Everyone wants to be loved and who doesn't want to be popular? Those who don't might be considered dangerous, outcast, because as social creatures, people thrive with the support and encouragement of others. However, God makes it clear that He wants us to feel like 'a stranger in a strange land' - to see EVERYONE (even family and friends) as being 'strangers' to us so that we can learn to rely solely on God.
God called Abraham and told him to "leave your home and go to the place that I will show you, where I will bless you." Abraham trusted God and, in faithful obedience, left his home, neighbors and friends. Many stories in the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) are about people, like Abraham, who were outcasts (or made themselves outcasts). Moses, rejected by his own nation and Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers are two examples of this truth. These men (and many others) found themselves, through no fault of their own, deserted or betrayed by those who should have loved and supported them. God wanted their faith in Him to grow strong as they experienced His support and encouragement during the trials of their lives. God actually ended up using them to help those who treated them so badly to come to know God.
Jesus was a 'stranger' - a man driven by the Spirit of God to be alone with God - even though His heart welcomed everyone. During His years of ministry He was rejected by the people and ended up deserted and betrayed by His own disciples. However, through it all, He kept His eyes focused on His Father. He never forgot His mission and so, no matter what evil others did to Him, He was determined to do God's will to the end, even while dieing. Jesus NEVER neglected God, spending whole nights alone with Him in prayer. God came FIRST in Jesus' heart, before people and even before Himself. (He needed sleep but chose to seek God instead!) Jesus proved He was, like Abraham and the others, a 'stranger in a strange land'. He said, "The foxes have holes and the birds have nests but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head"!? Jesus chose to not have a home, to not rely on His family, because He wanted it to be clear that He relied totally on God - God was home and family to Him. Jesus wants us to rely on God just as fully.
Jesus taught us that 'forsaking' others is often a prerequisite for those choosing to follow God. Jesus said "The first commandment is that a man must love God with ALL of his heart, soul, mind and body". Jesus made it clear that love for God must come before love for man - even one's wife and children! Brotherly love IS very important, but it is always a distant second to our duty to love God. He made this point even clearer saying, "Unless a man hates father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children and even his own life - he cannot follow Me." Later He tells His disciples that they must 'forsake' families and friends, to follow Him. These are hard words to hear and even harder to carry out! However, Jesus was both clear and uncompromising about our need to ' . . . forsake ALL to follow' Him.
Francis' stormy relationship with his father provides an object lesson of how God works to strengthen our faith in Him. Francis' father showed his disapproval of Francis' decision to follow God by not only beating him but chaining and imprisoning him! Francis eventually, claiming the protection of God through the Church, said, "I shall no long say 'My father, Pietro Bernadone' but rather 'My Father, who art in heaven'". Francis' break with his father (and family) caused him to put all of His reliance on God to meet all of his needs - emotional, socially, spiritual and materially.
Why is God so demanding, expecting us to do things that are seemingly beyond our heart's capacity to endure - to forsake wife and children and even our own lives? God has a right to tell us to give up everything for Him since He made us for His purposes and sustains us for His pleasure. It is not only fair but reasonable for Him to ask this and our obligation is to open our heart in faith and say 'Yes!' to God.
However, there is another good reason God asks so much of us - faith in God (giving up reliance on anyone else) is the only way God can save us. "One cannot serve two masters", Jesus said. Later He said, "Do you think that I have come to bring peace?! No, rather war for from now on a man will be at odds with his wife, a daughter against her mother and parents against their children!" Jesus goes on to say that "a person's enemies will be those of his own home." The reason for the 'war' is that we now seek to please God rather than our families and, like Francis' family, this both worries and upsets them. Salvation comes through faith in God but if we rely on others (or even ourselves) for help and support, then we won't come to God, rely upon Him in faith, to save us. We must 'war' against ourselves, as well as sometimes the desires of our families, to gain the salvation God offers us.
St. Paul talked about this possible spiritual 'conflict of interest' in the context of normal marital relations. "A man who is married cares about the things of this world and how he can please his wife while a single person focuses totally on how he can please God . . . the time has come when those who are married must be as if unmarried . . . I want you to be without worldly worries and focused only on pleasing the Lord."
Francis, in the passage below, talks about those who gather knowledge so as to maintain the love and support of people as well as about the blessedness of one who forsakes 'the climb to knowledge' (and the support of men) to, in perfect trust, wholeheartedly seek and serve God.
"There are so many eager for the climb to knowledge that the man is blessed who keeps himself barren of it for the love of God."
Does Jesus really advocate 'hate'? We are taught that Jesus is the 'Lord of love' and the 'Prince of Peace' and yet His own words seem to contradict these descriptions. Jesus spoke dramatically to make His points clearly and powerfully. When Jesus said "You must hate. . . " He actually meant that ONE'S LOVE FOR GOD SHOULD BE SO GREAT THAT LOVE FOR ANYONE ELSE MUST SEEM LIKE HATE IN COMPARISON. If He actually meant hate how could He tell His disciples later to "Love your neighbor as yourself"? Jesus not only brought peace to countless millions but encouraged His disciples to do the same when He said, "Blessed are the peacemakers . . ." It wasn't Jesus bringing 'war' but the fact that HIS DEMAND THAT HIS DISCIPLES TOTALLY GIVE THEMSELVES IN FAITH TO GOD THAT CREATED CONFLICTS BETWEEN BELIEVERS AND THEIR UNBELIEVING FAMILIES.
It should be noted that God is not asking those who are married to separate from their spouses. St. Paul knew the benefits of being single: one could focus exclusively on trying to please God. However, St. Paul acknowledged that marriage was a blessed 'gift from God' and that MOST people, during their lives, were called by God to marry and have children (part of the original plan of God that ' . . . a man shall . . . cling to his wife and become one'). He pointed out that even the early leaders of the Church, including St. Peter, were married. St. Paul is saying that no matter what marital state we are in, we must choose to love and follow God ABOVE our spouse and do what pleases Him first. (It should be noted that if God calls you to be married then He expects you to serve Him through your marriage since Marriage is also a 'Vocation' - a 'calling' - by God to serve Him . It is, as well, a holy Sacrament.)
St. Francis argues that the one who 'is eager for the climb to knowledge' is actually seeking the support of others, even if part of the reason he wants to learn is to be able to serve others. Though loving our neighbor is one of the two most important commands of God, it is always second to THE FIRST : LOVING GOD above everyone and everything else. Remember, if one learns primarily for the sake of getting knowledge so as to be able to teach others rather than to learn to to rely on God, one has put the proverbial 'cart before the horse'.
This doesn't mean that scripture wasn't a part of the saints daily lives (it is part of the Mass, found in daily prayers - the Lord's prayer - and recited in the Office). However, Francis argues that praying and living it (scripture) were much more effective than reading it in coming to know God. Francis acknowledges that this is a sacrifice but one that would be highly pleasing to God, inspiring Him to be generous in revealing Himself (mystically) to those who made this sacrifice, for 'love of God'.
This sacrifice (the 'barren'-ness Francis mentions) meant giving up the 'world' and maybe even one's life. A person would be considered ignorant and simple if he didn't at least try to become learned and so would find himself rejected by the world. Also, those without learning (and the social contacts it brought) could not rely on those contacts to provide a living for him. One could ONLY rely on 'the table of the Lord' - God's providence in providing manual labor and, if there was no way to earn one's 'daily bread', then solely on alms given 'for the love of God.'
PRAYER: Jesus, for love of You we turn from the 'the climb for knowledge' because we want to know you through experiencing Your love in our lives. You've promised to teach us to love YOU through the people You've placed in our lives. Help us to seek You in daily prayer, using Your Words to empower our prayers to You. We thank You for Your example as a 'stranger' as well as the examples of father Abraham, brother Francis and all of the others saints and friars. Our hearts are Yours for we long for You with all we are. Save us from the delusions that knowledge can bring and help us to exalt You in our hearts, minds and bodies - be ever glorified in our deeds and words, forever. Amen.
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