The Franciscan Genius: Integration of the Negative
From Willfulness to Willingness
Monday, June 15, 2015
Franciscan theologian Bonaventure (1217-1274) saw God as “a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” You fall into this Wholeness—which will actually hold you—when you stop denying or excluding things, even the dark parts of yourself. This mystery of including the negative was probably best taught by St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), a Carmelite nun who became the youngest, least educated, and most quickly made Doctor of the Church. I think she was really Franciscan; she just didn’t know it! She was simply an authentic Christian. [1]
Thérèse rediscovered the same thing that Francis did: We don’t come to God by eliminating our imperfection, but by rejoicing in it because it makes us aware of our need for God’s mercy and love and it keeps us humble. She called this her “Little Way,” a way which everyone can follow. Brother Joe Schmidt describes Thérèse’s method as “the way of being aware of your need for love, willing to give yourself to God’s loving embrace like a child abandons itself with confidence and love into the arms of its loving parent, and then freely sharing love with others in creative good works of peace and justice. It is the willingness to be the person God calls you to be.”[2]
Thérèse once told her sister, Celine, who was upset with her own faults, “If you are willing to bear serenely the trial of being displeasing to yourself, then you will be a pleasant place of shelter for Jesus.” If you observe yourself, you will see how hard it is to be “displeasing” to yourself, and that this is the initial emotional snag that sends you into terribly bad moods without even realizing the origins of these moods. So to resolve this common problem, both Francis and Thérèse teach you to let go of the very need to “think well of yourself” to begin with! That is your ego talking, not God, they would say. Only those who have surrendered their foundational egocentricity can do this, of course. Psychiatrist and writer Scott Peck once told me that Thérèse’s quote was “sheer religious genius” because it made the usual posturing of religion well-nigh impossible. [3]
Gateway to Silence:
We must bear patiently not being good . . . and not being thought good. —Francis of Assisi
References:
[1] Richard Rohr, adapted from Franciscan Mysticism: I Am That Which I Am Seeking (Center for Action and Contemplation), disc 1 (CD, MP3 download).
[2] Joseph F. Schmidt, FSC, Everything Is Grace: The Life and Way of Thérèse of Lisieux (The Word Among Us Press: 2007), 21.
[3] Richard Rohr, adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 111-112.
