Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
In our last reflection on Franciscan spirituality, we spoke of St. Francis's reverence and spirit of submission and docility to the Church, which is a mark of a truly Catholic and Franciscan spirit. St. Francis's sons, be they simple unlearned men like Brother Giles or profound theologians like Blessed John Duns Scotus, St. Francis's true sons see things in that same light as he saw them with regards to the Church.
So we'll give some examples of this: Friar Giles cried forever after having called a priest a hypocrite. In his simplicity, said, "If the priest said it, it must be true." It's not always true, by the way, just because a priest or bishop says something, it's not always true, but it's admirable for someone who's very simple to see things in that light. Friar Giordano of Giano, finding himself in an audience with learned Pope Gregory the Ninth, before leaving quickly ran and took off the Holy Father's shoe, kissed his foot with devotion, saying to his companion, "In Saxony, we don't have relics like this." I don't know how the Pope felt about that when he did it, but Blessed John Duns Scotus, echoing the thought of St. Augustine, affirmed, "One shouldn't be believed in the canon of Scripture if first one does not believe in the Church that approves the canon and authorizes their content." This intrepid defender of the papal primacy voluntarily was exiled from France, from Paris where he had actually great success as a teacher. He was exiled in order to not sign the decree of Philip the Fair against Pope Boniface VIII.
What shines forth from all their Franciscan literature is this profound and lively veneration for the priesthood, for the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and for Holy Mother Church. The words of the simple Blessed Giles grasp the spirit pretty well when he says, "O Holy Roman Mother Church, we ignorant and miserable children don't know you nor your goodness. You teach us the way of salvation, you prepare it for us and show it to us. If one walks along this way, their feet don't stumble but rather they ascend to glory," said Blessed Giles.
Among the heretics teeming up at the time of Saint Francis, who were pretending to reform the habits and the Church herself, interpreting the gospel in their own way and rebelling against the Church's hierarchy, the humility and submissiveness of Saint Francis was very eloquent and very significant. Saint Francis shined like a light in the darkness of the Church bashers. It's to him that Christ entrusted the mission to repair His house, to him who wasn't a priest because he didn't believe himself worthy to be one, to him who wanted to be submissive at the feet of Holy Mother Church as he stated and as he himself always lived.
From the beginning, Francis, guided by the spirit of Christ, placed himself in the hands of the Bishop of Assisi so that he gave him counsel and established him in the service of Christ, says Francis's biographers. Then when his religious family had grown, he entrusted himself to the Vicar of Christ, saying, "Brothers, I see that the Lord mercifully wants to increase our congregation. Then going to our Holy Mother the Holy Roman Church, let us inform the Supreme Pontiff what the Lord has begun to do through us, that with His will and command we may continue doing what we have undertaken," said Saint Francis.
Great Pope of the time, Pope Innocent III, who carried in his soul the spirit and program of an efficacious reform of the Church, he recognized in Francis the man small and contemptible in appearance that he had seen in a dream sustaining the crumbling Lateran Basilica, and the Pope exclaimed, "Certainly this is the man who with words and with works will sustain the Church of Christ," and Innocent first verbally approved the initiative of Saint Francis, his rule. In this way, the crucifix of San Damiano and Innocent the Third, the invisible Christ and the visible Christ intersected the fire of the love of the humble Francis whom, as his biographers say, "strong with the authority conferred on him began to spread the seeds of virtue, fervently preaching penance."
In one of his word pictures, Francis understood himself to be the black young hen who couldn't gather under his wings all of her chicks. He needed the Church to do that. In the Legend of the Three Companions, we hear Francis say this: "The Lord in His mercy has given and will give me many sons whom I will be unable to protect with my own strength. I must therefore commend them to the holy Church who will protect and guide them under the shadow of her wings."
Saint Francis possessed the sensus Ecclesiae no less than the sensus Christi. He didn't sacrifice his ideal which was directly inspired by the gospel, but he appeared to the Church to authenticate his ideal and by means of his will to obey the Church, he fully realized the ideal of poverty and of love because it was evangelical. The humble sincerity and candor with which he defended his ideal swayed the Pope and the cardinals to whom the form of Franciscan life at first appeared to be too hard and too bitter, as they said. It was to Jesus Himself living in the Church, speaking through His vicar, that Francis wanted to submit and obey, and in obedience he found the source and the secret of a truly wonderful Liberty.
So the Franciscan soul is at the service of the Church. In this it is a desire to distinguish itself from others except maybe by means of a humbler love, a love which comes from a greater trustful spirit of abandonment to Divine Providence, the more profound veneration towards the One, towards Christ who's at the helm of the great ship and directs it with the light of faith and the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Franciscan school tends to keep its eye fixed on the Holy Father, "the sweet Christ on Earth" as Francis would call him, in order to realize His directives and to bring more souls to the saving truth of the gospel. Only in this way can a Franciscan soul call itself the child of humble Francis, the man who was called "Vir Catholicus et totus apostolicus," meaning a totally Catholic and apostolic man.
So let's ask our Lady for the grace to be humble and obedient sons and daughters of the Church after the example of our seraphic father. Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever. Amen.