Celebrating the Feast of St. Francis

“FAITH OPENS OUR EYES TO HUMAN LIFE IN ALL ITS GRANDEUR AND BEAUTY.”

Dear Friends,

October 4th is the feast day of the world’s best known and most recognized saint, Francis of Assisi. G. K. Chesterton called him the “first hero of humanism,” and Sir Kenneth Clark called him Europe’s greatest religious genius. According to the Smithsonian bibliography, more lives have been written about him than any other person in history. Even in his lifetime, Francis exerted a magnetic attractiveness, not because of money, good looks and success, but because of his willingness to fully accept the gift we often hesitate to take.

Imprinted in the core of our being is the sense that we are not just accidental, anonymous chips of dust in the universe, destined to flicker for an instant and then disappear forever. We know we are more. We literally feel timelessness, eternity and immortal meaning inside of ourselves. We are special. Faith tells us: We are, all of us, made in God’s image and likeness, blessed. That’s the gift. Our private secret that we are special is in fact the deepest truth.

That isn’t always easy to believe especially in a world in which billions of others are also trying to do the same. Can billions be infinitely precious and utterly unique? Life and circumstances often tire us in ways that tempt us to believe its opposite. American Idols, NFL, Miss Universe, and White Sox tell us that there will be only one special winner. In the end mediocrity, anonymity and mortality overwhelm us.

Saint Francis also faced these challenges. He stepped out into a world being recast by the emerging market economy. His father – thanks to competition – was moving quickly into the new entrepreneurial class with all its positive and negative influences. Francis, however, trusted a deeper voice and a bigger truth. Not only did he see himself as made in God’s image and likeness, but he also saw God’s fingerprints in everything. He saw God in creation, Jesus in the leper, a new church in the ruin, hope in a confusing time, perfect joy in sadness, light in darkness, faith in doubt and peace in the most unexpected places.

Please join us in celebrating the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Meaning of Our Tau Symbol

The tau is the sign used by St. Francis to wish peace to all he met. The tau cross is a common symbol of the Franciscan Order. It looks like a T. In the Old Testament, it is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. For Christians, the T came to represent the cross of Christ as being the fulfillment of the Old Testament and it also represented the means by which Christ reversed the disobedience of the old Adam and became our Savior as the "New Adam."

After St. Francis's conversion, he worked with a religious community whose main ministry was caring for lepers. These men wore the cross shaped like a T as a symbol of their trust in God to ward off skin diseases. Eventually, St. Francis adopted the T as his own symbol. For him, it represented lifelong fidelity to the Passion of Christ and a reminder to be an example of compassion for God's people.

Today, followers of St. Francis - laity or religious - wear the tau cross as an exterior sign, a seal of their own commitment to exemplify God's love and continue the ministry of Christ.

The symbol of Franciscan Alliance, is a tau cross with a giving hand and a receiving hand. The giving hand is generously prepared to minister Christ's healing to the weak, the suffering and the vulnerable. The receptive hand is ready to receive His healing power through our joyful, sensitive Franciscan ministry.