Homily for Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Francis of Assisi
Wednesday, 26th Week

Oct. 4, 2023
Ps 137
Neh 2: 1-8
Luke 9: 57-62
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Suffering in exile, the Jews wish they could return to Judah and rebuild their ruined holy city and its beautiful temple (cf. Ps 137).  Nehemiah, an official of the Persian court, gets permission to go and undertake that work, and with royal support (Neh 2:1-8).

In Assisi in 1205, Francis Bernadone had just undergone a religious conversion but was at a bit of a loss how to live his converted life.  Then he had a vision in which Christ told him to rebuild his church—not the ruined chapel of San Damiano, as he thought at first, but something bigger.

Pope Innocent's Dream (Giotto)

Not long after, Pope Innocent III had a dream in which a wretched-looking beggar appeared to be holding up the Lateran basilica to prevent its collapse.

Then Francis showed up in Rome, seeking papal approval for his little band of religious beggars, mendicants.  Innocent recognized him as the man he’d seen.

And Francis and his brothers, living like Jesus with nowhere to rest their heads (cf. Luke 9:58), begging for their daily food, and sleeping where they could, began to rebuild the medieval Church.  They—and their contemporaries, the Dominicans—instituted a new form of religious life, not secluding themselves in remote monasteries but immersed in cities and towns where God’s people lived, preaching the Gospel thru simplicity of life, joy, service to the poor and the sick, and loyalty to Mother Church.  They “went and proclaimed the kingdom of God” (9:60).

As the collect suggests, if we follow Francis’s example, we’ll be following Jesus—without hesitation and with total commitment.