At prayer this morning on this Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the great saint of peace, I was thinking about why I run. One of the reason why I have always like running is that during a running and for a time after I finish I feel a wonderful sense of peace. Not being able to run these days because of surgery 12 days ago I am missing that peacefulness in my life!
Yes, there are many struggles in running, the occasional hurts and pains. The trials and tribulations that the environment can through at you like wind, rain, heat, cold snow, ice, traffic, dogs, other animals, all kinds of natural and human made obstacles and sometimes even people. But I have to say struggles, trials and tribulations aside my runs are times of peacefulness.
I think you would agree that we are always on the lookout for those moments of peacefulness in life. Sometimes we find them in things like runs, others times it is the beauty of nature, the gift of friendship, the presence of family, a smile, or an embrace of love. I have often written about sitting on the roof of the Passionist Spiritual Center in Riverdale, New York during my days as director there and watch the Great Hudson River flow by, those moments were always moments of peace for me. There are countless ways in which we encounter peace in our life. Each of us have our own stories, our own places, our own experiences of peace. And we know that we need to cultivate, remember and be ready for them when they come. I like to think of peace in the same way as I think of God's grace always there, free and just waiting for our yes!
St. Francis of Assisi has always been a favorite. Even though I am a Passionist, I think a lot of what St. Francis was about is what St. Paul of the Cross was about. They just expressed it and lived it a little differently at different times in history.
I never knew very much about St. Francis, in many ways I only thought of him in the popular way, as a "lover of animals." But St. Francis is so much more. A man of wealth and status who gave it all up because of a deep abiding faith. St. Francis was man who struggle much of his life once he found God and was even rejected by the very community he founded. Yet, through it all he always seemed to find God's gift of peace. No matter whether he was battling the struggles of health, community, society or himself, he never found himself far from the gift of peace. They say that if you go to the town Assisi in Italy there is a profound feeling of peace. Perhaps someday I be able to go and encounter Francis' spirit of peace.
I have always love the Peace Prayer which is attributed to St. Francis yet we are not really sure whether he actually wrote it. The earliest record of the prayer is 1912 when it appeared in a small devotional french publication. It was used during World War I and was first translated in English in 1936 by Kirby Page, who attributed the prayer to St. Francis. Cardinal Spellman helped to make the prayer popular in the United States during World War II.
The premise is the prayer is that God will make us the instruments of peace. That in those moments when there is not peace we will bring it, we will make God's gift recognizable. It is not easy especially in our world today, though if we look at history that is probably true in any age. Yet, as Christians, as Catholics that is what we are asked to be and do...bring peace to as many moments of life that we can.
On this feast of St. Francis as I sit unable to find those moments of peace through running I offer a prayer for you, where ever you are, and for me that somehow when we most need it the Great Gift of God's Peace will touch our lives and that like St. Francis we will always be willing share it with all we meet! Peace in Christ's Passion...Fr. Paul
