Saint Francis of Assisi, Religious

Title

Keep Your Eyes on What is Important

Outline

Christians, including Catholics, often make two mistakes

First, they bemoan the evil happening to the Church

They see youth leaving the church in droves and in some places empty churches or closed churches and a lack of vocations, among other things and forget that a large percentage of Catholics were cultural Catholics or C and E Catholics or Catholics who did not talk about or live the faith at home, not to mention some for whom political causes were their main church. And they forget how cultural accommodation led to the abuse scandal and still leads to laxity in the pews. So they bemoan that “I was left desolate” and miss that it was “because of the sins of my children, because they turned away from the law of God.” They also often miss the solution that the solution is not a new program but “return[ing] with tenfold zeal to seek him.”

Second, they get too impressed by spiritual experiences, especially signs and wonders

Like the 70 they may focus on healing or other “charismatic” gifts or exorcism. These are real, but they are not the main point. The main point is “that your names are written in heaven,” i.e. that you have a relationship with and belonging to the Father. St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross, among others, point to miracles belonging to the beginning stages of spiritual development. They are tools for ministry, not indications of sanctity. Instead the “farther in and higher up” we go, to use a phrase from C. S. Lewis, the more we become “babes” or simply children of the Father, dependents of the Father. This was true in many ways of St Francis of Assisi, who did not have great gifts of leadership much less administration, but did have a simple relationship with his Father that his followers sometimes caught. We too are blessed to the degree that the Son has revealed both himself and the Father to us so we know them personally. That gives us eyes to see what they are doing. In David Main’s Tales of the Kingdom a character called “little child” would cry out on “sighting day” when they were all out looking for the king, “I see de king” but no one else could see him. They only saw a beggar or the like. The little child, focused on relationship, sees what warriors and workers cannot.

So, Sisters, let us make it our priority to be trusting babes, seeing little children

Let us not get distracted by the seeming ruin in the church or the distractions of our culture. No, we with simple trust use the gifts the Father hands us and do the ministry he has given us and are thankful. But having done the work that the Father asked us to do, i.e. having worked alongside him in the world, let us with simple trust rejoice most that we belong to the Father, that our names are written in the Book of Life, and that we can spent time with the Jesus, the Father, and Mary like children in a parent’s lap, for that is what is important.

From Saturday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time First Reading Baruch 4:5–12, 27–29 Response Psalm 69:34 Psalm Psalm 69:33–37 Gospel Acclamation Matthew 11:25 Gospel Luke 10:17–24 Catholic Daily Readings (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2009).

5 Take courage, my people, O memorial of Israel! 6 It was not for destruction that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God. 7 For you provoked him who made you, by sacrificing to demons and not to God. 8 You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up, and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you. 9 For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God, and she said: “Hearken, you neighbors of Zion, God has brought great sorrow upon me; 10 for I have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them. 11 With joy I nurtured them, but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow. 12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and bereaved of many; I was left desolate because of the sins of my children, because they turned away from the law of God. [13 They had no regard for his statutes; they did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments, nor tread the paths of discipline in his righteousness. 14 Let the neighbors of Zion come; remember the capture of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them. 15 For he brought against them a nation from afar, a shameless nation, of a strange language, who had no respect for an old man, and had no pity for a child. 16 They led away the widow’s beloved sons, and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters. 17 “But I, how can I help you? 18 For he who brought these calamities upon you will deliver you from the hand of your enemies. 19 Go, my children, go; for I have been left desolate. 20 I have taken off the robe of peace and put on the sackcloth of my supplication; I will cry to the Everlasting all my days. 21 “Take courage, my children, cry to God, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy. 22 For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you, and joy has come to me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which soon will come to you from your everlasting Savior. 23 For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping, but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever. 24 For as the neighbors of Zion have now seen your capture, so they soon will see your salvation by God, which will come to you with great glory and with the splendor of the Everlasting. 25 My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God. Your enemy has overtaken you, but you will soon see their destruction and will tread upon their necks. 26 My tender sons have traveled rough roads; they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.] 27 “Take courage, my children, and cry to God, for you will be remembered by him who brought this upon you. 28 For just as you purposed to go astray from God, return with tenfold zeal to seek him. 29 For he who brought these calamities upon you will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.” Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Bar 4:5–29.

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 22 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Lk 10:17–24.