Authentic Living like St Francis of Assisi

There's that whole thing about like Instagram versus reality. We want reality and reality to be lined up. We just want to be authentically who we are before God and before other people. Him Father Mark Mary with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and this is Ascension Presents. Last week we introduced this topic that if you want to live like the saints you have to pray like the saints. And I want to take a look at living like the saints and praying like the not presenting one type of identity or expression of yourself and then having a totally different one in your private life. And to lead us in this kind of conversation and discussion, I want to take a look at St. Francis. St. Francis at the very end of his life, right, he has a number of writings. One of them is called his testament. It's kind of like his last words to the Friars and he has this phrase towards the end. Like, I want the brothers to receive this and apply it in their lives without gloss. Gloss, it's referring to kind of an old monastic life. You'd have your commentary, you have your scripture, whatever it is, and then the monk would put little notes in the margin, right, because paper wasn't overly abundant. And so those little notes, those little modifications or filters or interpretations were called gloss. I think, for example, this is where the term glossary comes from. You can fact check me on that. But St. Francis, when he was talking about the brothers receiving these words of his without gloss, what he's saying is like, don't water them down. Don't filter them through your own interpretations. Don't filter them through your own will, preferences, etc. Just receive them as they are. And St. Francis, of all of the virtues of St. Francis, this great saint, one of my very favorites is that he lived life without gloss. He received the word of God, responded to it without gloss, without filter, without faking anything. He received God's word and responded to it authentically and wholeheartedly. You know, for example, there's a story of St. Francis. It was cold. St. Francis's habit was beat up and he needed this patch on the inside, a patch that would give it a little bit extra warmth. But because he wanted to live without gloss, because he wanted to be seen as he truly was, he insisted that a patch, although unnecessary, also be put on the outside so that he wasn't hiding anything from anybody else, right? Because the patch on the inside, I guess, would give him a little bit more warmth so he'd still look like he's super hardcore and austere. If I'm going to have this little thing that adds a little warmth on the inside, I want to put it on the outside just so that everybody sees me for who I am. I don't want anybody to think better of me than I truly am because who I am is who I am before God and that's it. Or a second story, again, this is a little bit more than what we're talking about. He's at some dinner and he's sick and somebody feeds him chicken, which at the time would have been a little bit of like a luxury item. And again, he has this reputation of being a super poor guy. So he went into the village with somebody else and was like, this St. Francis, he ate chicken, he's a glutton, he's not who you think he is. And again, like shouting this type of thing, maybe a little extra, maybe a little much. But the virtue and the value of it, I think, is what we want to lock in on. Again, St. Francis didn't want to hide and St. Francis didn't want to fake anything. No masks, no filters. If St. Francis had an Instagram, it would be reality in reality, not Instagram versus reality. He'd be who he truly was. And this is a beautiful virtue and I think it's a beautiful virtue because so many of us like, oh man, we're so worried about what other people think, right? And so we spend so much time and effort trying to kind of put on this mask and having the stress of hiding and of presenting our best selves and all this sort of stuff. But how freeing it is, how freeing it is to just be able to live our authentic identity, to just be who we are and not have to put on airs, no lies, no faking it. Just here I am, here I am to be loved, to be received as I am. Beautiful, awesome, okay. We want to live with this freedom of St. Francis. And my brothers and sisters, I propose that the grace to live like this, to live truly free, to just be who you are, is received by praying like St. Francis. St. Francis responded to the Lord without gloss, authentically. But he also received the Word of the Lord without gloss, authentically, right? Without watering it down. For example, when the Lord says like, go sell everything, give it to the poor, come follow me, St. Francis was like, okay, sweet, I'm gonna do that. When the Lord says, hey, trust in me, don't worry about tomorrow, I'm gonna take care of it, okay, awesome, I'm gonna do that. When the Lord says like, forgive, forgive, forgive, St. Francis forgives and forgives and forgives, not because it's easy or convenient, but because he takes the Lord at his word. He received the Word of the Lord, the invitations of the Lord, the promises of the Lord, without gloss, authentically, without watering them down, right? And one of these is this, is like, hey, when you're doing something, like, do it in secret. Don't try and put on a front, don't try and put on airs, so other people will see you and rejoice in you and think you're really cool, because those guys have received their reward. But when you're doing something for me, do it privately. Go in your room, close the door, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And I think this is what St. Francis also responded to wholeheartedly without watering it down, is I'm gonna live for the Lord, because my Father who sees the heart, who sees what is done in secret, who really sees who I am, from whom I cannot hide, who gives me my identity and loves me as I am, like, he sees me, and he will give me my reward. And so, my brothers and sisters, the invitation, again, is to go to this place of intimacy with our Father, to pray like St. Francis prayed, to really sit with the Word of God and allow him to speak these truths into a heart that he loves us, that he cares for us, that he sees us as we are, that he's patient with us, and that we can't put on airs, like, your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And where do we see this? Where do we see, in part, God's acceptance of the gift of St. Francis' authenticity and really deep commitment to being who he says he was? I propose it's in the stigmata, that St. Francis, his interior heart, was already conformed to the wounds of Christ. Like, he had suffered with Christ, he had died with Christ, and he was, in many ways, united with Christ, crucified. It was no longer he who lived, but Christ who lived in him. And as sort of this expression of this, right, he wasn't showing this and doing all of his penances, all this stuff, so everybody would see it, but just his Father in Heaven. And his Father gave him a share in the wounds of the stigmata, which, in a certain way, revealed to the world the interior reality that he, that St. Francis, really was sharing and conformed to Christ, crucified. It's this little, like, stamp, almost of, like, of approval from the Lord of, I receive your offering, but also a way of sharing it with others. Now, you and I, we're not going to, we're probably not going to receive the stigmata, but can we be encouraged by the life and supported by the prayers of St. Francis, that our Father, our Father who sees in secret, will reward us? And that if we want to be free, not to be so worried about what everybody else is thinking of us, like, the grace for that comes through a deep and intimate and prolonged relationship with our Heavenly Father, who is good and loving and patient and kind and who rejoices in us. So, my brothers and sisters, the invitation, the invitation today, if you want to have radical freedom, you want to have radical authenticity, you want to live without gloss, you don't want to have to try and hide or fake or lie, whatever, the grace, the grace for that come from praying like St. Francis prayed, through deep relationship with the Heavenly Father. So, thanks for watching. We'll see you again next week. We're asking St. Francis to pray for us this week. Remember, we are pilgrims on this earth. Somos peregrinos. Poco a poco, little by little, we're going to make it. Thanks, y'all.