Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”


Saint Francis, considering this passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, found delightful irony. First he saw the beautiful poverty o f Jesus. He was continually amazed that the Lord God of Heaven and Earth should abandon the security, ease, comfort and privilege of Heaven to be born a human being. A child in a palace would have it infinitely worse than the Son of God in heaven, but this Child was born in ignoble poverty. As an infant his parents spirited him into Egyptian exile and he would never know security in this world until he was securely fastened to the cross. In the meanwhile Jesus spoke of his homelessness, comparing his situation to that of the foxes and birds.
But Francis was also fascinated by the freedom and gaiety of birds. The skylarks common in Assisi resembled flying crosses as they snatch up the aerial insects; and they sing all the while. Talk about the life of riley! Francis embraced Jesus’ poverty and found astonishing freedom. He didn’t have to defend anything. He needed revenge for nothing. Trusting in God’s providential mercy day by day, he owed nothing to anyone and was owed nothing by anyone. Everything is gift. Driven out of the barn he slept in the field; driven from the field he slept in the road.
Coupled with, “Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.” the verse sounds partly like a warning to half-hearted disciples. “Get serious or get out!”
But Francis knew it as pure invitation. In the same gospel we have heard:
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?

The “pagans” worry about these things but Christians need not. The Father of Jesus knows that you need them all. He will provide. In the meanwhile, we have more important things to consider, and they’re all good.