On Monday, I referred to St. Therese Lisieux as "everyone's favorite saint." Foolish, and remarkably short-sighted, of me. That honor goes to today's saint: St. Francis of Assisi. The troubadour-turned-mendicant feast day is today, and everyone likes him, the holy and secular alike. He's still mentioned all over the place, including in TV shows and movies. In Bull Durham, for instance, the Susan Sarandon character (a reincarnationist) speculates that she was probably St. Francis in a previous life because she's so fond of animals. I wonder how many have read anything by or about Francis, and what they'd think of passages like this (from a letter by Francis in this morning's Office of Readings):
Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. . . . We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather we must be simple, humble and pure.
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St. Francis knew the sacraments leave an indelible mark on a person, changing him forever, setting him apart from the sinful milieu (I've often speculated that the indelible mark, and reasons associated with it, is the reason Catholics stray so badly when they stray--they're trying to wipe out the mark). Unfortunately, many politicians don't realize it. George Wiegel addresses it.
