Paul Tillich said that faith is the most misunderstood word in the religious vocabulary, and I’ve always felt that he’s right about that. What is faith? Faith is an attitude of trust in the presence of God. Faith is openness to what God will reveal, do, and invite. It should be obvious that in dealing with the infinite, all-powerful God, we are never in control.
This is precisely what we see in the lives of the saints: in Mother Teresa moving into the worst slum in the world in an attitude of trust; in Francis of Assisi just abandoning everything and living for God; in Rose Hawthorne deciding to take cancer sufferers into her own home; in Antony leaving everything behind and going into the desert; in Maximilian Kolbe saying, I’m a Catholic priest; take me in his place.
--Bishop Robert Barron,
Gospel Reflection,
June 18, 2022
Happy Feast of St. Francis of Assisi,
patron saint of the
Archdiocese of San Francisco!
Image source: Bernardo del Rincón, St. Francis (ca. 1650), polychrome, wood, glass & rope. Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. For a meditative article on the possible sources of this remarkable sculpture, visit https://www.famsf.org/saint-francis-assisi
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