For Francis, the witness of life is the first method of evangelization. And so friars must at no time put aside the call to penance that comes from living as Francis did. At the same time Francis writes in the Rule of 1221 that his brothers explicitly proclaim the Gospel only when it pleases God.
We feel that, through the signs of the times, God is telling us that the ‘when’ of Francis’ directive has not yet arrived. In many countries the open preaching of the Gospel is not possible; Islam is renewing itself. Do these facts not show us that, as Francis waited for God’s pleasure, we too have to place ourselves in God’s hands?
At the same time we are convinced that God is at work. The Holy Spirit is ahead of us, and many things happen altogether outside of and apart from our activity. The plan of God moves ahead independent of us. We adore Him in it. The present-day revival of Islam could well be seen as a renewed consciousness of the Word of God and man’s submission to Him, a thought very dear to the heart of St. Francis:
“Every creature in heaven and on earth and in the depths of the sea should give God praise and glory and honour and blessing. He has borne so much for us and has done and will do so much good to us. He is our power and our strength, and He alone is good, He alone most high, He alone all-powerful, wonderful, and glorious, he alone is holy and worthy of all praise and blessing for endless ages and ages. Amen” (2LtF 61-62).
The witness of a truly Franciscan life, our activities for the poor, for social justice, for human rights according to situations in different countries; our openness and sensitivity to the persons around us; our submission to every creature; our patient dependence on the Will of God: these are more than enough to convince us that we can truly fulfill our Franciscan missionary vocation today.
This vision of our Franciscan missionary vocation is expressive of Francis’ approach in regard to the Muslim world. Following the mandate of the Lord: “Francis, go and repair my church!” he tried in his gentle yet firm way to convert the attitudes of the Church, also with regard to Islam. He wished the Church to be among the Muslims as a poor and serving Church, powerless, identifying itself with the most marginalized persons.
To live like that does not come easily to anyone. But if we remember Francis’ experience of perfect joy, we may also be helped towards the kenosis as his true disciples. The guidance of the Spirit will make this a fruitful experience because it will open our eyes for positive values in Islam.
In fact, in our many discussions, we found that this experience is what dialogue is all about, precisely in as far as it demands the willingness to surrender oneself to the other, and accept the other as ‘other’. It is not a question, then, of disputing which religion has the truth, or to what extent. It is a question, rather, of opening oneself to the truth of the other person. In this way, we Christians and Muslims, can hopefully discover our common concerns, our common problems; we can learn to appreciate that we have common human values, human needs, and can seek common solutions to these, always aware that we do not possess the truth but that the truth possesses us…
CCFMC, Lesson Unit 16, C 4
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