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A CONTEMPORARY FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY
OF JUSTICE, PEACE
AND THE INTEGRITY OF CREATION.
Seamus Mulholland OFM
In a divided world, more and more people are looking to St. Francis for guidance and direction. They believe that he can give us an example how lie reconciled with God and with all things should be led. In the 1960’s Lynn White stressed the fact that the crisis the world is currently undergoing is probably a religious one. This is partly ascribed to an erroneous interpretation of the creation myths of the Old Testament, where Man is understood to be the Lord of Creation who can choose to rule the world as he likes, making it subject to his wishes and using and exploiting it at whim.
In Francis of Assisi’s encounter with the created world comes the humbling recognition that humanity is only part of a whole that is far greater than it is. In consequence, all areas of life receive their sense and justification in their relationship to this supernatural, spiritual realm. The Franciscan lifestyle, recognising other beings as partners and companions in life, leads to a genuine partnership with all creatures and is therefore of particular significance for our world today. For Francis, the world itself becomes a means to play before God, and instrument which can be used for true joy and happiness.
Modern rationality will never understand Francis of Assisi. But it is equally impossible to take his attitude as a norm or model for out daily behaviour. We need to formulate a new Franciscanology for new situations; a new spirituality for our concrete historical situation. Part of this new Franciscan spirituality must begin with the assertion that Western history is tragic because it reduced the whole world to the level of its practical utility. We gladly use the good things of the earth, and other people, for our comfort and convenience. Humanity has a whole range of basic needs it can only fulfil by using the gifts and resources nature provides. But there is nothing objectionable in this. However, danger lurks when humanity sets itself above everything else, using and abusing things at will, including human beings, artificially creating new needs and necessities, manipulating the whole world in order to satisfy his cravings. The phenomenon of globalisation is a contemporary case in point. The newly created need for ever more individual and corporate material well-being has resulted in new, more insidious form of injustice and inequality, more marginalisation and exclusion of whole peoples.
In the Franciscan approach to JPIC issues the universe forms a whole, a unity, a marvellous arrangement that is not hierarchically erected but is determined by brotherhood and sisterhood. The common factor, constituting all things and all men and women as creatures of God is their unique, unrepeatable, individuated existence as being in itself as unique to itself and not possess by any other living thing in that individuated form. In the Franciscan spirituality of JPIC there is a relationship between humanity and nature that is almost human. For the Franciscan, relationship and unity with and of all created things is only conceivable on the human level. Francis did not believe in Dionysian experiences, in intoxicating feelings of ‘oneness’ with Nature where humanity loses its identity. The Franciscan today does not conceive of JPIC as a new age religion, or a philanthropic pastime. It is essential to the Franciscan charism, and is rooted in the concrete tactility of the embracing of the world as brother or sister.
It is those same brothers and sister of the human and non-human world that the Franciscan JPIC spirituality turns its attention to. They suffer the unimaginable pain of hurt, suffering death for their race, the creed and their colour, and for their reduction to their utilitarian value in the face of the global capitalist market place. The sacred lands and mountains of whole races of indigenous peoples are removed, to be replaced by the Shell, BP or MacDonald’s logo; millions of displaced peoples flee war and violence to be greeted in developed countries as scroungers, or as a drain on resources. Racism is rife and politicians feed of genuine fears of unconscientisised people. Refugees, migrants, displaced and excluded persons are the new lepers of today - they are the no people, those without voice, without home, without place, without safety or security.
But the Franciscan spirituality of JPIC is not grounded in a mere social humanism, to which the gospel can never be reduced - but in the gospel life that is the person of Jesus of Nazareth who comes to issue the demand for a radical conversion, and to issue in a crisis of decision. This in itself calls the Franciscan to a radical reassessment of their mission. The Franciscan movement in its reflections on JPIC issues must by a living symbol of what ecumenical theology calls a ‘reconciled diversity’. The process of establishing justice and reconciliation must become even more prominent and pronounced. More must happen if we truly are to be witnesses to the Reign of God among nations. The message preached must be Incarnational. And it must take shape by fostering mutual tolerance and respect for men and women, for the poor, the oppressed, the excluded, the marginalised and the non-existents, and for men and women of various religious traditions and faiths. If it does not, we will be nothing more than anachronistic irrelevancies.
This demands a profound contemplative spirituality which is the only future possible for us who involve ourselves in the Franciscan movement. The quality of our life, our prayer, and our service will have to become much more important than the numbers of our members, the numbers of our commitment to JPIC Issues. JPIC involvement cannot exist without prayer, contemplation and reflection - the crisis of decision is to either stand on the side that God stands on, or to stand on the side of those who oppose the gospel values. There is no middle area, no man’s land does not exist in this conflict - and conflict it is. An invitation is being presented to us here, not for us to engage in some imperialist do-gooding - but to rather to return to the well spring from which we have all drunk, and from there go forth, refreshed and enthused for the new mission demand. We are called to overcome narrow-mindedness and self-destructive divisions through dialogue and collaboration.
At the same time our approach must not only be spiritual but must be rooted in the real concreticity of people’s lives. While unreflective action is worse than no action at all, an orthodoxy without anorthopraxis is meaningless and a theology without social and human involvement is little more than a raid upon the inarticulate and hot gospel philanthropy. A Franciscan approach to JPIC issues engages in the truth of the human project, it makes no presumptions about its contribution to the resolution of difficulties or problems - but it nevertheless does not content itself with an introspective quietist - for it has within it its own constituency a realistic pragmatism.
Christ is the light of the nations, and is present to each and every person coming to the world. That presence is not subjectively determined by a creedal confession of the divinity of Jesus or the Trinity, or the Resurrection. The presence of the Risen Christ to all is a free gift of God determined only by the supreme love that God has for all that he has made and redeemed in Christ. And redemption is God’s refusal to let us go, it is God’s refusal to allow to be lost to him, it is God’s refusal to contemplate our end as being without him. That presence of the Risen Christ to all evangelises us. The gospel is proclaimed to us by those of different faiths and those of no faith. And therein lies the struggle for justice against those forces which would seek to anesthetise the spirit of humanity: to dull the soul to the extent that the longings of human endeavour are met by crass consumerism and materialism. The new gospels are being written in the corporate management and marketing strategies, and the new bill of rights is being written in share options.
But the struggle for Justice, Peace and the Rights of creation continues. In 1937 one of the great cries of an oppressed and disenfranchised people was ‘No paseran!!’ (They shall not pass!) that cry is the same today: they shall not pass, they shall not pass by the stranger and the outcast, the voiceless and the burdened, and they shall not pass by the homeless and the refugee, and the unemployed and those denied their rights as workers, and they shall not pass the spiritually bankrupt and impoverished. Justice is not something men and women do, it is something they long for, Peace is not the cessation of war and conflict, it is the fundamental orientation of the human longing, and Creation is not humanity’s plaything, but its brother or sister - and God is not the Master of humanity but its servant.
Francis belonged to that time of Western history whose descriptor is ‘The Medieval Period’. It was a time which exercised a profound influence in the west until the onset of the Enlightenment - but it has passed forever. If we accept the threefold division of world history by historians and philosophers as ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, MODERN, then we live in the fourth period of world history.
Perhaps if we are to assign a descriptor to the age in which we live it would be the AGE OF FAILURE: two world wars, the dropping of two atomic bombs, famines, genocide, climate change, environmental and ecological disasters, terrorism. And the suggested solutions to many of these problems: Nationalism, Nazism, Communism, Capitalism, liberal Capitalism, have all failed - even Socialism has failed (but we have hope!!). All these have failed to provide answers to fundamental questions of identity, place, role and meaning to the human condition in the world. All isms have become wasms.
We are keen to read the signs of the times, yet we lack the literacy skills to do so; we talk of challenging the world as radical prophets, yet when they appear in our midst we stone them, or we silence them with institutional structuralism where their authority is subject to authoritarianism. The Word became flesh, but we do not allow it to become ours; we are called to mission but smother it with structures; too often we lose the power of action in the energy of resolve; and we ignore the command to unbind and let go free those whom the Messiah himself has freed.
It is easy to identify serious social and environmental problems on the global and local levels. The violations of human rights, abortion, genocide, abandoned children, armament industries, drugs, human trafficking and environmental pollution are just a few. However, the resolve to address these problems and the solutions to them are difficult to find. The difficulties are compounded by voices from various traditions suggesting or demanding conflicting responses. Some voices are gentle, some violent. Our response needs to be authentic and Franciscan.
"-Pace e Bene!-" (Peace and All Good!) is a greeting used on all continents by millions of Franciscan men and women since the time of St. Francis to acknowledge peasants, rulers, saints and sinners alike. It has grown to be an unofficial motto of the Franciscan family. Intuitively and simply, "-Peace and All Good-" expresses the Franciscan approach to life. We ask what our wish and work for "-Peace and All Good-" mean today?
Peace
Peace comes from the poor God who is revealed in Jesus Christ.
The Saints of Assisi radiated a joyful peace that has been universally recognized. This peace was not the result of their achievements, their physical well-being or security. In a very public manner they chose to move from their protected birthplace, the Commune of Assisi, to the precarious dwellings of the outcast lepers and the poor who were living on the margins of their society.
Their contemporaries recognized the saints' impoverished lifestyles as prophetic commentary on the Gospels and a critique of their society. The implicit social analysis expressed in their way of life was not motivated by humanitarian concerns alone, nor by philosophy nor a condemnation of the "-status quo-". Rather they were impressed by God's Incarnation. Jesus Christ, their poor and crucified Lord, was the giver of and reason for their peace. Their attempts to follow literally the Gospel-life of Jesus in utter simplicity became the foundation and rule of their life. Unlike similar "-evangelical-" or prophetic groups of their day, Francis and Clare were persistent in securing the confirmation and approval of the Universal Church for their personal inspirations and convictions.
Contemplation and experience gave to Francis and Clare images of God, revealed in Jesus who was non-violent, vulnerable and poor in the stable of Bethlehem; naked and abandoned on the cross; and food in the Eucharist. God's perfect meekness, humility and poverty gave Francis and Clare the impassioned desire to become "-perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.-"
Poverty is the lamp we use to pass through the portal of faith in order to enter the mystery of God in Whom we find true peace (St. Bonaventure). Over the centuries, interpretations of poverty have generated many arguments and reforms within Franciscanism. Most Franciscans see themselves as working on behalf of the poor; many work with and among the poor; and some have become completely identified with the poor in their lifestyle and work. Pursuit of God's "-perfection-" led Francis to espouse Lady Poverty and to the peace of "-perfect joy-". Throughout her life Clare insisted on the absolute necessity and privilege of Perfect Poverty for her company of Poor Ladies.
Goodness
God is not only poor but Goodness Itself reflected within creation
The Franciscan approach to life is marked by a recognition of the importance, beauty and goodness of Creation created by a good God for no other reason than love. We share this earth, its resources, our lives and work with all of God's creatures, who are our brothers and sisters. Unlike some who strove to domesticate and dominate nature, the two great saints of Assisi expected to live lightly on our Sister, Mother Earth, being a burden to neither the Earth nor to those who fed and clothed them.
Francis' practical theology and spirituality gave him a social analysis that all persons have responsibilities and equal rights before God. Franciscan awareness of the sacred value of the individual flowered in the thinking of John Duns Scotus. Each individual a person, a plant, a stone, an amoeba is precious. No creature, no part of creation, can be dismissed as insignificant. Each creature must attain full measure of its own individuality if the total expression of God's love is to be realized in creation.
Characteristics
The Franciscan movement began with the lives and the treasured stories of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi which give it permanent inspiration and direction. For centuries, hundreds of thousands of men and women have been guided by the Holy Spirit and inspired by the simple genius and practical theological wisdom of Clare and Francis. Generation after generation, brothers and sisters have developed and popularized the original Franciscan inspiration. This evolution of the spirits of Francis and Clare has had profound humanizing effects within Christianity, Western civilization, and other cultures.
Franciscan men and women have a history of responding in practical ways to acute social problems, motivated by beliefs inherited from St. Francis: his conviction about the absolute Goodness of God and creation, the primacy of Love, the Incarnation and its Christocentric implications. The early ban on weapons for members of the Secular Order helped to collapse the feudal system in Europe. Franciscans were responsible for establishing some of the first pharmacies in Europe, initially to meet the needs of infirm pilgrims flooding into Assisi. To protect the poor who were being crippled with huge unjust interest payments on loans, friars in Italy organized the "-Mons Pietatis-", a financial society which was the precursor of the modern banking system. Countless Franciscan men and women have opened their homes to homeless young people, giving them the protection and education not provided by their societies. In countries where the poor could not afford health care, Franciscan women and men responded in practical ways by establishing hospitals and health care systems.
Francis was possessed by a great mission. He was the Herald of God and of God's message of Peace. The message of God's love burned so strongly within Francis that it could not be contained. Like the heralds of his day, who preceded their lords announcing their arrival, Francis travelled from village to village proclaiming the Goodness and Peace of God. According to Francis, the Gospel is to be proclaimed primarily by our witness of Gospel life, not only by words. When it is appropriate and we are prompted by the Spirit of God, we take the opportunity to explain to others the reasons for our belief, never becoming argumentative. For Francis the most perfect form of evangelization was martyrdom, in which we are united with Jesus, the perfect Evangelist, giving our lives completely for the Gospel message of God's love.