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Preface: Why You?
- Franciscan Institute Publications
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PreFace “why you?” In the thirteenth century the arrival of Saint Francis in the smallest village provoked the enthusiastic and spontaneous outpouring of a kind of popular celebration of the word of God. “Ecco il santo!” “Behold the holy man!” Suddenly bells rang, shops emptied, and street people started milling around. Everyone gathered in the public places to see and hear the “Herald of the Great King.” His wandering and preaching took on all the traits of triumphal happenings, all the renewed joy of a Palm Sunday. A similar excitement can still be felt: literature and the arts, scholarly studies and poems extend the influence of the Poverello; and this man who has been called the Christian Orpheus still works his charms. Even if there is sometimes a snobbish note connected with this, it cannot be denied that Saint Francis enjoys the unanimous praise of artists and theologians, scholars and common folk, nonbelievers or the utterly devout. His name alone evokes admiration and a certain fondness. Just as spontaneously we find arising in ourselves the question put to him one day by Brother Masseo, a rather dignified friar who was visibly disturbed by these outpourings: “Why you? You are neither handsome, nor learned, nor even noble. Why does everyone run after you?” “Understand,” said Francis, “that God has not found a more vile creature on the earth, and therefore he has chosen First Encounter with Francis 10 me to confound the ... wisdom of the world, so that it may be known that every virtue and every good is from him.”5 This response is admirable in its simplicity, but it leaves us with our hunger: Even if it is God who acts, we would still like to know how his servant lets him act. Grace is common to everyone, but each person uses it in his or her own way. Why him? Why Francis? Because Francis discovered the secret of how to set the universe into a state of praise and fraternity. 5 DBF 10 (FA:ED 3, 583). ...