Embracing Humility: The Legacy of St. Francis

Oct 05, 2025

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“And you know what I think about every time I hear that story is that God really likes to give us second chances. That wolf had blown it a bunch of times, but God sent a saint to say you can stop being like that and people will like you again. And the same thing to all those people who had probably killed some other wolves and bobcats in their time, right? And he said, could you stop killing animals who are just trying to eat? And they said, we will. It was a second chance for them, too. So if you ever feel like you keep getting on the wrong side of things with your friends or at home, at school, you just say, God, I need a second chance. And somebody is going to walk along, a friend or a teacher or a cousin, and say, you can try again. There's always another chance.”
“So today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis, probably the most beloved and admired. Most beloved, admired, but least imitated saint. He is famous, as you know, for loving animals, which is why we have blessings of the animals around the feast of his day. And he is officially the patron saint of ecology. But what he is perhaps most famous for is the Christian virtue of humility. There are three pillars to Franciscan spirituality, humility, love and joy. And we think of them as three pillars. But Francis said, no, humility is the foundation with love and joy arising from humility as a result of humility.”
“One of these signs of humility is that when he started his order, he decided to call them the minor brothers, the little brothers, the insignificant brothers. This was at a time when the order of preachers, also known as the Dominicans and the Benedictines, Order of Saint Benedict, were growing rapidly and gaining in wealth. The order of preachers, famous for being well educated, schooled in theology, Benedictine, is famous for getting rich and building huge monasteries and retreat centers, which still exist to this day in Italy. He also decided to take a radical vow of poverty, owning absolutely nothing. One robe, one set of sandals. They didn't even want a whole Bible, just had a book of the Gospels, and they would have no home. They would sleep in people's barns and in pigsties.”
“But Francis didn't want to be observed being holy because that would have been egotistical, right? Francis, striving for humility, pretended to Be asleep so that the other guy would go to sleep. And then he could get up and pray all night, which is what he did. But Bernard wanted to see what would happen. So Bernard pretended to fall asleep. He snored so that Francis would think he was asleep. And what he saw was that Francis got up, knelt down and said, all night, my God, my God. That's all he said. Now when Stances says, my God, my God, he is saying, my God, you are so amazing. Creation is so amazing. I love you. And he's also crying in shame out of his own sinfulness, just saying, my God, my God, I can't believe you still love me. It was really two sided for Francis.”
“Now what he didn't know is that in his head Francis was praying because he understood that God wished him to gather brothers, a band of brothers to do what he was doing. But he didn't know how to make it happen. He had zero administrative skills. And so here was a man presenting himself, a rich man. But did Francis say, yay, we made our stewardship goal. He said, let's go to a chapel and find a holy priest and ask him to say mass and pray with us and find verses of the Gospel that will guide us in this decision.”
“And Francis said, well, Bernard, looks like God is guiding us in this, so come join my order. Bernard sold everything, a very wealthy man. And they were out among the people giving money to hospitals, the prisons, for health care for the prisoners, to the poor, to widows, to orphans.”
“Now, if you've read all of the life of St. Francis, you'll know that that is not the way he always responded to adversity. Okay. But in this moment, he responded with true humility, saying, you wish to sort of undermine what we're doing, but you seem to think you need something from me, so I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to fight with you about this. I'm going to show forbearance, mercy, grace to you.”
“Notice that he didn't take offense. He avoided moralizing, saying, you avaricious, greedy man. How can you take this money that is meant for the poor? He just said, okay, you think you need it, I'll give it to you, and we'll just go on our way, continue being poor.”
“Frequently when the friars would say, you know, we ran into a very arrogant businessman or arrogant priest or a bishop who's fleecing the people of their money. And they'd say, shouldn't we challenge them? Should we go preach in their church and tell them what they're doing wrong? And he said, no, you should not. You should sit in the back and beg for alms and by your holiness and humility, convert them to a better way of life, not by telling them what they're doing wrong.”
“How does that work for us in this day? I think Amy and I have made it clear through about five speeches through this summer that God does not necessarily call upon all people to give up all. To give up all of their possessions. But there is something to be learned about a kind of humility. Not the complete poverty, but a poverty of spirit. Poverty of spirit that says, you want to inconvenience me or undermine what I'm doing or get in my way or cause me delays or tell me it's going to be eight weeks until the IT guy can fix it. You want to do that to me? I'm going to respond with grace and understanding rather than saying, I've waited five times at that red light and I still can't get on a boulder this morning. Right? There are many ways that humility works its way into our lives when we have opportunities.”
“And it's tricky because trying to be humble, like, let me try to be humble. I'm going to be good at being humble. Do you see how there's an irony in that? There's a weirdness to it. I would say that humility doesn't happen that way. It happens this, that an opportunity comes at you almost like a jab at you. Somebody insults you, somebody gets in your way, somebody got the job you wanted, somebody took your money, somebody stole your bike, and you feel that jab and you say, I'm going to respond with grace in this situation, with forbearance, with patience in this situation.”
“We can still oppose injustice when it comes to other people, but to constantly demand that everything is our way all the time and that we are right all the time, which is, I think, often what happens in our society amongst us is to run away from humility. The problem with pride is that it eventually eats away at us and destroys relationships. But responding with humility leads to love and joy arising in all our relationships.”
“With humility, you'll never get awards. And that's the point. Never be rich in money. And that's the point. You may never be important or be thought well of. And that's the point. There's A pointedness to humility. Sometimes it hurts, right? There's a pointedness. But the reward is the simplicity and freedom that comes from knowing that we are lying entirely in God's hands and that God is taking care of us at that moment when life is digging into us with those points.”
“And then we also find out that lives of pride are pointless. They're pointless. Better to have the little jabs of life coming at you and asking God to help you respond with grace. And then, like Francis, to spend your nights praying. My God, my God.”
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