Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. As I think about him, I also consider the perception of holiness, or sanctity. Francis remains popular, even after 800 years. He is sometimes called “everyone’s saint,” who appeals not only to Catholics and other Christians, but to people of no particular religion, and maybe even to some atheists and agnostics.

What is the appeal of this strange, little, poor man of Assisi? What are his qualities and characteristics that still reach out to people after these centuries? After all, when he was going through his conversion experience, he was considered a bit crazy by some local people. He totally turned away from his father and a rather lucrative cloth business. He chose to live in strict poverty and live basically as a beggar.

Why does someone like that still appeal to people after all these years? There is his connection with nature, with care for the earth. He is known to call birds and animals his sisters and brothers, along with the sun and moon. We hear joking remarks about how often his statue is situated on or near a bird bath. But that could be a serious reminder to all of us to care for our earth, this one place in the universe where we can live.

But we call him a saint, and one wonders how many people consider the source or motivation of his life of sanctity. It is clear from his writings that his life of simple poverty stems from his desire to “live the Gospel” in as literal a way as possible. He was totally Catholic in his reverence for the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and in his sense of loyalty and obedience to the Pope.

Many people who honor him do not share those particular values. But those values were the source of his motivation for all that he did. God is the Creator of the material universe. Jesus, the Son of God, came to live with us and lived a life of poverty and service to his human brothers and sisters. And that is what Francis wanted to imitate: to be a little brother to all creation. Perhaps the appeal of his life is that it was not a matter of doctrine or theological ideas, but a matter of actually living what he believed.

And so, we have “Saint” Francis, a totally Christian and Catholic man, who continues to appeal to people of all sorts of backgrounds and beliefs. Maybe the lesson is that we sincerely live our values and use those values as a foundation for building bridges with all our brothers and sisters, the human and non-human alike.

-Fr. Tom Zelinski