i was reminded of this Franciscan blessing by the book of faces this morning:

Franciscan

i don’t think any group/church/organisation/person will ever get it completely right – except Jesus actually, i find it very difficult to fault anything He did or said and i’d be open to having conversation with anyone who did – but the Franciscans seem to come up repeatedly as people who did pretty well.

i’m sure Saint Francis of Assisi had his flaws but his life genuinely seems to be one of a man heading in one direction – having some kind of encounter which he would have said was with God – and then heading off in a completely different direction. And that different direction focused strongly on the poor and the marginalised and even the earth and its resources.

franciscan

In fact, doing a quick search i came up with these five values as core to being a Franciscan:

  • Reverence the unique dignity of each person;
  • Encourage a trustful, prayerful community of learners;
  • Serve one another, society, and the Church;
  • Foster peace and justice; and
  • Respect creation.

Not too much controversy in there, right? Just an invitation to live a better life. What if each of us even just took the first one seriously? What if we took that one seriously on social media? And in comments sections everywhere?

  • Reverence the unique dignity of each person

What does that mean to the lady with the baby standing at the traffic light, to the guy banging on the gate outside my home asking for train fare, to the sick and the imprisoned and those struggling with some form of mental illness or challenge, to the blind and the deaf and those who think differently to me on a political basis? What does it mean to those who support a different sports team than i do? What does this mean for someone who is of a different race group or religion?

And more. Can i strive to reverence the unique dignity of each person? Can you? 

One of the most inspiring books i have read in the last year was called ‘Chasing Francis’ and i shared two posts about it here. Definitely a book worth getting your hands on. But in the meantime let’s start practising what he preached…