Formation discussions over the years with Inquirers, Candidates, and Perpetually Professed Secular Franciscans are the foundation for this ongoing series of reflections. Many thanks to my brothers and sisters whose insights have served as the springboard for this endeavor.
Fred Conforti, MD, OFS
FORGIVENESS: Memento Mori
Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! (Sirach 28: 3-6)
Our Seraphic Father Francis died on this date, 3 October in 1226, after Vespers, and each year Franciscans gather for the vigil celebration of his transitus, or the passage of his soul into eternal life, anticipating his festival day on 4 October. Just a few weeks ago, on Sunday 13 September, the First Reading for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time this year from Sirach evoked the spirit of the man who signed his name with the “tau cum capite” — the sign of the tau with a skull. Memento mori : Remember death.
Biographer Thomas of Celano, one of the Lesser Brothers during the life of Francis, was in a unique position to capture the fervor of the minores as events unfolded in the early days of the fledgling Order. There is no more wonderful demonstration of this than the account of “What He Did and Said at His Blessed Death” in Chapter VIII of Celano’s Vita secunda, or Second Life of St. Francis. As Francis neared death, the brothers attending him were frantic, anxiety-ridden, fearful of facing the future as fatherless orphans. Celano tells us that an anonymous brother, feeling the weight of the sins and failings committed by the entire community against the Rule, rises above the commotion and appeals to Francis for compassion and for a blessing. In the Lower Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, the artist Giotto dramatized the death of Francis in a fresco (1325) that captures the range of emotions, if in somewhat stiff proto-Renaissance style; in it, several of the brothers are venerating the wounds of the Stigmata (see the image below). Celano relates that Francis, the incomparable imitator of Christ, In response to the anonymous brother’s request, says: "I forgive all my brothers, present and absent, all their faults and offenses, and I absolve them insofar as I am able. When you give them this message, bless them all for me" (II Celano, VIII, 109).
“Forgive”: The word does not appear often in the early writings, but it is not an exaggeration to say that in the stories about Francis and the brothers, couched in sincerely moving demonstrations of Gospel virtue, someone is always either forgiving or being forgiven. Not surprising, given the pledge of the brothers “to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (The Regula bullata, the Rule of 1223), who forgave the repentant thief. This Gospel insists upon imitation of the Father’s limitless and unconditional forgiveness (see Matthew 18: 21-35, the parable of the unforgiving servant, the Gospel for the 24th Sunday). The supplicant, too, must be willing to admit guilt freely, continually, without limit and unconditionally, in commiseration with the psalmist, “ . . . there is no rest in my bones because of my sin” (Psalm 38: 4b). Conditions must never exist on either side: As one forgiving, I must never make a case for saying “I forgive you, but . . .” ; as a penitent, I must never say “I am sorry, but . . .”.
The example of Francis and the brothers teaches that we are powerless to unconditionally forgive another without the charity and compassion that proceed from the Christ within us; similarly, the supplicant is powerless to be truly and unconditionally sorry without the poverty of spirit and humility that are the hallmarks of an intimate relationship with the inner Christ. As Article 7 of our Secular Franciscan Rule reminds us, we are “brothers and sisters of penance”, called to the “radical change” that is “conversion”, with recourse to “the Father’s mercy and the source of grace” that is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. (With the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing, have you waited in a car line to approach the “confessional”? It seems necessary to have curb-side delivery for everything these days.)
G.K. Chesterton wrote a Life of St. Francis that is well known. Perhaps less well known is Chesterton’s Roman Catholic clerical sleuth, Father Brown, the protagonist in 80 short crime stories. Father Brown attributes his skill in solving crime to the insight into human nature he has gleaned from hearing confessions. In the short stories Father Brown is not given to preaching, but devotees of the BBC television series The Father Brown Mysteries (2013 - , loosely based on Chesterton’s stories) are familiar with Father Brown’s terse advice to every criminal: You must confess; tell everything to the police; then ask God’s forgiveness; He will not abandon you; He is compassionate.
“Forgive us our trespasses . . .” — Christ gave us these words of appeal for the Father’s infinite mercy, His perfect compassion, for He is compassionate. “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins . . .” — Our Lady of the Rosary (we honor her on 7 October) gave us these words of appeal at Fatima. While our own imperfect compassion may be the best we have to offer, compassion is essential when we “confess [our] sins to one another” (James 5: 16). We must have compassion for the other and compassion for ourselves. We approach purity of heart more fully when we work to embrace the compassion that is the essence of the Beatitudes, the love of God and love of neighbor (as Christ loved us).
As we reflect today on forgiveness, let us gaze in a spirit of vizio divina upon Giotto's image and joyfully celebrate the transitus of St. Francis, recalling the words of Christ to St. Francis at the time of his Stigmatization during the seraphic vision:
“I have given you the Stigmata which are the emblems of My Passion, so that you may be My standard-bearer. As I descended into Limbo on the day when I died and took from there by virtue of these Stigmata of Mine all the souls that I found there, so I grant you that every year on the day of your death you may go to Purgatory and by virtue of your Stigmata you may take from there and lead to Paradise all the souls of your Three Orders, that is, the Friars Minor, the Sisters, and the Continent, and also others who have been very devoted to you, whom you may find there, so that you may be conformed to Me in death as you are in life.” 1
1 St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies; English Omnibus of the Sources for the Life of St. Francis: Little Flowers of St. Francis, Habig, Marion A., ed., Brown, Raphael, et. al., trans., St. Anthony Messenger Press, ©2008, p. 1450.
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