"May We Run": Following Jesus in the Footsteps of St. Francis ~ Part One: Francis and The Gospel

We recently received a new road atlas at the convent that I thoroughly enjoyed studying. I realized that I love maps! Reading maps, charting your route and being able to

envision where you are on a mysterious road all make me excited. Aside from the beauty and intricacy of maps, they are also very practical aids to navigating the unknown. A map is an essential item to get to an unknown destination. I discovered this very quickly one day when driving from Harlem to Paterson, New Jersey. I knew this route like the back of my hand, so I hadn’t brought directions or a GPS, yet the ramp for I-80 in New Jersey was closed sending me on a detour to uncharted territory. The sister I was with discovered a New York City map in the glovebox, which saved the day from being a total disaster. We navigated with “just enough map” (about only a square inch in the corner) to get us back on track. Without a map, we would have been truly lost. Without direction, our life can become a wild goose chase going to a place we’ve never been. 

For St. Francis, the Gospel was his map to life. The Gospel charted out his daily footsteps along this pilgrimage on earth to his Heavenly home. In his youth, St. Francis had sought the fame of a knight and worldly honors. St. Francis’ life changed when he encountered Christ in the poor leper. It was a pivotal point of change, from living for worldly honors and fame to desiring to love and follow Jesus. But what did that practically mean? What did that look like in the day to day? In a very simple manner, Francis went to the priest after Mass one day and asked for guidance, at which the priest opened the Gospel three different times to these scripture passages:

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.” (Luke 9:3)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

 St. Francis received these scriptures as God speaking directly to his heart. He would later say, “The Most High Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the form of the Holy Gospel.” The Gospel is the living Word of God. What Francis received from the scriptures deeply changed him; it did not land on deaf ears.

Each of us is created for Heaven, and there is a treasury of grace waiting for us when we are able to look to the Gospel and seek to discover God’s will for our lives. We too can have the experience that St. Francis had. God desires to speak to each one of us in that same way. The Word of God can convict you or me of a place in our lives that is in need of change or conversion. However, what does this uncharted territory actually look like? We might know a truth about God’s love, but what does this mean in our everyday life? I would propose that God can speak into these questions very simply through the scriptures.

I had this experience a few weeks ago when the group of sisters living in our convent took some time to pray about this year ahead and what God was inviting us to. Each day we took time together to pray Lectio Divina, prayerfully reading and meditating on a passage from scripture, and shared how God was speaking to us. We felt and invitation to reorient ourselves and our communal life to God the Father.  This invitation flowed into the discernment of how He desires us to ministers to others in this year ahead.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “That all sounds nice sister, but I need real answers for problems in my life and practical solutions.” And to that, let me share what happened next. God didn’t speak in a loud booming voice, “You all must do this ministry but not do that one.” Rather, together as we pondered what it meant to be oriented to the Father, the question rose in our hearts: “Who needs to know the love of God the Father.” Very naturally, the little children that we run an afterschool tutoring program for came to the forefront. As one sister shared this, it resonated with everyone else. Nowhere in scripture does it say, “You should have a tutoring program on Tuesday afternoons.” But, by meditating on God’s Word and letting him lead us, there came a clarity as to what step to take in our everyday life.

            Francis shows us the power of praying with and living the Gospel. Praying with the scriptures will give our life direction. I invite each of you to go to the Bible to listen to God’s voice. It may take time to become attentive to how God speaks, but I promise He does speak. Each morning, take 5-10 minutes to read and pray with a short passage (even just one verse) of the Gospel. Ask God, “What does this mean for my life?” Listen to your heart: what resonates, where do you feel challenged, what brings peace? God speaks gently, with love and tenderness. You will begin to see God’s guidance through true peace and joy, even when it is a challenging word.

It is especially powerful to do this when needing to make a decision in one’s life. We are not alone; God has a plan for each of our lives and desires to lead us closer to His heart. The pressure does not need to be on us to simply get it right, but rather these moments are opportunities for deep communion with the God who loves us more than we can ever know.

 Let us ask St. Francis, a man who let the Gospel be the guiding light of his life, to intercede for us. May we too follow in his footsteps of living the Gospel and following Christ while on this pilgrimage to the Heavenly Father.

Sr. Colette, CFR