October has always been a special month for me; in addition to bringing about Autumn and all the Fall colors, October holds my birthday and the feast day of my favorite Saint, Francis of Assisi. And, my middle name is Frances, though I only remember hearing my middle name when I was in trouble as a kid. I can still hear “Ann Frances” in my mother’s voice, and it gives me a shiver!
October is also the run up to the November 5th Presidential election. The media is already in full steam, and the candidates and political parties are doing their best to gain our votes. A few people have asked for me to speak about the election and all I will say mirrors a quote from our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
“Go and vote. Vote your conscience. Your conscience informed by what it means to love your neighbor. To participate in the process of seeking the common good. To participate in the process of making this a better world. How-ever you vote, go and vote. And do that as a follower of Jesus.”
And as someone very much influenced by Saint Francis, I offer to you this well-known prayer attributed to him as a guide for voting and for all our days:
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is error, the truth; where there is doubt, the faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”
Saint Francis of Assisi grew up wealthy in the small town of Assisi, Italy. Despite the anger it brought his father, Saint Francis took a vow of poverty after receiving multiple visions from God, where in one of which God told him to “repair my church, which is falling in ruins.” Saint Francis soon established the Franciscan Order where he and his followers sought to live out the gospel in a literal way. He is known for his love of nature and animals, his strong commitment to both physical and spiritual poverty, and for receiving the stigmata (marks resembling the wounds on the crucified body of Jesus Christ). See the quotes below for further inspiration from Saint Francis of Assisi’s life:
“Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received–only what you have given.”
“I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.”
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love…” (The Peace Prayer)
“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”
“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.”
“The only thing ever achieved in life without effort is failure.”
“Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy.”
“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”
~Annie+