‘Overcoming ourselves is the only thing for which we can take credit because it is the only thing to which we can make any contribution.’ Photo: Saint Francis in Meditation with Brother Leo, Adam de Coster, c1626
Pride and joy: Tony D’Souza relates another tale from The Little Flowers of St Francis
‘This story is a jewel of Franciscan spirituality because it is so simple.’
It was the depth of winter when Francis of Assisi and his secretary and confessor Leo set out from Perugia to Saint Mary of the Angels. They walked barefoot, and the bitter wind whipped at the tattered rags they were wearing. Francis had to call out loudly to be heard by Leo who was walking only few steps ahead, ‘Leo, if it were to please God that the friars should give in every land a great example of holiness and instruction, write down, and note carefully, that this would not be perfect joy.’
A little further on, Francis called out again, ‘And Leo, if the friars were to make the lame walk and the blind see, the deaf to hear and the dumb speak, if they were to chase away demons and what is far greater, even if they should raise the dead after four days, write that this would not be perfect joy.’
Shortly after, he cried out again, ‘O Leo, if the friars knew all languages, if they understood all of science, if they could explain all scriptures, if they had the gift of prophecy and could reveal not only the future but also the secrets of anyone’s conscience, write that this would not be perfect joy.’
A few steps farther, he cried out again, ‘O Leo, if the friars could speak with the tongues of angels, if they could explain the course of the stars, if they knew everything there is to know about plants, if all the treasures of the earth were revealed to them, and if they knew the various qualities of all the birds, the fish, of all animals, men, trees, stones, roots, and of all waters – write that this would not be perfect joy.’
Shortly after, he cried out again, ‘O Leo, if the friars had the gift of preaching so as to convert all unbelievers to the faith of Christ, write that this would not be perfect joy.’
When this manner of discussion had gone on for two more miles, Leo began to wonder within himself. Finally, he said, ‘Please teach me wherein is perfect joy.’
Francis said, ‘If, when we arrive at Saint Mary of the Angels, drenched with rain and trembling with cold, covered with mud and exhausted with hunger. If, when we knock at the gate, the porter should ask us who we are. And if, after we have told him, “We are two of the brothers”, he should answer angrily, “What you say is not the truth, you are two impostors going about to deceive the world, and take away the alms of the poor, be gone I say.” If he then refuses to open the door and leaves us outside exposed to the snow and rain, suffering from cold and hunger until nightfall. Then, if we accept such injustice, such cruelty and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, believing with humility and charity that the porter really knows us, and that it is God who makes him to speak like this against us, write down, Leo, that this is perfect joy.
‘And if we knock again, and the porter comes out in anger to drive us away with oaths and blows, as if we were vile impostors, saying, “Begone, miserable robbers! Go to the hospital, for here you shall neither eat nor sleep!” And if we accept all this with patience, with joy, and with charity, O Leo, write that this indeed is perfect joy.
‘And if, urged by cold and hunger, we knock again, calling to the porter and entreating him with many tears to open to us and give us shelter, for the love of God, and if he come out more angry than before, exclaiming, “These are but importunate rascals, I will deal with them as they deserve,” and taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and beats and wounds us with the knots in the stick, if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of Christ, which we would share out of love for him, write, Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy.
‘And now, brother, listen to the conclusion. Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt. For in all the gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according to the words of Paul the apostle, “What hast thou that thou hast not received from God? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it?”[1 Cor 4:7]. But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as Paul says again, “I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”’
For the modern reader, this story of Francis will be difficult reading because it completely inverts our everyday values, the values we grow up with in our society and our culture. Yet, this inversion of values is the very thing that makes the story so valuable, because it shines a light directly on the falseness of our desire for continual happiness and comfort. It teaches nonviolence and is central to the Gospel teaching ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’ [Matt 16:24].
There is, within us all, a whiny self-centred soul that constantly wants to be pampered. In the Muslim tradition, it is called the nafs, or greedy soul. The Sufis say the nafs is part of our ancient animal-soul, which is determined to have food, power and sex and to survive at all costs, even to the detriment of others. This whiny self also wants to be esteemed and shuns any kind of humiliation, just as it hates anything that goes against its will or what it wants.
It can be said that the foundation of the spiritual life is the struggle between this part of ourselves and the spiritual part that loves others unconditionally. As Francis says, overcoming ourselves is the only thing for which we can take credit because it is the only thing to which we can make any contribution. Overcoming this whiny self is central to all religion. The Hindu Bhagavad Gita could be said to be about nothing else, as could the Buddhist Dhammapada and the gospels.
This story is a jewel of Franciscan spirituality because it is so simple. It teaches self-overcoming, and in doing so encapsulates all spiritual teaching. The greedy soul is diminished and abashed when we lose. Yet what feeds the true soul, over and over again, is when something is taken away. This is what Jesus meant when he said ‘Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.’
