Doing, not preaching, conveys the Gospel of Love most perfectly to the world!

Jesus was a doer rather than a talker. Even though He knew the things of God so well, there is no record of Him trying to teach anyone in his family or the village in which He lived for the first 33 years of His life. Jesus may not have said much but we are sure that He showed God's love, through beautiful acts of kindness, to everyone He met.

Jesus was 'wise in the ways of God' even when he was very young. When Christ, at age 12, was left in Jerusalem, St. Luke tells us the religious teachers, 'who heard him, were astounded at his intelligence as revealed in His replies to their questions'. Jesus, though so young, knew God and scripture so well that His questions baffled them and His answers to their questions stunned them!

However, it was only when Jesus was 34, that God called Him to beging to preach the Gospel. Everyone in His hometown of Nazareth was shocked to hear the profound spiritual Truths coming from His lips since He had talked little on spiritual subjects during all of the previous years. Their response was one of incredulity, "Where did this man get such wisdom?! Isn't this the village carpenter!?'

Francis was too busy to talk since he was focused on doing what God had taught him was most important: showing, in acts of mercy, the love of God. Only years after leaving the world did God tell him to preach. Even then, Francis continued to emphasize the importance of preaching with one's life, saying to Friars that we must preach 'with our lives, and only if absolutely necessary, with our words'.

Francis disliked those who wanted 'spiritual' credit for TALKING about the accomplishments of the truly holy without ever having made any serious effort to LIVE like the holy ones.

St. Francis said: Emperor Charles, Roland, Oliver and all the paladins and stalwarts who were mighty in battle, pursuing the infidels with much sweat and toil, even to death, achieved a memorable victory over them and finally they died in battle for the Faith of Christ. Now however, there are many who would like to receive honor and praise for only telling what they did. So there are many among us too, who for merely repeating and preaching about what the saints did want to enjoy honor and praise."

The most famous Knights of the Crusades were the Emperor Charles, Sir Roland and Sir Oliver and the story of their lives are written in the epic poems, 'The Odes of Roland'. Francis was enthralled when he heard of the heroic deeds of these men and resolved to become a knight.

Francis did become a knight, albeit a spiritual one. However, his Crusade was more far reaching than Roland's and the battle continues today, waged by the spiritual knights of God - the Franciscans. Francis was called to fight against the evil spiritual 'forces of darkness that rule the world.' He did so by shining, through his life, the Light of Gospel Love.

Francis mentioned the blessed army of God whose great leaders drove back the forces of darkness: the Saints of God. He admired them because they were "the light of the world". However, he had little respect for those 'who for merely repeating and preaching about what the saints did want to enjoy honor and praise'.

Francis didn't have much patience for hypocrites. A hypocrite is one who talks but doesn't do - affirms that something is good and right (or bad and wrong!) but then shows by his actions that he doesn't actually believe what he himself so strongly affirms.

He despised them because of the great spiritual damage they cause people. First, the hypocrite destroys himself by believing himself to be wise and good (despite the lack of spiritual 'fruit' that proves he is!) and his presumptuous expectation of going to heaven (due to his pride and self-righteousness - sins) will cause him to actually end up in hell. Second, he destroys others because they follow his example (of trusting self-righteousness) rather than DOING what he teaches - showing love through works of mercy. Finally, the hypocrite, without good deeds as proof of the powerful effect of the Gospel in his life, may cause his listeners to actually doubt God's power and the validity of the Gospel!

For example; A hypocrite might teach that 'Jesus is love'. This is, of course, the Truth! However, if he then acts in a harsh way toward others, a reasonable man might say "If Jesus is such a good influence in his life, then why does he act so unloving?! Jesus, must not be a good influence after all and also this man is obviously a liar. Why listen to a liar since they teach only lies?! This man, what he teaches and the Christ he represents is all a lot of hot air with no real substance!"

We know a person's 'actions speak louder than their words'. If a person says, 'Drinking too much alcohol is bad!' and then gets drunk all of the time, one could conclude that abusing alcohol is actually good (in some sense since people don't knowingly do bad things to themselves) and that the speaker is actually a liar. Also, if a parent tells it's child 'Exercise is really good!' but then doesn't exercise, the child will either lose respect for it's parent (for not doing what is reasonable - what is good - for themselves) or figure that exercise isn't so 'good' after all!

The hypocrite actually promotes evil by teaching by his actions that one can safely disregard the 'Truth' - since his listeners (usually) see nothing bad happen to the hypocrite when he disregards the Truth!

St. James talked about these 'verbally' religious people and compared them to the truly religious: "Nobody who fails to keep a tight rein on the tongue can claim to be religious; this is mere self-deception; that person's religion is worthless. Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows in their hardships . . ." Taking care of the poor and needy, feeling their pain and sorrow while responding with compassion, is 'true religion'. "Worthless religion" is practiced by those who trick themselves with high sounding words while neglecting what is essential - taking care of others. James says the truly wise person 'shows it by DOING good.'

St. John the Evangelist (Apostle) put it like this, 'Whoever claims to remain in Him (Jesus) must ACT as He acted." Later, He added, "This is the PROOF of love, that He LAID DOWN HIS LIFE for us and WE TOO OUGHT TO lay down our lives for our brothers. If one . . . sees his brother in need but closes his heart to him how can the love of God be remaining in him!? Children, our love MUST BE NOT IN WORDS OR MERE TALK, but something ACTIVE and genuine.' If we respond to their needs only with words, like St. James quoted 'talkers' - 'Be fed and clothed, with God's blessing' - then we prove we do not really know God.

John the Baptist said '. . . If anyone has two coats he must share with the man who has none and the one with something to eat must do the same.' Jesus said, "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless . . . Give to everyone who asks . . . Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate . . .' Neither Jesus nor John said all of us must open our mouths to teach. However, they did say that we ALL must preach with our lives, through good deeds which are 'a light shining in darkness'.

Finally, Jesus said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees you will not enter God's kingdom." The scribes were famous for teaching but not for doing what they taught. Jesus sais this TALKING had no value in God's eyes. He said they must reveal their righteousness and 'spiritual knowledge' by DOING the good things God expected from His children.

As followers of Jesus (and Francis) we shouldn't have any part with filling the air with words. Using our hands rather than our lips, let us be busy 'doing good to all men' as Jesus did. Jesus, in the course of His 36 years of earthly life, spent 10 times as much time DOING acts of love than SPEAKING about love. Even during His teaching years (3 years) - He actually spent little time teaching, but rather focused on healing, comforting and encouraging.

Though Jesus did speak beautifully about love it was by actually going to the cross that He SHOWED us the depths of His love. Jesus said we must follow His example. Francis is famous for following Jesus example of loving the poor, sick and the rejects of society and even today is known more for what he DID than what he SAID. Let us follow Jesus' (and Francis') example of love for "When you DID it for the least of these my children, you did it for Me!"

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, teach us to keep our lips closed but to ever have an open heart. Give us 'eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand' and feel the desperate needs of those around us. Help us, with our smile, eyes of compassion, the warm tone in our voice and especially in our gifts of time and effort to bring the Light of the Gospel love to the world. You've taught us, through the little poor man Francis, that loving others is the perfect way of preaching the Gospel. Help us to preach it loudly, strongly, by our actions and thereby the message of peace and joy to all! Amen. Happy Birthday Jesus!