A new prayer for Francis

We are all well aware of the famous prayer of St Francis that sums up our Christian faith, as we strive to be 'instruments of peace.' We realise that it is in giving that we receive, that we must bring love to situations of hatred, that we encourage faith in times of doubt, and 'it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.' Francis of Assisi knew what it was to live the paschal mystery—he knew that his faith would make demands. In the spirit of the beatitudes, he embraced total poverty, rejecting his own personal power and wealth. As a follower of Christ who sought to rebuild a broken Church—he was prophet of his age, reminding the Pope and hierarchy of their need to be truly spiritual. Growing up in a wealthy family, Francis led a life that was privileged, with little thought for his social inferiors. While his journey to repentance and conversion unfolded over several stages, a pivotal moment occurred one day while Francis was praying before a crucifix at a run-down church. He heard Christ speak to him from the crucifix: 'Francis, go and rebuild my Church.' Francis could not reform the whole Church, but he could make a difference in this tiny part of the globe. Single-handedly he was able to re-create a fitting place of worship—this rebuild became a metaphor for his need to help the universal Church return to its roots in the teaching and message of Jesus. As the Chinese proverb has it: the greatest journey begins with a single step. Francis' message and way of life drew many followers during his time and injected new life in the Church back then. Any 'rebuilding' of the Church today can only start with each of us taking a single step towards repentance and renewal in our own hearts. The words of the saint give us the encouragement we need:

Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

Miracles can, and do, happen. We have learnt, more than ever in these times, that we are called to live a simple life. The world's resources are finite and, following the example of Francis, we must learn to share and hand on a viable world to the next generations. We are asked to live simple lives that rely more on God's providence: Francis took to heart the Lord's message to sell all he had and to follow Christ. He renounced his worldly possessions and family inheritance and trusted God to take care of his daily needs. Francis' example ought to at least make us more mindful of the excesses we have in our lives, especially when millions of people live in abject poverty. A life that is less focused on 'stuff' is more likely to be more focused on God.

The call of Jesus is more about action and less about words. Francis once encountered a leper while riding on his horse. Though the smell and appearance of the leper were revolting, Francis got off his horse and gave the man a kiss of peace. Sometimes love means giving someone a hug or affirming them with a kind word. At other times, it could call us to challenge someone to change their ways so that they are drawn closer to God. From the poor around us, to those in our community who fail to care, to teenagers with weird hair colour and tattoos—our call is not to judge; our call is to love by both our words and actions. For the record, there is no evidence that Francis ever said, 'Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.' In fact, given Francis' extensive preaching ministry, it is more likely that he would have preferred that we do actually preach the Gospel with words. If God has made a positive difference in our lives, we ought to be ready, willing and able to share God's message of love, mercy and salvation with anyone at any time. Therefore, we need a good balance of Word and action in our lives: Francis shows us the way. In the height of the crusades, he went behind enemy lines to speak with the Sultan of Egypt as a true 'instrument of peace'. Sometimes, in life, we are called to take positive actions that we would rather not. It can be all too easy to allow situations to fester and spiral out of control. As 'instruments of peace' we have to be brave and move forward.

We are invited to recognise the sacred in the everyday—to celebrate what John O'Donohue calls 'the Eucharist of ordinary.' Through the gifts of Creation and Incarnation, we walk on holy ground. The broken Church, with its scandal, division and hurt, is still the Church of God. Heaven is the perfection we seek and deserve, but, for now, we must recognise beauty in imperfection. Once, someone asked Francis if the Mass being celebrated by a priest who was openly living with a mistress was tainted.

Francis responded by going to the priest, kneeling before him and kissing his hands – a sign that no matter how sinful or corrupt the priest, those hands held Christ, our Lord, in the Eucharist. I urge you to cherish those sacred times in your day or week: mass, prayer, meditation, or the rosary. All these moments can deepen our sense of community, commitment and Union with God. A greater appreciation for the sacred things of the Church will go a long way in any efforts to restore many aspects of the life of the Church that are decaying or have been forgotten. With Francis let us re-listen to that call: 'go and rebuild my Church.'

We can only know God if there is a strong level of communication and prayer. Our own Salesian founder made sure that small and regular moments of prayer took place during a busy working day—it was a prayer life that took account of teenagers' lifestyle. Nothing in Francis' life and mission would have borne fruit without his profound prayer life and love for God. There were times during his initial conversion journey that Francis would weep for his sins while in prayer. He also spent long hours reflecting on the word of God. He listened for, and then followed God's instructions to him through prayer.

One of the real worries of these times is the rise of conspiracy theories and 'truth decay', as former President Obama puts it. Experts tell us that Twitter spreads lies six times faster than the truth. As we have seen with blatant lies that surround the need for anti-Covid vaccinations, we can witness deep pain, suffering, and death. Failure to promote truth, whatever our party politics, is wrong on every level. One feels for the sanity of the world community when leading politicians and influencers spread half-baked ideas that can spread and promote a culture of death. Many of us are complicit. The top 100 fake stories in 2019 were viewed a staggering 150 million times. The sheer numbers suggest that social media falsehoods are shared by well-meaning people. Most of those who spread misinformation likely believe they are being righteous. Why do bad retweets come from good people? Some spread misinformation because the statements validate their own worldview, which assumes that the other side is wrong. Such a party-political approach to disaster is far from helpful: Covid does not hit you because of your beliefs. In the face of international crisis, we need a unity that transcends petty political differences.

Sadly, we live in the era of 'fake news' often backed by multi-million-dollar media outlets. These lies promulgate a version of history that is patently false and leads to the deep divisions we are witnessing in the United States at the moment. The Holy Father recognises tragedy of disinformation and how 'it discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them.' While many of us do not deliberately share information we know to be false, some do not try very hard to discern fact from fiction—in the press of a button lies can be spread across the internet. We need to heed scripture:

The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps. (Prov 14:15)

Today's spiritual teachers also need to remind us that what we click on and pass along, in our Twitter and Facebook accounts, is as important as what we say in person. Those of us who fallen victim to lies and misinformation can share the trauma that untruths cause—it is not a healthy place to be. Are you happy to be responsible for such horror in the life of another? Would you be happy to see the life of your loved ones destroyed by falsehoods? Pope Francis begs us to be promoters of the truth—we need to live in the spirit of the Lord: 'the truth will set you free.' (Jn 8:32). He uses the famous prayer of St Francis as the basis for a re-writing that speaks to some of the problems of our age. We are invited to be communicators of Good News and share the truth that Jesus offers:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Help us to recognize the evil latent in a communication that does not build communion.
Help us to remove the venom from our judgments.
Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters.
You are faithful and trustworthy; may our words be seeds of goodness for the world:
where there is shouting, let us practice listening;
where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony;
where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity;
where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity;
where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety;
where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions;
where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust;
where there is hostility, let us bring respect;
where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.
Amen. (13/05/2018)

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Photo by Oksana Manych on Unsplash