Following Jesus

SAINT ANTHONY has sometimes been referred to as “the Saint Paul of the Franciscan movement.” While this is, I think, a very misleading expression, it has this of truth: that, just as St. Paul never knew Christ in His earthly ministry, so Anthony scarcely knew Francis in person. When Francis was making his historic journey to Rome with twelve companions to obtain Pope Innocent’s approval for his simple way of life, Anthony was still only Fernando, not yet an Augustinian Canon, living in Lisbon. Francis sent his first friars to Spain and Portugal a few years later – the Province was established in 1217. About this time the first friars came to Coimbra, where Fernando was now a member of the community of Holy Cross Abbey. Over the next few years he came to know and admire their way of life and their zeal for the Gospel, and he surely heard from them about Francis of Assisi, and his mission to renew the Church. It was in 1217, too, that the Fourth Lateran Council was held in Rome, with the aim of renewing religious life, combating false teaching, and encouraging a new Evangelism.

Francis was mightily concerned with presenting the message of Jesus Christ to the world of Islam. We all know how he travelled to Egypt and the Holy Land, and preached to the Sultan himself. We know, too, how he sent brothers westward to Morocco, where they were brutally put to death. We know how this event triggered the young Fernando’s decision to leave the Canons and join the very new brotherhood of Friars Minor, and his abortive effort to bring the Gospel to the Moors and if necessary face martyrdom himself. Yet, all this time, he had never set eyes on Francis. He knew him only through the lives and example of his brothers.

 

First contact

 

Attending the General Chapter at Assisi held at Pentecost 1221, Anthony (as he had now become) would have seen Francis, not long returned from the East and already a very sick man, only at a distance. It was Brother Elias, his trusted Vicar General, who presided over the assembly. Francis would hardly have noticed the young friar from Portugal who had arrived only by accident after his storm-tossed voyage from Africa. In seeking an assignment, Anthony dealt with Brother Gratian and Brother Elias, not with the holy Founder. After that, Anthony may have met Francis at the Chapters of 1222 and 1223, and he received from Francis the famous letter authorising him to teach the brothers Theology; but his own activity was in parts of Italy that Francis did not visit, and then in France. He returned to Assisi only after Francis had died.

 

The Spirit of Francis

 

My point is that Anthony drew his Franciscan inspiration mainly at second hand, from friars who had known Francis and had been inspired by him. Later on, Anthony’s own life was made known to at least one biographer by old friars who had known Anthony when they were young. This reproduces the pattern of Christian evangelism from the beginning. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Temple authorities were astonished at the confidence shown by Peter and John, “but they recognised them as having been with Jesus.” You might say that they recognised the Spirit of Jesus, now active in his disciples.

It was this same Spirit of Jesus that was active in Saint Francis, and in turn activated the first friars. It inspired St. Anthony, and so was communicated to those who heard his preaching. The Christian faith is not passed on in a purely human way, ever diluted and ever in danger of being distorted, like the game of ‘Chinese whispers’. Our Lord promised to send his followers the Spirit of Truth, who would guarantee the faithfulness of their teaching to that which He Himself had taught. We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: united because it is holy, universal because it has been sent out by the Lord Himself.

 

Authentic Christians

 

Anthony was an authentic Franciscan, even though he had little personal acquaintance with Francis. Both Francis and Anthony were authentic Christians, even though they lived many centuries after Christ. There is a lesson here for us: if we are to fulfil our calling of bringing the Good News to our own age, we need to be recognised by others as authentic disciples of Christ. In the June 2012 issue of this magazine, Granny’s Thoughts on page 4 quoted words attributed to Francis: Preach the Gospel... if necessary, use words. The point being, of course, as Francis and Anthony knew well, that you cannot convince other people of what you say unless your own life is in accordance with it: ‘Actions speak louder than words’. The humble life of the Coimbra friars, so Christ-like in its simplicity, made Canon Fernando wish to leave the security of his monastery and preach the Gospel in a foreign and hostile country.

 

General Thanksgiving

 

The Anglican Book of Common Prayer contains a ‘General Thanksgiving’ which, sadly, is not now as well-known as it used to be. After thanking our heavenly Father for all his goodness and loving-kindness, especially as shown in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, the prayer asks that we show forth his praise, “not only with our lips but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to thy service”. We follow Anthony and Francis in following Jesus, not by talking a lot about the Gospel, but by living it out day by day in our concern for other people, by trying to ‘be Jesus’ for them, seeking not to be served, but to serve.

The Church needs good administrators to ensure the proper disposition of its human and material resources. The Church needs learned theologians, to ensure the sound teaching and preaching of the Gospel. But above all the Church needs holy men and women, in every walk of life, who can represent Jesus in His love and compassion for human beings. Francis, Anthony, Clare and all the saints down the centuries have been such people: we must strive to be the same.