Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lectionary: 458

Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.'


"Pace bene!" Francis sang as he passed peasants, beggars and the occasional merchant on his road to anywhere and no where in particular. "Peace and good!" 
Of course, they didn't know what to make of such an untraditional greeting. They had never heard those two words strung together in that fashion. It was something new.
The middle ages didn't fancy new things. "The old wine is better!" they said! But the times were changing inevitably. Wealth was rising, pilgrims were travelling, crusaders were marching and banks were organizing. Gothic cathedrals were appearing even in Italy. European mathematicians had recently learned from their Muslim enemies the power of zero -- a revolutionary development! 
The new age needed a new greeting and the Troubadour of Jesus taught his pals to greet everyone with "Pace bene!" To him it meant that the Lord shows himself with peace and good. And the Lord's disciples can bank on that as surely as any merchant can bank on his wealth. 
They had no need to carry a money bag or sack, and their bare feet suited the dusty roads of Italy just fine. Why bother with shoes that only disintegrate after what amounts to a pilgrim's few miles? And trust the Spirit of God to provide for you wherever you go? The Spirit will open doors and larders for you! People will be eager to share what little they have as you share the Good News of Jesus Christ. 
True, they had heard of Jesus before -- but not as the friars told it. They didn't talk about the Gospel, they lived it. Their poverty, freedom and joy spoke of Jesus. Even their willingness to confess their sins and apologize for misdeeds displayed a new energy such as the weary old church had never seen. Not in anyone's memory, anyway. 
Even when suspicious clerics told them to keep moving out of town, the friars displayed a childlike glee. With no abiding place their home was anywhere. Anchored in their daily prayers and continual study of scripture, they knew nothing of angst or alienation as they moved from city to farm, from Italy to Germany to England and Ireland. 
The twenty-first century is not unlike the thirteenth century. We can no more imagine the future than Francis' contemporaries could imagine the fourteenth century. 
But we can know his joy as we read the Gospel with new translations and fresh insight, especially from within the vernacular translations of our liturgy. We enjoy an amazing privilege Francis never knew, hearing the Mass read in his own native tongue. We can receive the Eucharist often, even daily. He could only worship the Eucharist from afar. Even from his century the Poor Man of Assisi can still exhort us, "Look at the humility of God!" As nations scramble to accrue more power, wealth and dominance, the twenty-first century Christian finds her voice in the words of Saint Francis, "Pace bene!"