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Madame's Nightshirt
Mrs. Peperium
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Pope Francis 1.
Saint Francis of Assisi was not a garden gnome.
by Father George Rutler
On October 4, we give thanks for one of the best known and least known of all saints. Least known, that is, because Francis of Assisi was not a garden gnome, or a doe-eyed hippy skipping with animals and hugging trees. Garden gnomes do not bear the Stigmata of Christ's wounds. A vegetarian? He berated a friar for wanting to abstain from meat on a feast day and said that on Christmas he would “smear the wall with meat.” An iconoclast? He was meticulous in the ceremonials of the Mass, insisting that every sacred vessel and vestment be the best, and his Rule dismissed any friar who parted from the Pope on the slightest article of Faith. A pacifist? He joined the Fifth Crusade, simmering ever since eleven thousand Muslims had invaded Rome and desecrated the tombs of Peter and Paul in the year 846. Francis went to North Africa in 1219 to convert the Muslims and confronted Sultan al Malik al-Kamil, who had just slaughtered five thousand Christians at Damietta. Francis fearlessly told the Sultan: “It is just that Christians invade the land you inhabit, for you blaspheme the name of Christ and alienate everyone you can from His worship.” While counselors called for the beheading of Francis according to Muslim law, the Sultan was so taken with the humility of Francis that he only had him beaten, chained and imprisoned, and then he released him.
We are engaged in similar challenges today. Of course, we are
aware of the crisis in the Middle East, but the strife is worldwide.
Consider Nigeria, whose Catholic population in the last century has
soared to nearly twenty million. Last week, under Muslim pressure, the
government stopped the Eternal Word Television Network from
broadcasting. I have worked with this worldwide Catholic network for
twenty-five years and have many Nigerian friends. Two days after the
Nigerian bishops objected to this censorship, a Catholic church was
destroyed by Muslims, who killed and wounded many worshipers. This seems
to be under the radar of our own government and the mainstream media.
May Saint Francis be our model in how to deal with the threats of
our own day: not enfeebled by sentimentality and relativism, but armed
with a Franciscan zeal for the conversion of souls. We may not have
Francis’ charm, but we have in our hearts and churches the same God. By
the way, the popular “Prayer of Saint Francis,” which begins, “Make me a
channel of your peace,” was actually the work of an anonymous author
who published it in France in 1912. Its vague theology and lack of
mention of Christ, express a semi-Pelagian heresy unworthy of the Saint
of Assisi. Let the last words of the real Saint of Assisi be our guide:
“I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what you are to
do. Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what
they sought.”
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The San Damiano crucifix
The San Damiano crucifix was the cross St. Francis of Assisi knelt before in the neglected and decaying St. Damian's Church where he was instructed three times by the voice of Christ directing him,
“Francis, go and repair my house which you see is falling down.”
Viva il Papa!
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Every passing day brings me nearer to perfection – as crank/curmudgeon/grump. With that excuse in mind, here I go.
Re Muslim attacks against Christians:
Fr. George Rutler: "This seems to be under the radar of our own government and the mainstream media."
This is as much under the radar of the Church as it is of the government and msm. The latter is easily accounted, the former troubling, especially so, considering Catholic-Muslim dialogues sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. At the USCCB plenary session in Chicago, the bishops were “sharing stories, praying, and enjoying meals together" (were they dining halal or haram?) with Muslim leaders, some of very questionable reputation. It appears they (the Bishops, officially) have concluded that such dialogues result in a “harvest of mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation”. I am speechless only because I have a firm grip on my tongue.
They (the Bishops, officially) rely on Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate to make their case and have not uttered a word, explicitly in English or in the subtler and more nuanced Vaticanese, of increasing and increasingly violent Muslim attacks, worldwide, against Christians. With shepherds like these, who has need of wolves.
Pope Benedict XVI, though praising Nostra Aetate for its openness to non-Christian religions, observed:
“[The] weakness of this otherwise extraordinary text has gradually emerged. It speaks of religion solely in a positive way, and it disregards the sick and distorted forms or religion which, from the historical and theological viewpoints, are of far-reaching importance; for this reason the Christian faith, from the outset, adopted a critical stance towards religion, both internally and externally.”
Let the Bishops start there, a critical stance externally - finger pointing allowed... no, essential.
Fr. Rutler: "May Saint Francis be our model in how to deal with the threats of our own day: not enfeebled by sentimentality and relativism, but armed with a Franciscan zeal for the conversion of souls."
And the Bishop's model.
Posted by: George Pal | March 15, 2013 at 02:53 PM
Hi George. Lent 'tis the season to be cranky. By any chance did you catch Conrad Black on Benedict:
"Benedict XVI has been almost the only serious leader to try to get to grips with the problems of militant Islam, and of the persecution of religious minorities, especially Christians, everywhere. He has spoken out repeatedly against the persecution of the Egyptian Coptic Christians, and the Christians of all denominations in China, and the Vatican is, for that reason, almost the only serious entity that still withholds recognition from the regime in Beijing. In a lecture at the University of Regensburg, where he had once been a professor of theology, he famously quoted a statement of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus in 1391: “Show me what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” He later apologized for any offense given, but did not withdraw the challenge to contemporary Islam to behave civilly to other faiths, in contrast to the pusillanimous quietism of most of the West’s secular leaders. In one of only two conversations I have had with him, the Pope (then a cardinal) expressed the concern that Europe was committing suicide by maintaining an unsustainably low birth rate and substituting for the unborn the immigration of large numbers of unassimilable people from hostile cultures (i.e., chiefly Islam). His efforts to revive Christianity in Europe do not seem to have borne much fruit, but they will be prophetic."
The rest is here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/340575/pope-weathered-storm-conrad-black?pg=2
Our bishops have much to contend with -- from all angles including within the Church. Thankfully there does seem to be a willingness to perform the necessary tasks...
Posted by: Mrs. P | March 27, 2013 at 11:24 AM