Every time we pray the Stations of the Cross, a devotion the Church prays with fervor and intensity during Lent, we come to that uncomfortable tenth station and enter more deeply into the humiliation that Jesus took on for us as he approached his crucifixion. He left this world as he came into it, utterly poor, deprived of every earthly possession, and exposed to the hatred and jeers of the crowd. Here we meet God in his humility. Here we meet God in his poverty, a poverty that cries out to us in our riches and challenges us.
A decisive moment came for Francis as he heard that challenge from the Lord and came up against the tension caused by his desire for generous poverty and the wealth of his family. In order to help rebuild a small church, Francis one day took some expensive cloth from his home, sold it for a sum of money, and offered it to the priest. The priest would not accept it and it was left to the side, where Francis’ father later found it and retrieved it. Francis’ father was irate at this use of his goods and confronted Francis. When he saw that Francis was not going to leave this way of life, his father brought him before the bishop, desiring Francis to formally renounce his possessions. Francis gladly did so, taking off his clothes in front of them all and renouncing all of his earthly possessions.
From this point forward, he would be clothed by the charity of others – first in the mantle of the bishop who stood by and then in cheap clothing given to him by another poor man. St. Bonaventure sees this profoundly humiliating action as a real sharing in the nakedness of Jesus at his passion. Near the end of the biography, as St. Bonaventure reflects on the death of St. Francis (which looked very similar to this scene with the bishop), he writes this poem:
“In all things
He wished to be conformed to Christ crucified,
Who hung on the cross
Poor, suffering and naked.
Therefore at the beginning of his conversion,
He stood naked before the bishop,
And at the end of his life,
Naked he wished to go out of this world.”
(Quoted from The Life of St. Francis, Translated by Ewert Cousin, ch. 14.4)
Certainly, these actions of St. Francis are most likely in the realm of those things that are meant to be admired and not imitated. Still, they teach us about fundamental truths of the Christian life.
- The path to sainthood is conformity with Christ crucified – this looks a bit different for everyone, but it is the shape that baptism gives to our life. Living in any other way will not ultimately make us happy.
- Everything we have is a gift from God – a gift meant to be given back to him.
May the prayers of St. Francis obtain for us many graces of detachment and a renewed desire to draw near to Jesus Christ Crucified, particularly during Lent. Amen!