St Francis of Assisi Day

St. Francis preaching to the birds

In the Roman Catholic Church, each saint has a day assigned to honor them.  Today is St. Francis of Assisi Day.  I thought of him this morning as I fed my cats, as we drove to work and saw three deer feeding beside the road, watched a herd of cattle and then of llamas in the fields along the highway, passed a murder of crows dropping walnuts to the road to break them open, saw a pair of mockingbirds trying to run another crow off that had gotten too close to their nest, listen to the insects and birds sing outside my open office door, listened to the squeals and laughter as children arrived for nursery school...  Francis saw the presence of God in the faces of all of his little brothers and sisters, heard the voice of God in their songs, and preached back to them the good news of God's love.  He calls us to find the very presence of God in the wonders of creation surrounding us.

In yesterday's daily e-mail meditation, Richard Rohr had this to say about Francis

In most paintings of people waiting for the Holy Spirit they are looking upward, with their hands outstretched or raised up, the assumption being that the Holy Spirit will descend from “up” above. In the Great Basilica in Assisi where St. Francis is buried, there’s a bronze statue of him honoring the Holy Spirit. His posture and perspective are completely different from what we have come to expect. He’s looking down into the earth with expectation and desire! This is the change of perspective that became our alternative orthodoxy—although it should have been mainline orthodoxy! He was merely following the movement of the Incarnation, since Christians believe that the Eternal Word became “flesh” (John 1:14), and it is in the material world that God and the holy are to be found.

 Today, I will honor Francis by looking down to find the presence of God.

St. Francis Day

Today is St. Francis of Assisi Day.   St. Francis is one of my heroes... and not because he acted like Dr. Doolittle and talked to animals.  Well, actually it is because he talked to animals.  The story tells us that Francis' first sermon was to his brothers and sisters, the birds.  He ended the sermon by telling them, "Now go off, because I've told you who you are."  And who they were was children of God, who by being who they were, brought glory to God.  He preached similar sermons to a wolf, a lamb, fish, even worms and bees.  He saw the presence and glory of God in the creation that surrounded him and knew himself to be but a part of that wondrous creation.

Brazilian Cardinal

A few weeks ago we vacationed in Kauai and had a wonderful time.  It is a place of astounding beauty and heartbreaking stories.  One day, I had an experience that made me think of Francis.  We were wasting some time while waiting for a reservation at a restaurant and saw a pair of Brazilian Cardinal's doing their mating thing.  The male had found a piece of popcorn.  The female  would shake her feathers, call, open her mouth and wait and he would pick a piece from the popcorn and feed it to her.  This went on for a bit... and then a second female decided she liked this guy who was obviously a good provider.  He had a piece of popcorn!  So, she flew nearby and began the same thing... shake her feathers, call, and open her mouth.  Back and forth he went, feeding both of them.  Each competing for his attention and him not willing to choose.  We watched until we had to go to our reservation... and have no idea how things ended.  I wnder what Francis might have said to brother Brazilian Cardinal with his gorgeous red head...