Amy Welborn in Living Faith

Today's entry (October 5) in Living Faith was written by Amy Welborn.

At Mass recently, a priest put the whole matter of sin rather succinctly and in a way I can't forget. In referring to Original Sin--and then, the original and unoriginal sin into which all of us fall--he said, "In the garden, human beings looked at their own Creator and said," and here he paused, "No."

More

Three years ago, yesterday's (October 4 - Feast of St Francis) entry was also written by me. 

St. Francis of Assisi compels us. In his radical discipleship, his single-mindedness, his compassion, he draws us, not simply to himself, but to Christ. What I find so striking about St. Francis was that so many considered him a failure. When he died after years of terrible physical suffering, the movement of penitence and poverty that bore his name was already strained and would soon divide it into fractious elements.

Whenever I am tempted to judge my life according to worldly standards of success, "good" results and fruitful planning, I remember Francis on his deathbed: blind, in pain, sadly aware of his brothers' diverging paths. And I remember what matters: that he bore the wounds of Love on his body, conforming himself to that Love, waiting to see with his own eyes.