Nonviolence - The Way Of Francis Of Assisi

What follows is an excerpt from Fr. John Dear's new book, You Will Be My Witnesses, a reflection on the life of Francis of Assisi and nonviolence. Fr. John is a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest and peace activist.

The essay is titled, "St. Francis and the Way of Nonviolence". Fr. John tells of attending a conference of Catholic peace activists in Assisi, Italy. Although the talks at the conference were very good, he left the conference site and began to walk around the area of Assisi and the places frequented by St. Francis.

...I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and peace that radiated from Assisi, that I skipped the talks, wandered through the churches, strolled through the streets, and hiked the nearby fields and hills. I prayed at Francis' tomb, meditated in the little chapel of the Portiuncula, which he built by hand, and toured San Damiano. Two years later, after a second pilgrimage to Assisi, I took the long bus ride to La Verna, the mountaintop where he received the stigmata shortly before his death. During those holy days, I understood anew Francis' life of prayer, poverty, penance, preaching, and peace. His prayer became embedded in me: "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace."
....

"We have only just begun to practice the Gospel," Francis told his followers as he died. Today we hear Francis tell us to embrace simplicity and poverty, serve those who are poor and needy, live in peace and nonviolence, love one another including our enemies, spend our days in contemplative prayer, and be devoted servants of Jesus and his Gospel. "While you are proclaiming peace with your lips," he wrote, "be careful to have it even more fully in your heart." He once explained, "If you own possessions, you need weapons to protect them and so we do not own anything and we are at peace with everyone."

Francis' logic points the way toward personal, social, and global justice and peace If each one of us practiced Gospel simplicity, voluntary poverty, and downward mobility, like Francis, we would share the world's resources with one another, have nothing to fear from others, and live in peace with everyone. If the whole world, especially the First World nations, practiced the Franciscan ethic of social justice and nonviolence, hunger and warfare would end....

Francis is not just for the birds. His life example and witness hold the key to the solutions of all the world's problems. He may be the greatest of Jesus' witnesses.

"I have done my part," Francis said to the friars around him as he died. "May Christ teach you to do yours." May we all do our part, like Francis, and become instruments of Christ's peace.

Thanks to Jane at Acts of Hope for the link to the essay.

Here's the comment that I left at Jane's blog:

Jane, I just finished reading the meditation by Fr John Dear on St. Francis. How powerful! What a man! Both of them Francis and Fr John.

When Roman Catholics practice the radical call of the Gospels, they tend to get it very right.

That's the church that I abandoned, but I have great admiration for many saints operating within the church. They go about their business of following the Gospel of Jesus Christ within the institution, often despite the institution.

We could learn a lesson from them in the Episcopal Church. Every church is corrupt in it's own way, but it's possible for Christians within the church to continue to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, often despite the church.

October 6, 2007 7:09 PM

From his website:

Rev, John Dear S.J. is a Jesuit Priest, Peace Activist, Organizer, Lecturer, Retreat leader, and author/editor of 20 books on peace and nonviolence, including Living Peace, published by Doubleday.

At the site, you can purchase his book, Transfiguration, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu. Also available is a movie titled, The Narrow Path:

A New DVD film
“THE NARROW PATH: Walking Toward Peace and Nonviolence with John Dear, S.J.”
featuring music by Joan Baez and Jackson Browne, with cameos by Daniel Berrigan, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Kathy Kelly and Ron Kovic.

The very idea of downward mobility! Why it's positively un-American.

Let me emphasize that I make no pretense of following the way of St. Francis in embracing Lady Poverty. I think it's the right way to go, but I don't do it. That is sin. However, I persist in keeping the ideal in my sight, however unlikely it is that I will ever live up to it. Perhaps, one day, by the grace of God....

With respect to pacifism, I'm not there either. I believe violence should be the absolute last resort. We should try every other means before doing violence. I wonder if there is such a thing as a just war. Perhaps all wars are unjust. However, if I saw an adult doing grave harm to a child, and I had the means to stop the violence, I would do it, although it involved violence on my part.

Lord, make me a channel of your peace.