Feast of St. Francis.

Yesterday was the offical Feast of St. Francis-- though because of the nature of the medieval calendar and the innate catholic nature of celebration, his Feast day occupied two days!  Of course on Sunday, it was only appropriate to say the Franciscan Crown, which, although longer than the regular rosary, tends to be much more interesting as reflections on the life of St. Francis are inserted into the normal reflections on the life of Mary.

I have deep respect for Mary and her unfaltering "yes" to God.  Her "Yes", simple and beautiful, demonstrates how completely we can trust God. He never abandoned Mary. He will never Abandon us. But St. Francis' "Yes" to God was frought with so much more adventure and humour! I cannot help but wonder if the rosary would be said more often and with more joy than if we picture St. Francis' running headlong into the hands of the Moors to convert them.... or St. Francis, earnestly waking up his whole order on account of a poor friar who thought he might die of starvatition,  and creating a feast out of grapes... or St. Francis and Clare, praying so fervently that the people of the town thought the church was on fire!!!  These are all the joys of Mary, just viewed through another person's actions!

So often, Mary is simply a "good person".  In the human imagination a "good person" translates to terms of being a very pleasant but boring person.  However, by defintion and not by imagination, a "good person" is a person of action who responds to the call of the Holy Spirit.  A boring person has no place in this call to action because a boring person does not " do" anything.   By the saints that litter our church's halls and names we know that the Holy Spirit never chooses boring people.