September is dwindling down to a few weeks before the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, October 4th.
We take time to reflect on this Saint from the writings of G.K. Chesterton. The following quotes are taken from his book Simplicity and Tolstoy.
Francis expressed in loftier and bolder language than any earthly thinker the conception that laughter is as divine as tears. He never forgot to take pleasure in a bird as it flashed past him or a drop of water as it fell from his finger.
The clear and tranquil life of the Three Vows had a fine and delicate effect on the genius of Francis. He was primarily a poet. The perfection of his literary instinct is shown in his naming fire "Brother" and the water,"Sister" in the quaint appeal in the sermon to the fishes .'that they alone were saved in the Flood.
The general attitude of Saint Francis, like that of his Master, embodied a kind of terrible common-sense. The famous remark of the Caterpillar in"Alice of Wonderland"-"Why not?" impresses us as his general motto.He could not see why he should not be on good terms with all things. The pomp of war and ambition, the great empire of the Middle Ages and all its fellows begin to look tawdry and top-heavy, under the rationality of that innocent stare. His questions were blasting and devastating, like the questions of a child. He would not have been afraid even of the nightmares of cosmogony, for he had no fear in him. To him the world was small, not because he had any views as to its size, but for the reason that gossiping ladies(???) find it small, because so many relatives were to be found in it. If you had taken him to the loneliest star that the madness of an astronomer can conceive, Francis would have only beheld in it the features of a new friend.
Posted by Sister Florence Vales OSC
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