Though Francis was wealthy, he chose to become poor; though educated, he relished being a fool for God. With a dramatic flair, he electrified Europe by saying "no" to power, "no" to money, "no" to any structures or policies that hurt his fellow human beings.

Francis was driven to do such "strange" things because God had marked him out for a unique role in the history of salvation. He was to cut away the tangled webs of the Dark Ages' social structures, to restore the Gospel of Jesus as the foundation for faith and belief, and thus to bebuild the Church and world.

Francis had a passion for the Gospel, a passion that consumed his entire self and then spilled over to light fires that would chase away the darkness of the ages.

Those fires had names. Each was taken from the Gospel. Each lit up at least a small portion of the darkness. Together, they produced such a burst of light that parts of the darkness were banished forever.

A NEW FACE FOR GOD

God for Francis, was not a terrifying dictator to be obeyed out of fear of being thrown in hell. God was rather Someone personally close, the ideal Father figure who gives each son and daughter the precious gift of life, a personality like no one else's, the talents needed to survive and grow in this world, and freedom to use or abuse those talents.

Like the ideal mother-father, God is always available to help smooth over the rough spots, to give advice in making difficult choices; and when things go wrong, to offer comfort.

No wonder Francis so often quoted the Scripture with total trust, "Cast your care upon the Lord, and the Lord will provide for you."

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST

There can be no doubt of Francis' love affair with Jesus Christ. It was not the Jesus of so many of the late medieval paintings -- the judge at the last judgment. It was the Jesus of Bethlehem who became a human being because he identified with each human person; the Jesus of the Last Supper who gave himself as food for spiritually starving people; the Jesus of Calvary, who died as a sacrifice so that each person could be raised up from the darkness of collective and personal sin.

In that humanity of Jesus, Francis found the connecting link to the God of the cosmos. He had found as well the "God-Brother" of us all.

THE GOSPEL WAY

Francis was so overwhelmed at his discovery that no other response was possible except for a total conversion, a conversion more like a love affair than a reluctant rejection of his former life.

The words of Jesus in the gospels now leapt out of the pages with a burning, driving force. Here was hope. Here was life. Here was liberation from all powers of darkness. Here was the destiny of the entire human race -- and all of creation as well.

No wonder Francis cried out in a new-found ecstasy: "This is what I want! This is what I desire! This is what I long for with all my heart and soul!"

CHRISTMASING

The rest of the pieces of life's puzzle thus began to fall into place for Francis. Christmas, for example, was not just the historical event. The birth of Jesus was not only then, it is also now. Anyone who accepts the Gospel life accepts an urging from God: Bring forth Jesus in your own portion of the world.

With bold insight, Francis wrote, "We are mothers when we carry him in our heart and body through love and a pure and sincere conscience; we give birth to Him through our holy manner of working which should shine before others as an example."

BROTHERHOOD

In that light, perhaps the most touching phrase we find in Francis' testament is the one he uses to describe the gathering of his first followers: "And after that, the Lord gave me some brothers...."

At that time, class distinctions had become rigid. In the monastic life lay brothers and sisters had only second class status. There were masters and serfs, nobles and peasants, haves and have nots. Suspicion and distrust were the order of the day even among friends.

When "brothers" came to Francis, he did not look to the monastic orders but rather to the Gospels as the inspiration for this way of life. All were to be equal, all were to be cherished, all were to be given affirmation and support, all were to be loved.

Francis' first biographer, an eyewitness, described the new community in these words: "Whenever they came together anywhere, or met one another on the way, spiritual love and true affection sprang up. Chaste embraces, gentle feelings, a holy kiss, pleasing conversation, modest laughter, joyous looks...oneness of purpose, ready obedience, unwearied hand, all these were found in them."

CREATION: BROTHERS AND SISTERS ALL

From there, Francis took a daring leap. He could not, as others had done, restrict "brotherhood" only to men or to the clergy. The Gospel cried out for so much more.

He soon founded a Second Order, for women, sisters called the Poor Clares. And then a Third Order known as the Secular Franciscans, for lay men and women who would live the Gospel Way in their own lives.

Francis' interpretation of Gospel brotherhood led him to an even higher mystery: the brotherhood of creation. If men and women were brothers and sisters to Christ who was the first-born of all creatures, so also were animals, birds, the sun, the moon, wind, fire, water, indeed everything ever created by God.

He spoke to "my sisters, the birds," to "brother" wolf -- and they spoke back. It was as if God restored to him the original innocence lost by Adam and Eve. Francis totally broke through that mystery when he composed and sang one of the most unique poems in religious history, The Canticle of the Creatures. Francis' reverence for creation was so astounding that in our day he was named the Patron of Ecology.

MINORITY

Francis chose to call his companions the "little" brothers and sisters. Minority, or littleness, contains something of the idea we use today when speaking of minority groups -- poor, powerless, and voiceless. Littleness for Francis was a rejection of the desire for power, prestige, and status. It is longing to become like the anawim of the Bible -- God's poor, helpless, and defenseless ones, the ones Christ said were blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Minority is a decision to serve and not be served, a desire to be available, to help, to be connected, to share with, suffer with, rejoice with, a decision to overcome the most evil tendency in any person -- the desire to have power and control over others.

POVERTY

Wealth, affluence, personal property, and wanting more and more material goods -- these were seen by Francis as blocks to brotherhood and union with God. People whose lives are dominated by money and what money can buy are more concerned with things than with people -- a terrible perversion of God's plan

Persons are more important than property; people are more important than things. Francis' poverty was meant to witness exactly that: an option for personal poverty, an option to side with the poor, the oppressed, and all the outcasts of society.

PRAYER

Prayer, especially contemplative prayer, was so important in Francis' life that, at one point he was severely tempted to abandon his mission of apostleship to the world and retire to a hermit's life.

His mission, God told him, was otherwise. But wherever Francis was -- in a cave or the marketplace, on a mountain or in a cardinal's palace, with his brothers or at work or alone -- he was always at prayer: sometimes comtemplative, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes in common with his brothers, sometimes the prayer of work.

PEACE

Francis' daring attempts at peacemaking are legendary: in the disputes between the rich and poor in Assisi, between the Christians and Muslims during the Crusades, between the nobles and their serfs in the matters of military conscription. What's important to note, in addition, is that Francis was accepted as a peacemaker, because he was peace-full himself.

"While you are proclaiming peace with your lips," he told his followers, "be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. Nobody should be aroused to wrath or insult on your account. Everyone should rather be moved to peace, goodwill, and mercy as a result of your self-restraint."

RESPECT FOR THE CHURCH

The Church will always be subject to human weakness and even fallibility in other than essential doctrinal and moral areas. The human weaknesses in the Church of Francis' time were so vast that the Church was hardly a sign of God's presence among humankind.

It was feared because of its politcal power. Many of the clergy were living scandalous lives; anti-clericalism, with good reason, was rampant.

God called Francis to "rebuild my Church, which you see is falling into ruin."

Under the grime the Church had accumulated during the Dark Ages, Francis found the fire, the stunning brilliance, the pervading warmth of the Gospel which had been passed on from Jesus to Peter and from Peter to his successors down to the then present pope. He realized that the Church, imperfect as it may be at times, is the guardian of the Gospel way of Jesus.

He began to remove the grime, to restore the Church, stone by stone, person by person, by reform not revolt. He succeeded where others had failed because he approached the Church not with anger, but with love and respect.

THE MISSION OF APOSTLESHIP

Francis looked around him. Almost all of Europe had become Christian, though Christian in name only. The Muslim world was shut off; the Far East had not yet been reached. Missionary work -- the challenge given by Christ to the Apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations -- was all but dead.

Francis therefore shaped his followers as new apostles whom he sent out two by two, as Christ had done, to proclaim the rediscovered Good News to the rest of Europe, to Muslim Africa and the Middle East, to the Oriental Far East, and to worlds that had not yet been discovered.

Francis, on fire, had become the first modern foreign missionary.

THE CHALLENGE OF FRANCIS

The world has changed many times over since Francis' day and yet, sadly, so many of the same conditions and problems have returned in our own time.

Millions of words pour out on how to solve these problems, how to change conditions, how to shake up the apathetic.

Those words, whether they come from governments or from churches, are heard as cliches that fail to arouse. The only principle that seems to make any sense to so many people today is that stated in Paul Simon's song:

Francis of Assisi would have accepted that principle with total understanding. It would have triggered off in his memory the word of Christ in the Gospel: "You are to be my witnesses."