Have you ever had a fight with a friend?
Or had a disagreement with a classmate? What did you want to do? Did you feel angry? Hurt? Frustrated? Sad? Our StoryMaker of the past had to be brave to make peace with someone else. He took a crazy trip to make things right with his enemies and to this day, we remember that journey.
St. Francis of Assisi was born in 1181 in Italy to very wealthy parents. His father sold expensive fabrics and made a lot of money. Francis helped him in the market, selling velvet and silks from their stand. Even at a young age, Francis wanted to help people who did not have as much as him. One day while he was in the market, a beggar came up asking for money. Francis left his fabrics, ran after the man, and gave him all the money he had. His friends teased him, and his father was upset that he had left the fabrics behind, but Francis knew that God loves all of his children, rich and poor.
He left his nice house and expensive lifestyle and began to care for lepers and rebuild churches across Italy. He also began preaching to anyone he could find, telling God’s story even to the birds! Eventually, he drew some followers who also wanted to share the good news of God’s love and mercy and who wanted to help those in need. These men began the Franciscan order, which is still around today.
But, perhaps his bravest moment came in 1219 when, in the middle of a war, Francis traveled all the way to Egypt to meet with the Sultan, who led the enemy army. He wanted to tell God’s story to the Sultan and his people, even though they were fighting with Francis’s country. Not a lot is known about this trek, but the Sultan received Francis kindly and even allowed him to preach there. Francis left the Sultanate unharmed, and Franciscans were allowed to stay in the Holy Land and were named the custodians of the Holy Land by the Catholic Church.
In fact, the prayer that many attribute to St. Francis is a prayer asking God to bring peace to his world and to change our hearts so that we, like Francis, see all of creation and all of our fellow humans as God’s children, even those we might disagree with.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
