Francis’ contemporaries did not seek out the Poor Man of Assisi because of his good looks, his preaching, his learning or his ability to heal. What they saw in him was authenticity. They saw sincerity. They saw honesty in the way he lived his life and preached the gospel. Vauchez describes it this way: Others before him [St. Francis]—hermits, recluses or pious pilgrims, but also Cathar bons hommes or Waldensian preachers—had been able to impress people by their austerity or their edifying lives. But in Francis, they vaguely perceived something more: his strength of conviction fascinated them, but even more so did his total sincerity, his constant refusal to allow the least distance between the exterior and the interior, between word and action aim at making it real in this world (74). Vauchez further describes the novelty of Francis this way: In contrast to his contemporary St. Dominic, his primary objective was not to defend the Church against its adversaries or even to proclaim sacred doctrine by refuting the errors of heretics, but to communicate to all men and women of his day the fundamental certitudes that animated him: God is good and full of love; we must praise him for having sent into the world his Son, who has suffered for us and wants to save us; the human person has the obligation to respond with such care by changing his or her life without delay, for the day of judgment approaches (78).
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 03:25:28 +0000
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