Advent 11
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
—1 CORINTHIANS 13:8-13 (NIV)
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone was born in central Italy in 1181. His father nicknamed him Francesco (“Frenchy”). Frenchy lived the carefree life of a rich man’s son. That is, until he had a life changing experience that led him to give up everything. As the story goes, he was walking in a forest outside of Assisi and came across people who suffered from leprosy. They were made to live outside of the city due to their contagious disease. At first he was afraid. But he was so moved by God’s compassion and love that he went and hugged the leper. In doing so, he felt that embracing those who are suffering is to embrace Jesus himself.
Frenchy would go on to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by denying himself and embracing everyone (including animals) with love and compassion. He embraced a life of poverty, giving everything he had to those in need. His love and compassion would translate into changing the lives not for just one leper, but for many generations of people. He would become known to the world as St. Francis of Assisi. Generations of people would go on to be compelled by his teachings, spreading love and compassion to a weary world.