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Feasting on the Life of Saint Francis
Contemplating the union of inner and outer worlds
October 4th marks the 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”.
Why? Because our pets are a pure reflection of unconditional and undefended love. Animals and all of nature illustrate the hidden wholeness of being which can be found in everything, if only we have eyes to see it.
St. Francis was able to both see and live in this hidden-in-plain-sight truth: the visible world is an doorway to the invisible world, and the invisible world is much larger than the visible world. This mystical insight is the essential union of the material and the spiritual worlds.
“Our outer world and its inner significance must come together for there to be any wholeness — and holiness. The result is both deep joy and a resounding sense of coherent beauty,” writes Franciscan teacher and bestselling author Richard Rohr in his wonderful book about the legacy of St. Francis, Eager to Love.
“Matter is, and has always been, the hiding place for Spirit,” says Rohr. Perhaps this is what Jesus means when he says, “I am the gate” (John 10:7). Like Jesus…
