EAGER TO LOVE!
The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
Book Review by DAVID BRADSHAW
“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” -Andrew Carnegie
“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”
-Francis of Assisi
INTRODUCTION
On this day each year the Feast of St Francis of Assisi commemorates the life of St Francis, who was born in the 12th century and is the patron saint of animals and the environment. It is a popular day for pets to be “blessed”.
In Eager To Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi Friar Richard Rohr, founder of The Center for Action and Contemplation, weaves together a beautiful and healing spiritual tapestry revealing the ‘secret’ of Francis of Assisi’s way of simplicity born eight centuries ago.
Eager to Love offers us important revelations and reflection upon the living legacies of Francis of Assisi and the courageous followers of his simple yet profoundly inclusive “sidewalk spirituality”.
My attraction to Rohr’s latest work is from the perspective of a seasoned believer seeking to learn more about Francis’ “experiential knowledge of spiritual things” (aka first-hand revelation) which Rohr refers to as Christian “mysticism” in a most positive way.
My spirit tells me that this Franciscan way of love, paved by history’s most famous and beloved “Saint” Francis, may also serve as a fresh path for many to explore today.
Rohr’s passion and life mission is to help others develop a holistic worldview patterned after Jesus Christ simple, yet counter-intuitive, message embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, as walked out in Francis of Assisi’s amazing life of contemplation and action.
“Only when we are eager to love can we see love and goodness in the world around us … Integrity is often a willingness to hold the dark side of things instead of reacting to them, denying, or projecting our anxiety elsewhere,” says Rohr in the Introduction.
THE ORIGINAL PROTESTANT
“Francis of Assisi has been called the original protestant,” says Rohr, reflecting on the his positive influence upon believers and unbelievers alike.
The words and life of Jesus and Francis challenge us to live in a world without sacred vs. secular distinctions, to see “everything as a revelation of the divine — from rocks to rocket ships,” as Rohr puts it.
“Both Jesus and Francis did not let the old get in the way of the new, but like all religious geniuses, revealed what the old was saying all along,” writes Rohr.
Readers who accept the death and resurrection of Jesus are called to move beyond mere understanding and thankfulness of this “Divine Mystery” to the next level of setting out on this same path of servant leadership for themselves.
THY KINGDOM COME, MY KINGDOM GO
“Our Christ ‘reigns from the cross, but with a new kind of power that looks and feels like total weakness, just as all human suffering and humiliation does. Only those who have joined him there and come out the other side, like Francis and his authentic followers, will understand this. They ‘rule’ from the edges and reign from what is no longer the bottom,” Rohr concludes in Chapter 2, “A Happy Run Downward.”
I agree with Rohr’s conclusion that most Christians at best split their loyalties between God and Caesar — with our minds controlled by seeking money, status and power. This can distract us from seeking first His Kingdom in our lives, day by day, moment by moment.
“When you agree to live simply, you have time for spiritual and corporal works of mercy because you have renegotiated in your mind and heart your very understanding of time … time is not money anymore, time is life itself,” challenges Rohr.
LOVING THIS DIRTY OLD WORLD
Our worldview frames everything we see, think and believe. If our worldview is clouded with a perspective that the world is evil, we will see evil all around us. If we can learn to see the world (and all the people on it) as sacred and lovable to God, it will change our mindset forever. Our world is no longer “us vs. them”, but rather, “us and them”.
Francis of Assisi strongly held this inclusive worldview of the ‘sacramentality’ of nature and all God’s creatures. While much of the religious/evangelical world can hardly wait to escape this “dirty old world” to arrive in heaven, Francis saw the splendor of God’s present earth as a reflection of the heavenly goodness and love to come later.
“Franciscans, Amish and Quakers are the Christian groups with the least negative baggage in Western civilization,” says Richard, due to their emphasis on “contemplative, simple living and peacemaking foundations.”
PARTICIPATIVE SEEING & ABIDING
Chapter Five, “Contemplation: A Different Way of Knowing” was one of my favorites. Echoing Doug Sherman’s message of “Trading Up” from a self-centered to a God-centered life, Rohr writes “contemplatives surrender some of their own boundaries and identity so that God an see through them, with them, and in them — with a larger pair of eyes.”
“Francis told us that we needed to ‘give people reasons for spiritual joy’ and not just quote commandments to them, write Rohr. “Francis and Clare exemplify a truly ‘beautiful morality’ … which shines forth when someone does an imperfect thing,” in sharp contrast to rigid moral conclusions so often held by Christians.
“Franciscan poverty” is not just a life of simplicity, but also the practice of letting go of our small vantage point,” writes Rohr, recognizing we are powerless and ineffective unless we are abiding in the vine of Christ (John 15:6).
SAYING “YES” TO PARADOXES
“In the practical order, contemplation gives us an inner capacity to live with paradoxes and contradictions … a new way of processing the moment … the ability to incorporate the negative … accepting absurdity and tragedy as part of God’s unfathomable agenda,” says Richard.
Rohr views the ability to hold and overcome life’s many paradoxes as the beginning of training in Francis inclusive, unified or contemplative living, as opposed to denying paradoxes. “Conversion, therefore, is not joining a different group, but seeing with the eyes of the crucified.”
“Neither logic nor law can fully achieve this, but participation with and in God can. (This does not make logic or law unnecessary; they are simply inadequate to the work of transformation) … this means we all must learn to offer life a foundational ‘yes’ before we offer our critical ‘no’. If we start with no, it almost impossible to ever get back to a full yes.”
Rohr quotes one of Francis most articulate followers, Bonaventure (1217–1274) who sums up how contemplatives “know” things: “The soul itself is an image of God, to which God is so present that the soul can actually grasp God, and is capable of possessing God and of being a partaker in God.”
In fact, the book devotes an entire chapter to discussing how Bonaventure “was to Francis what Paul was to Jesus,” providing the church with a complete theology and systematic worldview based on integrating contemplation with an extremely active life.
FROM WORSHIP TO IMITATION
“You only know as much as you do,” Francis told his first friars. “For Francis and Clare, Jesus become someone to actually imitate and not just to worship. Francis starting place was human suffering instead of human sinfulness,” reveals Rohr.
The writing of Francis reflect this; using the word ‘doing’ rather than ‘understanding’ 175 times to five. ‘Heart’ is used 42 times to one use of ‘mind’. Love is used 23 times vs. 12 uses of ‘truth’.’Mercy’ is used 26 times while intellect is used only one time.
“This is a very new perspective and different from the highly academic theology that would hold sway for the next thousand years,” explains Rohr. “Francis knew what many educators have now proven — that humans tend to live themselves into new ways of thinking more than think themselves into new ways of living.”
FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY — THE THIRD WAY
“The Franciscan worldview is not heretical, nor is it a threat, except to the comfortable and the careerists … Francis put almost all of his attention on issues of daily practice, humble relationships, and a way of life rather than on Sunday recitations of creeds. When you honor both power and powerlessness, you quite simply come up with a third something, a very different kind of power,” says Rohr.
“Good Franciscan spirituality always tries to maintain three freedoms; 1) God’s freedom to do what God wills, 2) Maintenance of structural freedom, and 3) Contemplative prayer to maintain inner, psychological freedom to do the first two.”
“Our emphasis on orthopraxy (simplicity, nonviolence, living among the poor) and in our thought (‘univocity’ of all being, freedom of conscience) found Franciscans on the invisible edge of the Church, which is exactly where Francis wanted us to be.”
Rohr systematically reveals the heart of Francis. “I hope you now see more clearly how Francis cannot be written off as a mere soft and sweet figure … he was deliberately and consciously undercutting the entire ‘honor/shame system’ on which so much of culture, violence, false self-esteem and even many of the ministrations of church totally depend.”
“This message of simplicity, smallness and downward mobility is rather clear in the Christian scriptures (Phil. 2:7, II Cor. 8:9) … No wonder Francis called water ‘Sister Water, so useful, lowly, precious and fair!’ Water always and forever seeks the lower, and even the lowest, place. We let water — the simple universal element necessary for all life — be our teacher here.”
DRAWING OUT ‘SISTER WATER’
Proverbs 20:5 says “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.”
The insight from wise Christians, such as Richard Rohr, helps to draw out our deep waters and a deeper sense of purpose. We are all called to serve the purposes of God in our spheres of influence, including family, friends, neighbors, and community. The first way we draw the hidden purposes out of others is by learning to be a good listener ourselves, as we see modeled by Francis of Assisi.
Spiritual leaders and practitioners on the front lines of helping transform our “serve me” culture into a “serve others” culture, seek to dig into our rich history to reveal our deepest calling — the pearl of great price — which is to fall in love with our loving Creator and all of His creation anew daily.
In Matthew 5:3–9 Jesus offers us eight basic rules for Kingdom living on earth …
1 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
3 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
4 Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
5 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
6 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
7 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
8 Blessed are the persecuted: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Francis of Assisi based his ‘rules’ upon this solid foundation and so should we. Notice Jesus ‘rules’ carry a special blessing and promise. The power to live like Jesus (and Francis) is never generated by our own efforts, but rather upon the finished work of the cross. Humility, empathy, meekness, righteousness, mercy, purity and peacemaking are all unmerited gifts of God. Praise His name!
Millions of Christians around the world — catholic, orthodox and protestant — today are seeking fresh ways to reach this generation with the message of God’s unconditional love. We are called to reach up, reach out and reach back over two millennium to discover what has gone beautifully right … even when we think it has gone terribly wrong. Richard Rohr’s writings are a gift to the body of Christ to prepare for a great season of Kingdom expansion ahead.
Thanks Richard! Your book has made me more eager to love!
P.S. Here is a link to watch a good movie version of Francis of Assisi.
