Francis of Assisi was a man with a magnetic personality who believed God called him to live a life of poverty and simplicity. His message and life seemed to be precisely suited for the age. Similar to the monastic orders, Francis chose vows of poverty and chastity. Still, rather than a vow of stability, he chose mobility, which allowed friars to reach more significant regions and peoples that the monks could not.
For Francis, it was the realization that from the moment Jesus became one of us, human experience and interaction were the new meeting place with God. He didn’t retreat away from the world in a monastery but stayed out there, finding God in everyday experiences. By wrestling with the circumstances of his daily joys and sorrows, Francis pointed the faithful in a new direction: to imitate Christ, to be peacemakers, and to live in right relationships with God, each other, creation, and each other.
Through the lens of the Incarnation, he saw that we are all related as brothers and sisters, even those perceived to be enemies, the poor, and those living on the margins of society. This new spirituality required his followers to hold each other in peace, compassion, hospitality, and joy, and with simplicity of heart, to recognize who we are and to whom we belong.
Visitor Reflections