Simply put, homiletics is not my strong suit when it comes to becoming a Priest.
I would like to think I am a writer, as I do love to write. However, the thoughts and words in my head don’t necessarily translate to the keyboard. Poetry, it tends to come easier. Prayers, they tend to come easier if I don’t stress over trying to make it perfect.
However, with homiletics, you want to get that message out there and make it powerful. You want them to hear you and the word of God. With our attention spans, making it short and sweet is better than rambling on for hours. So with my homily, I started out putting everything down, then cutting it back with the help of my Bishop. She was fantastic in helping me.
It started out one way and ended up in a different direction. Why am I putting my October homily up now? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share it with anyone but I realize that why not. So here is my first homily.
May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing to you our Lord and our redeemer.
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the beloved patron saint of animals and the ecology. He was also very much a peacemaker.
Francis was born in Assisi Italy to Pietro Bernardone and Lady Pica. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant who gave Francis a very good life. Francis had friends with whom he partied, shared laughs and enjoyed life.
He wanted to be a solider and went off to war, only to find himself being a prisoner, being held for ransom. It was a year before Francis was freed from prison and in that time he became very sick.
When Francis got home, he went into a run-down church
called San Damiano. He knelt in front of the cross and he heard, “Francis, fix my church, it is in need of repair.” However, it wasn’t the physical church that needed repairing, but the spiritual church. However, it didn’t matter: Francis fixed the church brick by brick.
Francis disowned his paternal father by shedding all his clothes and the worldly goods from his father. He literally gave everything up to serve his heavenly father. He begged for stones for the church, he begged for food. He gave what he could to those who needed it. He went to the leper colony and started treating the lepers wounds whom he formerly bypassed with disgust. He said he looked at each leper and found God in them.
Francis had changed. He was seeing Jesus in everyone, the good in each and every one. He wanted to live like Jesus. He certainly did live like Jesus, preaching to everyone including the famous Sermon to the birds.
With his following growing to over 5000, he founded the Franciscan Friars Minor and, with St. Clare the Order of Poor Ladies, known today as the Poor Clares. With the blessing of Pope Innocent III, their orders were established and although Francis never became a priest, he was a preacher.
St. Francis was a peacemaker. Legend has it that a wolf was terrorizing the village of Gubbio by attacking their livestock and children. The villagers asked for Francis’s help with the wolf. Francis obliged and as the wolf started to lunge at him, he raised his hand and blessed the wolf and said to him, “Come to me Brother Wolf, I command you on behalf of Christ that you do no harm to me or to anyone.” Instead of lunging like he was going to, he curled up around Francis’s feet.
Francis struck a deal with the wolf and the villagers that as long as he didn’t attack the livestock and children, they would feed him every day for the rest of his life. Paws and hands shook on the deal. So the villagers were then set. They no longer had fear of the wolf.
He was known for wanting peace in the world. The prayer of St. Francis is well known. It is sung at mass and written on prayer cards. This prayer for peace is as relevant today as it was when written.
“Lord, make me an instrument of your Peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon
where there is doubt, faith
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy.
It goes on but St. Francis truly believed in peace. He lived by these values of peace and love. Francis lived like Jesus. He preached the gospel like Jesus. He was even graced towards the end of his life having the stigmata of Christ.
Today, we need peace and love in our lives more than ever. There is so much strife, pain and hurt, especially with COVID-19. Look at all the wild weather we are having: tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. Riots are plaguing countries more than ever. Francis saw only the good in all creation. Francis called all creation, Brother or Sister.
His namesake, Pope Francis, makes every effort to bring peace around the world today. He is constantly asking us for prayers for peace. He strives like St. Francis to bring peace and love of Jesus to everyone.
Pope Francis wrote a new version of St. Francis’s prayer for peace. He made this for World Communication Day in May 2018. Pope Francis summed this up perfectly about the world today.
“Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Help us to recognize the evil latent in a communication that does not build communion.
Help us remove the venom from our judgements
Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters
You are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of goodness for the world.
Where there is shouting, let us practice listening.
Where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony.
Where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity
where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity
where there is sensationalism, let us offer sobriety
where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions.
Where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust.
Where there is hostility, let us bring respect.
Where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.”
Pope Francis was correct in all these. The Pope is offering us a solution to the problems of today.
When we start to love ourselves and bring Jesus more into our lives, we will start to live more like St. Francis who only wanted to spread the Gospel of the love and peace that Jesus will give us. Jesus loves and wants to come into our lives. All we need to do is to invite him in and let him shower us with his love.
Prayer works. All it requires is that we start. One step at a time. Pray often, pray together, pray online, pray the rosary. We need to offer prayers for peace in the world, in our homes and in our hearts.
In the town of Assisi, there is a saying on almost all the doors. Pax Et Bonum. It means Peace and Blessings.
How do we get that peace and blessing for ourselves? We can pray for peace. We can reach out to everyone in understanding God’s love for us and God’s peace are within reach. All we have to do is to start.
I offer to each of you today, Pax Et Bonum.
Rev. Lorie
