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    Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation
    Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation
    Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation
    Ebook104 pages1 hour

    Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation

    By Mirabai Starr and Richard Rohr

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    About this ebook

    When a small village was plagued by a wild wolf, it is told that a humble friar named Francis came and met the predator with nothing but his gentle words—and turned the wolf from a menace to a welcome citizen. This graceful man, who spoke to each part of Creation as a sister or brother, has become one of the most beloved of all saints.

    In both joy and adversity, Saint Francis served as a bold example of how to live completely and authentically as a follower of Christ. From his survival as a prisoner of war to the series of awakenings that helped him to reform the Catholic Church, Francis drew his strength from his miraculous, loving union with the natural world.

    Saint Francis of Assisi is an essential devotional reader for building your personal connection to the spirit of this modest Italian sage. Through stories, prayers, and his own writings, you are invited to share in Francis's nourishing devotion to God, and in his profound compassion toward all living things.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSounds True
    Release dateNov 1, 2013
    ISBN9781622030736
    Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation
    Author

    Mirabai Starr

    Mirabai Starr writes creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. She has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary new translations of the mystics, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich. She is the award-winning author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation, and Mother of God Similar to Fire, a collaboration with iconographer, William Hart McNichols. Her latest book, Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics, was published in Spring 2019. She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

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      Book preview

      Saint Francis of Assisi - Mirabai Starr

      Amen.

      Introduction

      Embracing the Wound

      HISTORY LIKES TO portray Francis of Assisi as a perfect being, unmoved by the trials that bring the rest of us to our knees. A placid sage who held out his holy hands to the gentle forest creatures while they scurried and swooped and glided to greet him. An innocent child-man who easily slips into the kingdom of heaven while the rest of us grapple outside the gates with our thousand grown-up concerns and responsibilities, failing again and again to meet our lives gracefully.

      It is comforting to discover that Francis of Assisi suffered and lamented, lost his temper and forfeited his dignity, rebelled against the rebels and lashed out at the meek. That, like us, he fell again and again. And that he continued to stand up, brush himself off, and recommit his life to God. It is precisely in his humanness that his true sanctity lies; it is in that same essential humanity that we can find a role model for a deeply spiritual life.

      When I was a teenager, I was madly in love with God. There wasn’t a lot of support for this passion in my agnostic family, so I sought spiritual community. I found it in ashrams and Zen centers, in Sufi circles and Jewish Renewal, in the poetry of the Christian mystics and the earth-based ceremonies of my Native neighbors. In each of these arenas, I was always the youngest member—mature for my age, yet clearly raw. Being small and soft-spoken only added to my image of vulnerability, and my older companions displayed this irksome inclination to take care of me, guide me, and teach me. I preferred to be accepted as wise and awake, as the strong and competent being I felt myself to be.

      When I was around thirty, I was taking a walk with my friend Arielle by the Rio Grande River near my childhood home. I confided my inner struggle to her, lamenting that it had been fifteen years since I had dedicated my life to spiritual work and I was still not being taken seriously by our community. Everyone still treated me like a child.

      Oh, Mirabai! Arielle took my hands and locked my gaze with her own. Don’t you know that your childlike nature is what is most beautiful about you, that it is a gift to us all?

      No, I did not know that. The very thought was painful to absorb. And then Arielle told me a story.

      Saint Francis was riding his horse through the hills of Umbria when he came upon a leper, she began. There was nothing that repulsed him more than leprosy, and he would have done anything to avoid contact with the disease. But in that moment, something compelled him to dismount and take the suffering man into his arms. He hugged him tenderly, rocked him, soothed him with words of unconditional love.

      I took this in, listening carefully.

      This is what we’re supposed to do with ourselves, Arielle went on. We need to get down from our horse and take ourselves into our own arms. We need to embrace what most repels us, and offer it our total acceptance. After that day, Saint Francis was never again afraid of lepers. In fact, he spent the rest of his life—like Jesus—tending the poor and the sick with joy.

      It’s funny how the burden on your heart can lift in a single moment. Arielle’s story penetrated the bubble of pain I had been carrying, and it dissolved. I no longer view my smallness and gentleness as a problem, but rather as a gift I have been given and am meant to share. It was Saint Francis, through Arielle, who taught me to love myself, and then to get on with being of service in this wounded world. May you, also, discover the wisdom of Saint Francis as a guide on your own journey to wholeness.

      This volume is more than a compilation of writings to feed your mind; it is an object of beauty to nourish your heart. Try picking it up at random moments and opening it to whatever page presents itself. Read the passage there, gaze at the imagery, and then close your eyes for a moment and breathe it in. Whether the message comes in the form of a poem, a story, a prayer, or a remembrance, let Saint Francis show up in your world and bless you with some sweet surprise. You don’t have to analyze it or grapple with it. Simply be with it, and see what gift might emerge in the encounter.

      I have gathered favorite bits of wisdom—poems and prayers both by and about Saint Francis—and offer them to you here. In the spirit of Saint Francis, who welcomed everyone to the table, it is my intention not to exclude anyone from this feast. To this end, I have minimized specific Roman Catholic references and emphasized the universal nature of these teachings so that anyone from any tradition (or none) might be able to use this book as a contemplative tool.

      As you read this book, I invite you to delve into the points of reflection I have offered in italics. For example, when you consider the story of my personal encounter with Saint Francis, I encourage you to contemplate these questions.

      What is it within yourself that horrifies you? Can you resist the urge to turn away and instead allow yourself to turn toward it? Can you not only face that which repulses or frightens or offends you, but embrace it? Can you let yourself be irrevocably transformed by the encounter?

      I have arranged this book into six chapters, reflecting what I see as the essential themes in the teachings of Saint Francis. In the first chapter, key events in Saint Francis’s life story serve as luminous markers for our own journey through the harrowing trials and sweet, ordinary, sacred moments of this life. Grounded in Francis’s example, chapter 2 explores the ways he endeavored to live the beatitudes in everyday life, and how we too may contemplate the

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