St Francis of Assisi and the Word of God

Nothing fascinated St Francis of Assisi more than the Word of God: the Incarnate Word and the Written Word. From the tenderness of Jesus in the first ever crib that he made in Greccio to his passion of receiving the stigmata on Mount La Verna, it was Francis being possessed by the Incarnate Word—Jesus. From the naïve stories of Francis picking up written words from the ground to keep them away from people trampling on them, to Francis literally obeying the gospel words read in a church, to him becoming an embodiment of the Word of God, it was Francis being consumed by his fascination for the Word of God.

Firstly, Francis had a deep and holy reverence for the written word and would often pick up scraps of writings from the ground. His actions were based on the belief that those pieces of paper could contain the name of God or words from the Gospel.

Secondly, for Francis the Word of God was something that brought in absolute clarity in his life. The defining moment of Francis's spiritual clarity came during a Mass on February 24, 1208, at the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, when he heard Matthew 10:7-10 proclaimed: "As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff." For Francis, these weren't metaphorical suggestions but concrete instructions for daily life. He immediately removed his shoes, discarded his walking stick, and exchanged his leather belt for a simple rope. This radical literalism wasn't naïve fundamentalism but rather a profound clarity about how to face the practical questions of existence: What should I wear? What should I own? How should I travel? The Gospel provided unambiguous answers.

Debashis Chatterjee, a leadership speaker and author of many books on leadership, including the book Break Free, says in his One Minute Wisdom that what matters most in life is clarity. What is clarity? He has an interesting understanding: "Clarity is fewer thoughts per minute." It is a journey from a cluttered, confused mind where everything is piled up to a clear and committed mind. A cluttered mind is like a drawer filled with too many loose socks—you never find a matching one when you need it. Arundhati Roy, the author of the book The God of Small Things, says that with social media and the unending flow of information through varied media bombarding us with too much information, our minds are not equipped to process so many thoughts. So when we have to make a decision or vote, or in policymaking, we go find shortcuts, we fall back on our biases and prejudices, we just go by popular opinion and WhatsApp University. Yuval Noah Harari in his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century corrects Francis Bacon, who had said in the 16th century that 'knowledge is power', saying: "In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power."

One can only imagine the mind of Francis: hundreds following him, among them there were even women. It was quite apparent that he was at the threshold of beginning or establishing something new and big. To use modern terms, he was an influencer and startup entrepreneur. What would break such a man is ambiguity; the gospel was his weapon against ambiguity. When he wrote his first rule for the Order that he was unconsciously founding, it was just a collection of quotations from the Scriptures. Then in the final rule he began with this categorical statement: "The Rule and life of the Friars Minor is to observe the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ." Francis had absolute clarity on what he was founding and doing. He had absolutely no ambiguity that he must forgive, he must be nonviolent, or he must care for the creation.

Thirdly, and most profoundly, Francis understood that clarity from God's Word came not merely through reading but through embodiment. He famously said, "Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." His life became a lived interpretation of Scripture. St. Paul has a lovely expression about the people of Corinth in 2 Corinthians 3:3—you are a 'letter of Christ'. Corinth was a rich city, but it had a morally very loose way of living. Paul preached there and maybe others too. When Paul came back he found them transformed as a public demonstration of Christ's message and work, written on their human hearts rather than on stone tablets or in ink. So he writes to them, you are a letter of Christ. Others can read you and know Christ—you have become Christ's message and testament.

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