The meeting between Francis and the Sultan was an important event in his life and his spiritual development. His biographers tend to underestimate this. They only look at the political results and at the failure of the conversion of the Sultan (cf 1Cel 55). The meeting deepened the insight of Francis. He was glad about the living presence of God among the Moslems, who pray to Allah in an impressive way and whose name they got to know from a holy book, just like the Christians. Francis could have dreamed of a world in which the Moslems and the Christians enrich each other with their concept of God.
This concept gives us a deeper insight into his life. During his missionary journeys, his understanding of God was confirmed. In contrast to the completely different image of God of the Crusaders, whose God exercises power above all, the God revealed himself to his Brothers in Jesus as humility. This God of humility and of service and how he revealed himself in the life of Jesus on earth, helped him to read the Holy Scripture anew: for example Rule of 1221: 1,3; Mt. 19 Mt. 16:24 -:19 - Rule of 1221: 1,5; Mt 5:39 - Rule of 1221: 14,4).
Francis and the Pope read the same texts but in opposite directions: for the church authorities, texts like “Jesus carrying the cross” justify a violent conquest of the holy places, while for Francis, the same words were an invitation to a life without possession and without violence. From this Francis saw that his mission originated directly from “divine inspiration”. (ER: 16,3). He therefore could not expect understanding from those who arm themselves for war. The unity of life and mission also has further repercussions: Francis was near ordinary people in their own milieu: on the fields, in workshops, in their homes, in the leper hospice where the brothers served men and brought them peace. The search for truth followed the same process. Life becomes a journey where man discovers God’s presence even among other people and listens to what God tells them in new situations. Francis refuses to be involved in disputes and arguments, because he is convinced that God is humility. Men are neither gods nor possessors of truth; they are searchers for truth, as shown in the history of mankind and the whole creation.
This nearness to mankind and the readiness to serve them ist more at home in a laity spirituality than among the clergy. Thus, on the day the clericalism of the Order began, the spirituality of Francis found itself in danger. It is no wonder that the spirituality of “being a subject” disappeared from the Rule of 1223. When Francis remarked in his testament, “and I worked with my hands and I want to work; and it is my firm will that all other Brothers do manual work that are respectable” (Test 20), this is a sad but last echo of the early days of his dreams.
In agreement with his principle to preach more by example than by words, Francis never considered preaching as his first duty. The church of his time thought differently.
The preaching of truth was the highest priority and was necessary for salvation. On the other hand, Francis gets his inspiration from another view, seeing God as present even among the Moslems, and that He does a lot of goodness to them. Francis neither takes a negative attitude against Islam nor does he restrict God to the limits of Christianity or to a culturally bound theology. Instead, he leaves himself to the divine mystery of redemption, which encompasses all men, and waits patiently for divine inspiration before he does or decides something.
CCFMC, Lesson7 4.2
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