St Francis of Assisi
Today the christian world commemorates and remembers the life of St. Francis from the town of Assisi in Italy (1180-1223). Our world is in need of peace, an inner peace, a peace within families, a peace between nations; simply put, we are in need of peace!
St. Francis, once he began following Jesus and the message of the Gospel, promoted peace; an inner peace, a peace between us and God, and a peace among nations. Francis chose to freely give of all he had to focus on action, on helping others to find their peace. As I often write, action is necessary for not only helping ourselves gain inner peace and contentment, but action is needed for us to work on changing the world. Francis did not give of everything and hide, he publicly ministered to all in need, especially those outcast by society.
In his book "Francis: the journey and the dream", Murray Bodo, OFM writes:
If we want peace we need to take action to make peace happen. We need to take time each day in meditation to seek within ourselves the passion to act in a way which will show others peace. In meditation we can slow ourselves to notice our feelings, our strengths, our weaknesses, the beauty of the created world around us, the sense of our higher power, our God. As we seek ourselves we are led outside of ourselves; yet if we continue to live in the busyness of our lives we will not truly come to realize that which is within.
If we want peace, we need to take action to make it happen.
San Damiano cross with Peace Prayer of St Francis