Assisi

Yesterday several other archies and I took a day-trip to Assisi! One of the seminarians from the NAC helped organized it. Assisi is a beautiful, fairly typical Italian hill town, famous, of course, for Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi. We had beautiful weather all day, too, which made it even better. And the first thing I thought when I got there was "I immediately recognize why St. Francis saw the presence of God so clearly in nature", because the geography around Assisi is breathtaking--green fields and mountains.

Anyway, we hopped on a train early in the morning, and got to Assisi in time for mass at the Basilica of S. Francesco at 11. We all went to mass together, and then sort of split up and people went off to do different things and explore the city. I stayed in the church for awhile and prayed by St. Francis' tomb. And what would a blog post about a pilgrimage like this be without a description of some of the things I reflected on while I was there? :-)

So, I was thinking about how the Franciscans and Dominicans are kind of complimentary orders, and the simplification I've heard before is "Dominicans are the head, and Franciscans are the heart" of the Church. Usually I'm more drawn to the Dominicans; to the intellectual side of faith and an emphasis on Truth. But I realized yesterday that St. Francis certainly didn't have any less Truth than St. Dominic. He appealed to people's hearts, but with true Charity, not just emotions. And it worked, and is still working, as evidenced by the massive amounts of pilgrims who come to Assisi to see him. And I think St. Francis was such an effective witness because he was charismatic and he appealed to people--but then he had something of substance to offer once they were drawn in. And that was his radical casting off of the world and embracement of poverty. His life really DID witness the Gospel, like that overused quote that's attributed to him, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." (Lately when I've heard people use that quote that to make a point, the point is usually--words are necessary! Switching around the cliche a little, haha.)

Anyway, after eating lunch and gelato with a few of the archies, I spent the afternoon...visiting more churches, of course. I think my favorite was one called S. Damiano. It was a short walk outside the city, and built on the spot where St. Francis wrote the Canticle of Creatures and heard the Lord speaking to him from a crucifix. Later, St. Clare had her convent there, too. They've moved the original crucifix to the Basilica of S. Chiara, so there's a replacement there now...but it was still pretty incredible to be sitting in a church in the spot where part of St. Francis' conversion happened. I love the story of his conversion, too, because it kind of involves architecture...

What St. Francis heard Jesus tell him was "go and rebuild my church, because it is in ruin". St. Francis took it literally, and went and raised money to restore the church of S. Damiano. He sold a bunch of his father's cloth, and gave the money to the priest at the church. When his father found out, he was a little upset, though, and that's when the big show-down between them occurred that ended with St. Francis taking off all his clothes as a symbol of renouncing his old life. He then put on a simple tunic, which I saw in a chapel of relics. (It also included the original rule of the Franciscans, a letter St. Francis had written, his breviary, his shoes, and piece of leather he pressed on his stigmata...it was incredible). So anyway, after St. Francis did this reconstruction project for S. Damiano, Jesus spoke to him again and said, basically, "Umm...I meant reform the people of my Church. Nice try." And then St. Francis started the Franciscans, and the rest is history. Or something like that:-)

That distinction between building the church and rebuilding the Church is one that's close to my heart. I've often pondered the same thing myself--I thought about it a lot when I strongly considered switching majors to Theology, for instance. But as of right now, I think I'm trying to do the second through the first, or at least along with doing the first. Seemingly sort of choosing the opposite as St. Francis...but hopefully not really. I'm certainly aware of the need for renewal in the Church, anyway. Especially right now, especially in America. Nuns supporting Obama's health care, "Catholic" reporters calling for the Church to stop suppressing women...yikes, yikes, yikes. Jesus, your Church is in ruin again. But it's so beautiful how the Lord always raises up holy men and women in times of need to BE that renewal. People like St. Francis, back in the Middle Ages (if he's not a patron of New Evangelization, he should be), and people like St. Faustina and the devotion of Divine Mercy now, which is celebrated especially today--Divine Mercy Sunday! As a side note, this morning I went to a special mass at a church dedicated to Divine Mercy here, and I thought it was really cool that one day I could celebrate a saint who's been around for over 500 years, and the next celebrate a saint who was canonized 10 years ago. The Church is still alive! And the Holy Spirit is constantly working in her! And will continue to. And St. Francis' prayer, "Lord, make me an instrument...", was my prayer too.

After that, I visited S. Rufino, the cathedral of Assisi, which has the baptismal font where St. Francis and St. Clare were both baptized. Then I went to S. Chiara, where the body of St. Clare (aka S. Chiara, if you haven't made that connection) is kept, and also has that original crucifix that spoke to St. Francis. There's a kneeler in front of it with a prayer written in a bunch of languages, including English, that I think is maybe a prayer that St. Francis himself said in front of that cross. So...praying it in communion with him was pretty awesome. I said it in English, but also in Italian, since that's the language he would have been using. You know, just so that the words sounded familiar to the Lord:-)

Finally, last church: S. Maria degli Angeli, on the site where St. Francis died. The whole group visited that one together, and then got back on the train to Rome! It was a great day, followed by a good morning this morning, and overall a good end to the Octave of Easter.