October 4 is known on the liturgical calendar of many Christian churches as “The Feast of St. Francis”. Most people know the name of St. Francis, a thirteen century follower of Jesus, and are probably familiar with the peace prayer attributed to him that goes: 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.
They may also know that that there are many, many stories and legends about Francis that relate his love for nature and his speaking, even preaching, to the animals (a sort of ecclesiastical Dr. Doolittle). And these quirks might lead some people to see Francis as a somewhat strange character. Well, they wouldn’t be too far off. Francis was strange in his day and he is even stranger in ours.
Francis is what I would call a “Holy Fool.” Back in the fourth century, a church leader by the name of John Chrysostom said: “Only a fool would attempt to change the world with a simple message of love and peace. So we can conclude that Jesus was a fool. Only fools would agree to follow such a man…So we can conclude that all of us are fools…So let all happily admit that we are fools. Then we will happily commit ourselves to change the world.”
Before Chrysostom, the Apostle Paul had referred to himself as “a fool for the sake of Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:10).The Gospel is so counter-cultural that it appears as foolishness to those who are caught up in a culture that is obsessed with pragmatism, efficiency, relevance, status, materialism, and respectability. For those who are committed to living out the values of the Kingdom of God and the Gospel, it must look like foolish to most of the world. It was that way in the first century and it is the same in the twenty-first no matter how much lip service we pay to Jesus and claim that we are a “Christian” nation.
Francis was one of those followers of Jesus who really thought that Jesus wasn’t kidding when he invited people to “follow” him. Francis actually believed that Jesus really expected those who called him “Lord” to take him seriously. And so when Francis dramatically came to know the love and grace of Christ, he sought in all things to be like Jesus. The writer G.K. Chesterton called him a mirror of Christ—in the same way the moon reflects or mirrors the light of the sun. Murray Bodo has written: “It is easier to rationalize and dismiss Jesus than Francis, because Jesus, after all, is divine and so far above us. But Francis is only a human like us. What he is, we can become” (The Way of St. Francis, 1984:105-106).
“What he is, we can become.” Really? The Apostle Paul, writing in Philippians 3, points out the importance of models in the Christian life. “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us” (Philippians 3:17). Francis is a model of what it means to be committed to Jesus.
Now, unlike Francis who gave up wealth and comfort and social standing to become a monk who dedicated himself to the rebuilding of Christ’s church, we may be called to live out our Gospel life in the school, home, job we are in (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24). No vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. No retreating from the world to spend your life in a monastery dedicated to prayer, work and study. That is probably how it is for most of us. But all of us are called to be “holy fools” for Christ’s sake.
Holy Fools often jar our sensibilities of respectable Christianity. They make us uncomfortable. They rattle our spiritual complacency and make us stop and take a look at how much our life really is a reflection of the Gospel. These God-passionate, Spirit-drunk, Christ-focused men and women call us to walk a path that leads from mediocrity to abundant life. And just as holy fools like Francis challenge us, we as followers of Jesus are to be “holy fools” challenging others. Many of those around us who claim to be followers of Jesus have grown numb, dull, comfortable and apathetic. The role of each believer is “to provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).
The Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard reminds us that: “The greatest danger to Christianity is…not heresies, heterodoxies, not atheists, not profane secularism—no, but the kind of orthodoxy which is cordial drivel, mediocrity served up sweet.” It is against this weakened, distorted, powerless-to-redeem understanding of the Gospel that Holy Fools are called to bear witness.
Thank God for Francis and for all those “fools” who continually remind us that our life can and should be much more. Are you a fool for Christ’s sake?
