DIALOGUE, THE WAY TO PEACE

To initiate peace immediately, with St. Francis

We harbour expectations and hopes and offer up prayers for peace in these days in particular. Convinced that peace lies in the hands of others, our hope and our expectation of peace is placed in the powerful of this world and we pray that God might pour into their hearts the desire for peace. But Francis teaches us that we can begin the peace. He knows, in the first person, the itinerary that leads from war to peace.

As a young man he aspired to the nobility of knighthood and was convinced of the possibility to construct an honourable future for his own existence by enlisting in an enterprise of war: this was the way to success and power. Convinced of having found in the perpetrator of war the patron that would assure him success and while he was all set to go to Puglia, the battle field, an insistent voice addressed him with the question: "which is better, to follow the servant or the master?" He then realized that the patron of war was a slave and, following the mysterious voice, he returned to his native city. There, in San Damiano, he met the real patron: the living crucifix, with wide-open eyes, which pointed out the way to give meaning to his life and vitality to the Church. Abandoning war and following the crucifix, St. Francis found peace and repaired the Church.

Francis lived a second experience on the occasion of the crusade against the great enemy, the Muslim Sultan. In his relationships with Islam, Francis followed a logic that was completely different to that of the promoters of the crusade. He felt that the relationships with the traditional "enemy" could not be resolved with force. It was precisely the condition of being an enemy that did not find room in his soul. He was spurred on by love for all those who carried the image of God the Creator in them and he felt sent by God, not by a man. He had to overcome many difficulties in order to be able to pass from the armed camp to pacifying dialogue.

The accounts given in the sources about the meeting of Francis with the Sultan tell us of a heavenly or escathological atmosphere: the representatives of two great civilizations and religions, in a state of war against each other, spoke in a cordial and friendly manner, not simply exchanging gestures of courtesy, but speaking of their faith and religious experience. Francis realized that he had chosen correctly in giving credit to the good found in the Sultan and in his faith and discovered that the Muslims were not only created by God and redeemed by Jesus Christ, but that they were also men of prayer. He would regard this experience as a treasure and, on his return, he would write to the leaders of the people to send a town crier each evening, or to find some other sign, to invite all the people to proclaim the praises of the Lord. On his part, the Sultan wished to dismiss the strange and likeable guest by offering him gifts, which he refused for himself, for the poor and for the churches of the Christians: Francis had brought poverty and simplicity to the Sultan and he returned with them, without allowing himself to be contaminated by advantages or privileges.

Francis' itinerary of peace can be broken down into three stages, marked by the knocking down of three walls. Embracing and kissing the leper broke down the wall of personal self-preservation that sees in others an enemy, or a danger, or a risk. The second wall is that which wishes to separate the good from the bad, marginalizing the latter. For Francis the thieves cannot be chased from the convents of his friars in a brusque manner and without help, and when this happened, he sent the friar to search them out and offer them some good bread and wine, calling them in a loud voice: brother thieves. The third wall, perhaps the most radical in the common sense, is that of religion. This is justified in a Manichean vision of life that neatly divides the good, identified with Christians and those who preserve the orthodox faith, from the bad, identified with non-Christians and heretics. This division is the most profound because it is justified by motives of a religious nature and frequently assumes such intensity as to legitimize recourse to force for the defense of truth.     

It is not surprising that after knocking down these three walls Francis became a peacemaker for people and cities. Even his friars, in fraternity life and evangelization, must first of all be peaceful, avoiding arguments and disputes. Those who go among the Saracens must first of all submit themselves to their authority and their laws: it is an attitude of peace and respect that will make their testimony and their announcement credible.

Peace is derived from a just relationship with things, while war is born of the desire to take possession of them. Francis found his proper place in creation, discovering the only Father and seeing in all others his brothers and sisters: with his poverty he initiated a world of peace.