Every so often the Lord raises up men and women who
live their faith in an exceptional way. It usually seems to be at a
time when people really need to be inspired and often when the Church
is in crisis. At the end of the 13th century God called a
man called Francesco, or Francis, to live in a radically different
way. He was from a town called Assisi in Italy. Francis was from a
wealthy family, but he felt that God was calling him to leave
everything and follow him and so he did. To the horror of his father
who strongly objected, Francis renounced everything and in front of
everyone he stripped off all his clothes and any belongings he had
and went off to live on his own as a poor man, living only for God.
Soon afterwards while he was praying alone in a broken down church he
felt God speaking to him from the cross and saying, ‘Francis,
rebuild my Church, which as you can see is falling down.’ So
Francis started to collect stones and reconstruct that building.
However, God had a much bigger project in mind. God was talking about
the whole Church. Around the same time pope Innocent III had a dream
of a poor man holding up the Church which was collapsing. It was a
sign of the role that Francis was going to play.
Not long after Francis began to live in radical
poverty others began to see the kind of simple way of life that he
was living and one by one they began to join him. They spent their
time looking after the sick, the lepers, praying together, preaching
the Gospel and most importantly… inspiring people by the way they
lived. Eventually when they had been living this way for a while
Francis went to Rome to get permission for this new group to
officially become a Religious Order. When some of the bishops were
discussing this with the pope, one of them said, ‘It is not
possible to live in this kind of extreme way,’ but one of the
others pointed out that if it wasn’t possible to live that way,
then it wasn’t possible to live the Gospel, since all he was doing
was literally living the Gospel.
Today, over 800 years later, people are still
inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, because we still need to be
inspired. There have been others like him too, a modern-day example
being Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now St. Teresa of Calcutta. What is
especially important about these people is not so much the work they
do, as the effect that has on others. They usually become renowned
all over the world, because they inspire. They preach about God by
the way they live more than by anything they could say. St. Francis
of Assisi had the lovely saying, ‘Let us go and preach the Gospel
and if necessary, use words.’
The Missionaries of Charity in India at least, spend
a lot of their time bringing people in off the street who are dying.
They clean them up as best they can and allow them to die with
dignity. Most of these people would be Hindu or Muslim, but they
don’t try to convert them. That is not what they are called to.
They are called to bring the love of God wherever they find
themselves, among the poorest of the poor. In fact they really say
more about their faith in God by what they do than by anything they
could say. There is a story of one man they found who was in a
particularly bad way. It took them several hours to clean him up and
then he said to them:
‘All my life I have
lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an
angel, loved and cared for.’ Mother Teresa went on to say: ‘It
was so wonderful to see the greatness of a man who could speak like
that, who could die like that, without blaming anybody, without
cursing anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel - that is
the greatness of our people.’
In the first reading today we are called to look out
for those around us who are in need and there are always plenty
around us in need, often hidden. Some time back I was talking to a
man in Sarasota who is homeless. He told me that he had served in the
military, he had also done time in prison and now he was homeless. He
also said: ‘You know, doing time in prison is one thing, but trying
to survive on the streets of Sarasota is quite another.’ It’s not
what you would expect. While helping the poor materially is really
important, respecting the dignity of each person is just as
important. The way we look after people and treat people is how we
tell the world what we believe in. It is not even about giving great
amounts; it is about giving what we can with great love and treating
those around us with great respect, whether we like them or not and
regardless of what they believe in. That is how we tell others
about God.
In this Gospel Jesus says, ‘You are the light of
the world… the salt of the earth.’ When we live by the teachings
of Jesus, we give hope to the people around us, because we show them
that they are not forgotten. We become a light in the middle of a
world of selfishness, which tells us only to take care of ourselves.
Think of how tiny grains of salt are and yet they can bring out the
flavor of a meal. They affect their surroundings. We affect our
surroundings, for better or worse. Is your focus only for yourself
and your family? If it is, you are not living the Gospel. That
doesn’t mean we have to give away everything we have, but the Lord
is telling us that we must also remember those around us who are in
need. When we have enough, God is giving us the opportunity to share
with others and if we don’t, we will be asked why we ignored them,
because we are accountable for our actions and for using all that God
has given us.
You may argue, ‘I worked hard for my money.’ I’m
sure you did, but who gave you the intelligence, the opportunities,
the health, the success?
Last week I was talking to a good friend of mine, who
is quite wealthy. He was telling me that he had given away a large
amount of money to a particular university. He said he couldn’t get
over how much joy it gave him to do that. Not many people are in a
position to do that, but that’s not the point. The point is that
all of us can do a certain amount and we have an obligation to do so.
I’d like to finish with this prayer which you have
probably heard before.
Anyway
From a sign on the wall of Shishu Bhavan, the
children’s home in Calcutta.
People are unreasonable, illogical and
self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good people will accuse you of
selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful you win false
friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do will be forgotten
tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you
vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spent years building, may be
destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack
you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and
you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you've got
anyway.
You
see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was
never between you and them anyway.
(from the book, ‘A Simple Path’)
Your light must shine
before others, that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly
Father.
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