st. francis: counter-witness: 26th week thursday 2012 II

What makes St. Francis popular even in our age?

Several things come to mind.  Probably because he was a lover of nature.  He talked to birds and trees.  He was even seen preaching to the fishes in the pond.  Holiness does not mean being in the chapel or praying before the Blessed Sacrament.  St. Francis taught us what real holiness means, and it means to live constantly in the presence of God.  Whether we are in the chapel or in the classroom or gardening or working or playing, God is there and to be aware of his presence is to be holy; to live in his presences is holiness.

Another more important characteristic of St. Francis which attracts people is his counter-witness.  Counter-witness means to give testimony to an opposite value, to give importance to what the world considers insignificant, to put value on something which people do not value anymore.

When people aspire to become rich, St. Francis chose to become poor.  When everybody was fighting for rank and position, St. Francis chose to be a nobody.  He was a counter-witness – he did the opposite, he valued what the world did not, he gave importance to what the world deemed insignificant.

He was a counter-sign to everything and that is the reason why people get attracted to him.