Incarnation Incarnation: Finding the Franciscan Center

Incarnation “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) – The heart of the Christian tradition is the belief that, in Jesus Christ, God assumed our fallen human nature – By doing so, God reveals both his perfect Goodness and the goodness of the created order which he assumed – The Foundation of Francis’s spirituality (concerning the personal, social and natural worlds) is his Christian belief in the Incarnation – However, unlike theologians who emphasize the fallen state of creation as a result of sin, Francis’s spirituality emphasizes its goodness as created by God

Incarnation THE CRECHE AT GRECCIO In 1223 at Greccio, Francis had the people build a crib and bring into the church actual farm animals in order to better contemplate and adore the Lord on the feast of his birth. No other act by Francis better illustrates his devotion to the Incarnation.

Incarnation The Human Person “Consider, O human being, in what great excellence the Lord God has placed you, for He created and formed you to the image of his beloved Son according to the body and to His likeness according to the Spirit.” (Admonition 5)

Incarnation For Francis, “the relationship between God and the human person concerned not just the soul but the totality of one’s vital forces.” (Vauchez, Francis of Assisi) The essential goodness of the entire person allows us to find and experience God in every aspect of our selves – body, soul and spirit “In knowing himself, Francis comes to know Jesus, and thus comes to know God.” (Short, Poverty and Joy) “Made in the Image of God”

Incarnation Discussion Questions: Do I tend to think of myself as internally divided and in conflict (body versus soul? mind versus emotions?) or as whole and unified? How have I separated parts of my life (sexuality, career, education) from my whole self and pursued them to the exclusion of my development as a person? How can seeing the goodness of my entire self lead to greater peace and to a more intimate experience of God’s love? Teaching Tips

Inarnation “[The brothers] must rejoice when they live among people considered of little value and looked down upon, among the poor and the powerless, the sick and the lepers, and the beggars by the wayside … [O]ur Lord Jesus Christ … was poor and a stranger and lived on alms.” (The Earlier Rule, IX, 2,4,5) Community

Incarnation Francis did not respond to his vision by fleeing from the world but by entering into it in a radical and new way. Francis constantly put his own self at risk for the salvation of others — just like Jesus. In the lepers, Francis “found the suffering members of Christ’s body, and beginning with this experience he participated in the passion of Christ.” (Short, Poverty and Joy) Because of their ability to reveal Christ to him, Francis received from the lepers more than he ministered to them. Seeing Christ in Others

Incarnation Discussion Questions: Have I organized my life/my career/my school to emphasize individuality or to build community? Do I experience the needs and demands of others as a distraction from God, or as an occasion for grace? Who are the “lepers” in my life? Am I serving them as Christ would? What ideas are “lepers” to me? What are the “lepers” inside me that I flee? What do the “lepers” offer to me — as opposed to what I can offer to them? Teaching Tips

Incarnation “Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day and through whom You give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; and bears a likeness of You, Most High One.” (The Canticle of the Creatures, 3-4) Nature

Incarnation “The Canticle is a prayer of Thanksgiving to the Creator; it constitutes a praise not of creatures for themselves but of the One who made them so beautiful and useful.” (Vauchez, Francis of Assisi) The Incarnation lies at the heart of Francis’s love of nature – by entering into space, time, and matter, God reveals its goodness! “Francis came to realize that it is Christ who sanctifies creation and transforms it into a sacrament of God. The intimate link between creation and Incarnation revealed to Francis that the whole of creation is the place to encounter God.” (Delio, A Franciscan View of Creation) A World Redeemed

Incarnation Francis’s emphasis on the Incarnation became a hallmark of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition. The great Franciscan theologian Duns Scotus (1266?- 1308) argued that, because of the goodness of creation, God would still have become incarnate even if Adam had never sinned. Scotus on the Incarnation

Incarnation Discussion Questions: How does the Incarnation reveal to you the goodness of the world? Is my relationship to nature properly ordered, that is, do I love it as an expression of God’s goodness? Have I ever used it as a substitute for God? Do I treat nature as a gift entrusted to me by a loving God, or as a tool to be used as I see fit? Teaching Tips