As we commemorate the feast of our Seraphic father St. Francis, a great saint, would like dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to share some reflections on the sources of Franciscan joy with you. We would like to start off by affirming that joy is a very serious matter. By this we mean that real joy, the
kind that comes only from the Spirit of God, forms and shapes the human heart and colors every aspect of our human existence. It is much different than a fleeting sense of contentment or happiness and, in a real sense, can be understood to be the same as true love and freedom. It requires us to be constantly open to the guiding presence of God in our lives and a willingness to always live in and cooperate with the Divine Will.
Thus we can say that being joyful is not an easy task and that at times it seems that it is easier to be driven by sorrow and pessimism. For this reason the Sacred Scriptures frequently exhorts us to be joyful. As St. Paul encourages: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Ph. 4:4).
kind that comes only from the Spirit of God, forms and shapes the human heart and colors every aspect of our human existence. It is much different than a fleeting sense of contentment or happiness and, in a real sense, can be understood to be the same as true love and freedom. It requires us to be constantly open to the guiding presence of God in our lives and a willingness to always live in and cooperate with the Divine Will.
Thus we can say that being joyful is not an easy task and that at times it seems that it is easier to be driven by sorrow and pessimism. For this reason the Sacred Scriptures frequently exhorts us to be joyful. As St. Paul encourages: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Ph. 4:4).
The writings by and about St. Francis point out that he brought tenderness, understanding, gentleness, and cordiality into the world and the Church of his day. The popes, bishops, priests, friars, sisters, and the laity who met him encountered a person of true joy. Psychologically speaking, we could say that Francis had a joyful personality and that joy marked his way of being in the word. The legends point out that even before his conversion he was pleasant, appealing, had a good sense of humor, and that he was passionate, jovial and sensitive. These personality traits continued to be in evidence after his conversion since, as St. Thomas Aquinas and other theologians tell us, grace does not destroy nature but brings it to completion. The life of St. Francis demonstrates that in order to be holy we must be truly and fully human – and in order to be truly human that we should allow ourselves to be driven by tenderness, mercy, and joy. For Francis, God is joy and the only true source of joy. This is so well expressed in his Praises of God, the prayer that he wrote at La Verna during the retreat in which he received the stigmata:
You are strong. You are great. You are the most high.
You are the almighty king. You holy Father,
King of heaven and earth.
You are three in one, the Lord God of god;
You are the good, all good, the highest good,
Lord God living and true.
You are love, charity; You are wisdom, You are humility,
You are patience, You are beauty, You are meekness,
You are security, You are rest,
You are gladness and joy, You are our hope, You are justice,
You are moderation, You are all our riches to sufficiency. (PrsG 1‐4)
In the so‐called “Prayer of Saint Francis,” a prayer that reflects the Saint’s spirituality even if it cannot be attributed to him, there is a challenge that states “where there is sorrow, let me bring joy.” This section of the prayer may very well have been based on the insights expressed in these two admonitions of St. Francis: Blessed is that religious who has no pleasure and delight except in the most holy words and deeds of the Lord and, with these, leads people to the love of God with gladness and joy. (Adm XX)
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance. Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. (Adm. XXVII 1‐3)
Of course, the most well known story of Francis’s personal reflection on this topic can be found in The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, in the passage in which the Saint instructs Bro. Leo on the true source of “perfect joy.” After presenting a detailed list of all the various things that cannot be considered perfect joy he relates a story about the two of them being turned away from Saint Mary of the Angels on a cold and snowy day by the porter who refuses to allow them to enter. Instead of offering shelter and comfort their fellow friar shouts at them, drives them into the snow with curses and blows, and rolls them in the snow as he beats them with a stick from head to toe. Francis tells Bro. Leo that,
…if we endure these things patiently and with happiness, thinking of the sufferings of the blessed Christ, which we must endure for His love, O Brother Leo, write that here and in this is perfect joy. (LFl 8)
He concludes by pointing out that the greatest gift that the Spirit of God gives to the friends of Christ is the one of “conquering our own selves and gladly, for the love of Christ, to endure sufferings, injuries and insults and difficulties…” (LFl 8). These and other accounts in the legends point out that the whole of Franciscan spirituality is filled with joy ‐ so much so that it is common to use the
expression “Franciscan joy.”
In our next post we shall examine some of the sources of the Franciscan joy. by fra Thaddaeus
