St Saviours Church, Cobbold Road
London
Phone Number
YOUNG FRANCISCANS
Francis go and build my church
Here is the meditation which Robin Greenwood has sent us, for reflection before we meet:
“FRANCIS, REPAIR MY HOME”
YOUNG FRANCISCANS CONVERSATION
the vision of a young man of a prosperous family.
Prayer together
Most High, all glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of our hearts.
Give us a right faith,
certain hope,
and perfect love,
with deep humility, wisdom and understanding,
that we may know and do
Your most holy will.
(Francis of Assisi)
In 1206 Francis experienced a third spiritual visitation when he was at prayer in the decayed little church of San Damiano asking for divine guidance. The wooden Byzantine crucifix behind the altar seemed to speak out to him:
“Francis, go and repair my home, which, as you can see, is falling into ruins”.
Overjoyed to have such a concrete task, Francis set about raising money. He did this by selling cloth he appropriated from his father’s warehouse. His furious father summoned Francis to the court of the Bishop of Assisi and demanded return of the money. A crowd gathered to see the confrontation.
Stripping himself, Francis piled his clothes and what money he had in front of his father saying, “Hitherto I have called Peter Bernadone father: henceforth I will say, “our Father in heaven”. The bishop swept his own cloak over Francis to cover his nakedness. This moment marked a complete break for Francis with his past and the beginning of his life of abandonment to Divine Providence.
1208 For the next two years, Francis went begging about the region and set himself the task of restoring ruined churches, much to the indignation and embarrassment of his family. He also began preaching, urging people to repentance with the words, “The Lord give you peace”
[adapted from Ugolino di Monte Santa, The Little Flowers of St Francis of Assisi ed by W. Heywood, Vintage Books, NY, 1998].
· Which words or phrase in this narrative speak to you today?
· Francis’ deeper reflection led him to recognition in this vision a radical change of personal identity, away from his family values and lifestyle. “Repairing my home” came to be for him a challenge to evangelize, as the core of his entire life, beyond a physical task of repairing wayside chapels. How can you connect with this invitation now?
· He embraced poverty, a nomadic life, in the manner of Jesus’ first followers...preaching the gospel to all in small villages and country towns. Different followers of Francis echo this response. How does it challenge you?
EVOLVING CHRISTIANCOMMUNITIES Robin will briefly describe his own working life as an encourager of the development of churches and ministries. Is this your calling?
JUSTICE AND PEACE Is this you? “Repair my home” has for many become a call to challenge the political and economic exploitation of the poor
ECOLOGY “Repair my home” inspired Francis and Franciscans to embrace the whole cosmos, as the dwelling place of God. God’s presence is intimate not remote, as a poet and lover of the beauty of the earth, its sun and moon, plants and animals Francis …the timeless patron of the ecology movement. Do you already participate in this field?
LAUDATE SI The present pope adopted the name Francis and in an Encyclical “ based on the first words of the Canticle of the Sun pledged himself to connect love for God with love for the universe. Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the Stars. You have made them bright, precious and fair.
IMAGINE that, as with Francis, Jesus gave YOU a personal vocation to “repair my home which, as you can see, is falling into ruins”
· What would we want to urgently repair …..?
· What do we understand now as God’s “house or home”…..?
· What could be your personal mission on behalf of God’s home?
· How might Jesus be wanting us all to stretch “repair my home” to the world, suffering people and communities, our physical environment of land, water, air, the cosmos in which our planet hangs and moves?
· What “repairing” would, if taken, fulfil the purpose of your life?
· How could we together contribute more to for the coming of God’s kingdom for the sake of suffering people, churches where there is injustice for those on the margins, or a power imbalance? What could I do to repair the church?
· Do I see the church as a point of stability or as an agent for justice, or as a building I go to, or a community of which I am a valuable member, helping the church to grow its identity as followers of Christ? Or something else?
QUOTATIONS to wrestle with
“Deep within us God dwells as fire, turbulent wind, a raging ocean of power and a deep silence of stillness”
Sr Ilia Delio, OSF, Compassion . Living in the Spirit of St Francis, St Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati, 2011, p19
“As we explore the world in which Francis and Claire lived, we are likely to find many parallels with the economic, political, and even religious turbulence that we face today. Their wisdom will shine forth with new radiance as we encounter them as human beings just like us.”
“Let the revolution begin! The legacy of Francis and Clare is their invitation into an authentic, all encompassing, gospel-informed way of life. This legacy is grounded in a God-centred vision of humanity and the world that manifests and engenders, tenderness, reverence, justice, simplicity, peace, and joy”.
Professor T. W. Ahlgren, The Tenderness of God. Reclaiming our Humanity, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2017, pp. xv and 149
“Whatever RECONSTRUCTION we’re going to do has to be based on a positive and fully human experience of God as a loving presence. True religion is ready to let God be in charge and to let God lead us into a new future we do not yet understand” Richard Rohr. The wisdom pattern. Order, Disorder, Reorder, Franciscan Media, 2001, p 74
Creating a dwelling place for God. “in the holy love which is God, I beg all my brothers and sisters, both the ministers and the others, after overcoming every impediment and putting aside every care and anxiety, to serve, love, honour and adore the Lord God with a clean heart and a pure mind in whatever way they ate best able to do, for that is what God wants above all else. Let us always make a home and a dwelling place there for the One who is Lord God Almighty.
Francis of Assisi, Earlier Rule 22: 26-27.
“Most noble Queen, gaze, consider, contemplate desiring to imitate Your Spouse”
Clare of Assisi, “Second Letter to Agness of Prague”.
“If we sustain the gaze, we can see things in an entirely new way. We see with clarity. We see ourselves as God sees us-potentially free of all of that which hinders us and keeps us from knowing and manifesting the image of God within us… This clarity enkindles a greater resolve within us and a deeper prayer for the grace to change our ways.”
Sister Ilia Delio, Clare of Assisi, A Heart Full of Love, Cincinatti, St Anthony Messenger Press. p31
“Francis reminds us that we are dwellings for the Word of God and encourages us to develop a prayer that is continual, attentive, and enriched by loving relationships. He invites us to adore the Father in Spirit and in truth, showing how this is more important than any other form of prayer,”
Rejis J. Armstrong, St Francis of Assisi. Writings for a Gospel Life, St Paul’s, 1994, p 99
CLOSING PRAYER
God of overflowing goodness, since time began you have been revealing yourself in all creation. From the Big Bang to the convergence of galaxies, from the distant stars to this Earth, which is our home, you have never ceased shaping and fashioning us, urging us toward life. We are truly amazed at the work of your hands and for the life of Jesus, who reflects your radiance. We are blessed by the gift of self-awareness that you have given to us. Help us to be mindful that we are the universe conscious of itself and that we are sister and brother to all creation. Open our hearts to receive the gift of life that comes to us each day from the sun, the stars, plant life, animal life, and the unique giftedness od each human person. Lead us kindly on this cosmic journey that we may become the fullness of Christ who is our peace. Anen
Ilia Delio, OSF, Compassion. Living in the Spirit of St Francis, St Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati, 2011, p127.
From St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis
One day Francis left the town and went out to meditate in the fields. He was going past the church of San Damiano which was in danger of collapse because of age when he was moved by the Spirit to go inside and pray. There, as he knelt in front of an image of the Crucified he felt a great sense of comfort and his eyes were full of tears as he gazed at the cross. Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from the cross and telling him three times, ‘Francis go and build my house, which as you see is falling down’. Francis was alone in the church and was terrified at the sound of the voice, but the power of the message penetrated his heart and he went into an ecstasy. Eventually, he came to himself and prepared to obey the command he had received, and rebuild the little church, but the message really referred to the universal Church which Christ ‘bought with his own blood’ (Acts 20,28), as the Holy Spirit later made him understand, and which he explained to the brothers.
From a blog by the Sisters of mercy
Repairing the house of Christ involved, first, a radical change in his own lifestyle, from one of economic ease and stability to the minimalization of his personal needs. Poverty involved a leave-taking from a comfortable residence to a lifestyle that presumed physical mobility in imitation of the disciples who followed Jesus. “Repair my house” involved preaching the Gospel to ordinary people—unbelievers and heretics alike, in small towns and villages—who felt alienated from the institutional church. “Repair my house” led to the change from dramatic liturgical ritual performed in Latin in ornate churches to simple re-enactments of Gospel narratives such as the Nativity made available to people in their own local dialects. “Repair my house” became an effort to convert the political and economic exploitation exerted by ambitious clerics upon the poor.
Question: How can Franciscans rebuild the church today?