Inner Conversion -- Outer Works

St. Paul emphatically teaches that one is saved not by observance of the Law of Moses but by faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Gal. 2:16). Still, the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus teaching the crowds that not only has he come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not to abolish them (cf. Mt. 5:17), but also warns his followers that it is not enough to call him "Lord, Lord", but also do the will of the heavenly Father (cf. Mt. 7:21). And First John exhorts us that if we claim to love God whom we cannot see and fail to love the brother (or sister) whom we can, then we are liars! (cf. 1 Jn. 4:20).

In various places in the New Testament, both in the Gospels and in some of the Epistles, we are advised that the fulfillment of the Old Testament is to loved our neighbor as ourself (cf. Lv. 19:18b).

Conversion, or metanoia from the Greek meaning a "change of mind" (so, Mk. 1:15; Mt. 3:2 [John the Baptist] and 4:17 [Jesus]), is the universal call to think and do differently. Yesterday, for those Catholics of the Roman Rite, we heard the injunction to either "Turn from sin and believe the Gospel" or the reminder echoing the Book of Genesis, "You are dust and unto dust you shall return." (cf. Gen. 3:19c).

St. Paul reminds us we who are baptized must have a change of mind (cf. Rom. 12:2) and that, in fact, we have the mind [psyche] of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 2:16b). And yesterday we were also reminded that "today is the acceptable time" (cf. 2 Cor. 6:2-3).

So, being a Christian -- as we all know -- is more than saying words; it is a lifetime of practice and working. We yield to God's Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit of the Living God to transform us -- our ways of thinking, our attitudes, our bad habits, our speech, our behaviors, our actions -- so that they more readily and clearly reflect the image [ikon] of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18).

Our Christian vocation is ongoing converstion into Jesus Christ. For us members of the Franciscan family, friars, Sisters, nuns and laypeople alike -- our life is one of penance in joyful response to the Lord's call. Not only to follow Jesus Christ, but to live in him and him live in us, thus following the lead from our holy founder, St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis of Assisi embracing the leper, through whom he encountered the Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome to Lent 2008! It's More than "Giving Up"

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense." Psalm 51:3 (The "Miserere" Psalm)


How many of us plan to "give things up" for Lent? Maybe we've been thinking about chocolate, or soda pop, or snacks between meals. Maybe we've thought it's a good time to actually fulfill those New Year's resolutions we were so determined to do on 31 December!


However, it seems to me, this misses the point of Lent. Lent is the time the entire Church -- East and West, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox (although on a different calendar) -- journey together prayerfully toward the great celebration of the Lord Jesus' Paschal Mystery. It all aims toward the Sacred Triduum (Three Days) of the end of Holy Week toward Easter.

The Roman, or Western, Tradition solemnly begins Lent on Ash Wednesday with the marking of ashes on the forehead or sprinkling ashes on the top of the head (as is done in parts of Europe). The Byzantine Tradition begins on the evening of Cheese-Fare Sunday (this past Sunday) with Forgiveness Vespers, a penitential ceremony at the end of which the priest and congregation mutually ask forgiveness of one another and embrace one another in peace.


It is the time of the Great Fast, a time to refrain from regular life and to purposely prepare to deepen one's relationship with the Lord together with the entire Church. What a great retreat -- and we get to do it together with all our brother and sister Christians around the world! Praise God!


But, as I stated above, it's more than "giving up" something. It really is a matter of growing in Christian maturity, letting Jesus Christ genuinely be who he says he is in our lives. He is Lord, he is Savior, he is Master, he is the Good Shepherd, he is Son of God, he is Bread of Life, he is Resurrection and Life, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life -- and the list, of course, goes on.


So Lent is not a matter of taking advantage of a church time to lose weight, or exercise, or other such practices about us. It's about focusing on the Lord Jesus.


This is what St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi both understood intuitvely and practiced. The earliest Franciscans were known as the "Penitents of Assisi". Penance was a popular devotion in the Middle Ages, even into the Modern age. Some of the physical rigors we would consider odd or even bizarre today.

But the overall purpose of the penance that Sts. Francis and Clare practiced was to turn their minds and hearts to the Lord. That's the purpose of Franciscan penance; that is the purpose of Christian penance! It is to deliberately rid ourselves of unnecessary distractions (TV? ipods?), that which can separate us from the Lord, at least for the period of this retreat of forty days. And it is to face the temptations in our lives, by God's grace, and know the victorious power of the Lord's love over them. Even when we fail!

St. Francis of Assisi, as a young man, praying before the San Damiano Crucifix: "Lord, who are you . . .? And, who am I . . .?" His prayer in this run down chapel was pivotal in his conversion to the Lord. This was where he heard the Lord Jesus speak to him from the Cross and say, "Francis, go repair my Church, which you see is falling into ruin!"

As we turn to the Lord we are changed! The fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23) become more evident in our lives. The image of the Lord Jesus becomes more manifest and visible in our attitudes, our ways of speaking, our ways of acting and interacting.

This was what was so attractive about St. Francis and the Francisans, both men and women. Although quite imperfect, they were willing to grow in holiness as men and women of penance. It is about becoming conformed to the Lord Jesus.

In a word, we are undergoing conversion! Conversion from our selfishness to the Lord's own selflessness through acts of generosity and almsgiving (outreach to the poor); from self-preocupation to concern about what the Lord wants for us through self-abnegation (fasting); from vanity and self-absorption to deeper love of God and neighbor through prayer.

Witness in the Cathedral during the Christmas Octave!

As you probably know we are in the Octave of Christmas (eight days of Christmas Day). So great is the festival of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God that we celebrate the single event for eight days.



During these eight days of Christmas we have celebrated St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr and Deacon ("first born" into heaven after the Resurrection through martyrdom), St. John the Apostle and Evangelist ("beloved disciple" of the Lord, according to the Gospel of John), the Holy Innocents ("first witnesses" who unwittingly shed their blood for the Lord during his life) and today, a commemoration, in honor of St. Thomas Becket, martyred Archbishop of Canterbury), 1118-1170.


I would like to comment on St. Thomas Becket. There was a film made in the early 1960s called "Becket" starring the late Richard Burton in the title role and Peter O'Toole as his nemesis, King Henry II. It's a good film, but rather condensed as far as history is concerned. There are many sites on the Internet you can look up for historical details.

For the purpose of this Blog, I would like to reflect on Thomas' own conversion from being a rather arrogant man to learning humility and courage by his willingness to take on the yoke of archiepiscopal office.

St. Thomas Becket, 1182-1170
Martyred Archbishop of Canterbury

Please note that he was killed before the birth of St. Francis of Assisi (1182), and so this has nothing immediately to do with the Franciscan movement. Rather, it seems that Thomas was more influenced by the Benedictine tradition of monasticism, although he never professed religious vows.

Thomas underwent an ongoing conversion. First, he reluctantly accepted the archiepiscopal office and see from his friend King Henry. Apparently the election was "irregular", which Thomas later would confess to Pope Alexander.

Initially Henry thought he could control his new primate of England, but as matters between Church and State, and Thomas and Henry, became increasingly sticky and hostile, the king regretted having made his one-time friend and former Chancellor of England to be Archbishop or Canterbury.

When Thomas did meet with the pope in Rome to appeal his case and confessed the apparent irregularity, he thereupon resigned his office as archbishop. At first the pope accepted his resignation, but later on changed his mind and reinstated Thomas by returning him his bishop's ring and telling him that he was to do God's work back in England.

After a lengthy interval, Thomas and Henry made some peace and Thomas received permission to return to England to serve as archbishop. While Henry was in France, though, his advisers informed him that he would have no peace and only rivalry for authority as long as Thomas was left alive. Then the king made his infamously historical statement, which his barons took as both rebuke and directive, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

The barons understood this as a royal edict and proceeded to murder Thomas in Our Lady's transept of Canterbury Cathedral as Vespers were underway and darkness covered the land. He was canonized two years later, and Henry also did penance for his implication in the archbishop's death.

Contemporary depticion of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket


Our Christian vocation, which we receive from baptism, is to give witness to our faith in our daily lives, whether convenient or inconvenient.

Our vocation is to live and proclaim the truth in love (cf. Eph. 4:15), and that truth is a person, Jesus Christ!


Even during Christmastime, this requires a conversion on our part, doesn't it? From what to what?

More than a preparation for new year's resolutions, it seems to be an opportunity to call upon the Lord, like Thomas Becket did, and ask the Lord where he wants us to change! Christian life is ongoing conversion; our common Christian vocation is ongoing conversion.

Thomas allowed God's Word, the Holy Scritpures, to take root in his heart and to change his life, his attitude, his perspective and his very lifestyle!

I encourage us to take this to the Lord in prayer and let him show us. Do we need more courage in the face possible unpopularity? Do we need more compassion in the face of poverty or other people's disabilities? Do we need to work through forgiveness of someone who has betrayed us?

Let's ask the Lord for the courage of St. Thomas Becket, to let the Incarnate Son of God change us so that our lives may more fully reflect his life in us!

The Poverello of Assisi: St. Francis and his feastday, 4 October 2007

Most High, glorious God,

bring light to the darkness of my heart

and give me true faith, certain hope and perfect charity,

sense and knowledge, Lord,

that I might carry out your holy and true command.

Amen.

St. Francis composed this simple prayer apparently early on in conversion experience. He would pray this before the Crucifix of San Damiano on the hill outside of the city of Assisi. San Damiano was a hostel for pilgrims en route to Rome, but had fallen into disrepair from neglect. It was before this Crucifix that Francis heard the Lord Jesus speak to him and say, "Francis, go repair my Church which you see is falling into ruins!"

Francis initiated his church-rebuilding campaign shortly afterward, thinking originally that it was to this chapel and a couple others that he was called to physically renew and repair. However, it wasn't till later on, as he reviewed his life, that he realized that the Lord had called him to a renewal of the People of God, not just stone and mortar!

Above I used the word "conversion" -- what was that all about? Francis (Giovanni Baptista Bernardone) was reared in a Catholic household, the elder son of the Bernardone family. He was known to be generous to the poor; he was also known to be lavishly generous to his friends for parties! So, you can imagine that he was popular.

But after his excursion into warfare (Assisi v. Perugia -- Perugia won), he became a prisoner of war in the dungeons of Perugia, where he apparently contracted a form of tuberculosis and nearly died. After being ransomed from the prison by his father, Pietro, Francis returned to Assisi a changed man. He tried another venture in warfare, but turned back after a disturbing dream. He began to reconsider the direction of his life. That is when we began going to San Damiano to pray before the Crucifix, alone in a lonely place -- to confront his inner self and to meet the Lord. Such is the stuff of discernment.

It was out of this interior struggle and encounter that eventually led Francis to renounce the world and to become the poor man, the poverello of Assisi, a "fool for Christ", who wanted to live for Jesus alone. And so he embarked on the greatest adventure a human being can do -- to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Crucifix of San Damiano

"Francis, go repair my Church which you see is falling into ruins."