When St. Francis was a young man, he loved God and wanted to serve him. He naturally desired to help the poor, and it was well known that he was generous with his money and time toward them – and all this even before he was called to leave everything and follow Jesus. At this time in his life, God began to reveal to him bit by bit something about the way that he would eventually call Francis to follow him.
St. Bonaventure recounts the story of a dream that Francis had, a dream which offers us even today a great deal of food for thought. After performing a great act of charity toward a poor man, Francis goes to sleep the next night and sees a vision in this dream. “God in his goodness,” St. Bonaventure writes, “showed [Francis] a large and splendid palace full of military weapons emblazoned with the insignia of Christ’s cross. … when Francis asked to whom these belonged, he received an answer from heaven that all these things were for him and his knights. When he awoke in the morning, he judged the strange vision to be an indication that he would have great prosperity…” (The Life of St. Francis, Translated by Ewert Cousins).
To those of us who know the rest of the story, this judgment sounds strange, but Francis did not know at this time about God’s call to poverty. He thought he would become a great knight for his city and country and lead others. What we know now is that God meant that Francis would be a knight in a more heavenly army and lead many others to serve God with the weapons of poverty, chastity, and obedience in a very radical way.
As Francis goes along after this dream, “still ignorant of God’s plan, he decided to join a certain count of Apulia, hoping in his service to obtain the glory of knighthood.” In Francis’ mind, this would be the greatest honor – to serve God by faithfully serving a good man. Still, this was not to be. While he was on his way to serve that man, the Lord broke through to Francis and began to reveal to him more deeply his vocational call.
This time, the message from the Lord was much clearer. St. Bonaventure records the Lord say, “‘Francis, who can do more for you, a lord or a servant, a rich man or a poor man?’ When Francis replied that a lord and a rich man could do more, he was at once asked: ‘Why, then, are you abandoning the Lord for a servant and the rich God for a poor man?’” In these beautiful words, we begin to see how Jesus was transforming the imagination of his beloved son, Francis. Francis thought he was going to serve a rich man, but God is richer. He thought he was going to serve a “lord,” but compared to The Lord of heaven, that man was only a servant.
God becomes, for Francis, the Master of all masters, the Lord of all lords, the King of all kings, to be served above all others. The Lord then calls Francis to return to Assisi rather than go on to Apulia, and “he returned in haste to Assisi, joyous and free of care….” We see the effect of this word from the Lord. It brings him lightness, peace, and joy – some clear signs that it is from the Lord.
St. Francis learned early on in his life that Jesus, his high priest and king, would love him and honor him far more greatly than any human person on earth. He learned early on that no human and earthly honors could compare with divine and heavenly honors. May our minds and imaginations might be formed similarly. May we serve with joy and gladness the greatest Master, the one who loves us, the crucified King, risen from the dead. St. Francis, pray for us! Amen.