A Very Difficult Case

A Very Difficult Case

Michael J. Spoula

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A Very Difficult Case By Michael J. Spoula At this retreat I want to share with you the facts in a very difficult case. To understand the problem you really need to have an understanding of the entire life of the person I am speaking about. He was born the son of rich parents and like a lot of these stories it is a case where the father had to spend a great deal of time away from home on business. As a matter of fact he was born while his father was abroad on one of his many journeys. Yet I don’t want you to come to the conclusion that this was a neglected child. Far from it. He actually had everything that he wanted, from the best food to the best clothes. He grew up a happy child. His was a love of controversy from the very start. He was named “John” by his mother, but that name did not find favor when his father returned from his sales trip. He changed it to one he liked better. The boy grew up happy and he was taught the business of his father and was educated at the best Catholic school in the area. There is not much else to report about his childhood except that it was uneventful and that he was a papered little brat. Yet, through it all he retained a certain pious attitude. He frequented the sacraments and in general did the things expected of him as a growing up Catholic child. He had a dream. That dream was that he would be a great soldier and rescue and marry a fair maiden. When he was of age, he joined the army and actually fought in a battle. He was captured by the enemy and spent a year or so in jail before he was finally repatriated. It was during that year that his conversion experience began. He returned to his home but it was not the same anymore. The wine wasn’t as sweet, nor were the girls as beautiful. He began to spend more time alone. His friends didn’t notice much of a difference in him because he still joined in their parties. The parties did not

A Very Difficult Case

Michael J. Spoula

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satisfy him anymore. One day a poor man came into his father’s store where he was working and tried to panhandle from him. Without much ceremony he tossed the beggar back out into the street. For those of you who haven’t guessed it yet, this is the story of one John Bernardone whom the world calls Francis of Assisi.. Francis thought about what he had just done but something kept nagging at him, a voice he could not quite hear was whispering to him ad making him feel ill at ease. Then he figured out what the problem was. The beggar asked for a handout “in the name of God.” Francis thought to himself that if one of his noble friends came and made that same request he would have honored it without a second thought. France took some money from the till and searched high and low until he found the beggar. He gave him the money and falling on his knees before the man, begged for forgiveness. In all lives there is a pivotal event, a time when we make a choice as to which road we are going to follow, and this event was the event that propelled Francis down a new path. Now his friends noticed a difference in him. He was no longer so keen to drink and gamble. When he did go out he with tem he was more quiet. His friends knew what the problem was. Francis was in love! Francis for his part admitted to them that he was in love. “My love,” he said “ is fairer then any maiden around. For my love is Poverty.” His friends did not know what to make of this, and they tried their best to “snap him out of it.” but they could not. Shortly thereafter Francis found himself in the Church of San Damiano, which was little more then a ruin. He knelt there for hours at a time in prayer. One day the Crucifix seemingly spoke to him. The words he heard would change his life forever. He heard: “Francis, can’t you see my church is falling into ruin?” From that moment Francis belonged to God. He begged, borrowed and some say stole bricks for rebuilding the Church of San Damiano. He

A Very Difficult Case

Michael J. Spoula

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worked hard and soon the task was complete. It cost Francis plenty. He had taken to wearing the clothes of a beggar and when he walked through the town his former friends heaped ridicule and more practically clods of what might be politely called soil at him. Everyone thought he had gone mad. At least he had support from his family, right? No, this was not the case. His father led a delegation that carried Francis before the local bishop. Francis claimed the “benefit of clergy” so he could not be hauled into a public court for taking some bolts of cloth and selling them to get money to buy bricks. Francis went to where he had hidden the money, he considered it wages for his work in the shop but so that all would appear to be proper he returned the money to his father along with the clothes he used to wear. He stood before the crown naked and told his father: “I used to call you father, and now I shall say my Father in Heaven.” The bishop covered Francis with is own robe and thus the Franciscan order was born. Francis gave up everything for the God he loved.

Francis was able to convert the most stubborn of fellows. One story is told of him converting three armed bandits who were terrorizing the countryside. They approached Francis as he talked and prayed with another unnamed companion.. They demanded food from Francis and before he could invite them his companion told them” “As men insolent and bold as you would devour even the alms givent o the servant s of God - be gone and do not come here again!” Francis immediately chastised his companion and ran after the thugs shouting: “Brother thieves, come to us because we bring you good bread and good wine.” THey spread a cloth and served the bandits as they ate and drank. He bid them come back the next day and he fed them again. After awhile francis asked them: “Why

A Very Difficult Case

Michael J. Spoula

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do you live so hard and do so many evil things? For these you will lose your souls unless you are converted to God and service the one Lord.” The bandits not only gave up their thieving ways but later sought out Francis and asked to be admitted as Friars. Two of the three died soon after joining the order but the third outlived Francis.

Francis had one desire in life and that was to imitate Christ in all he did. Perhaps it was because of this deep desire that our Lord seem fit to award him the very marks of his crucifixion. Francis of Assisi imitated Christ in his life and became united with him in death. I tell this story not only because I am a Franciscan at heart but because it brings me to the main point of my talk. Francis of Assisi began life as an average life in all respect. He used the goods of this world to bring himself pleasure and for the most part let the rest of the world go hell in a hand basket. Yet he ended up as one of the most honored men in heaven and on earth.

What separates us from Francis. That is a question that I have wrestled with all of my life. Why do some people spend their lives not knowing about nor caring about heaven while other people like Francis begin their heaven on earth. My theory is that we don’t try hard enough and we try to hard. What I mean is that we assume that it is effort on our part that makes us holy. Not at all. God makes and has made us holy by the death of his Son. What we are doing at this retreat is not a holy thing. Holiness is a thing for saints. Or this is what many of us think. It is by the cross and resurrection of Jesus that we became saints and how we became holy. All we have to do is to accept the gift and live accordingly. You and I are living saints in the making. St. Teresa, the Little Flower,

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Michael J. Spoula

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pursued sainthood by remaining silent and accepting her state in life without murmur. She would get the worst jobs in her convent and she did them without complaining, offering all to God. She was an ordinary woman doing everyday ordinary things to show that she accepted the extraordinary gift of God’s love. Here is a way to sainthood for us to try, Carry the cross willingly. The cross leads to heaven. Run away from the cross and you only run to another, perhaps heavier one. Walk in the Light of Jesus. Follow Him along the Way of the Cross. Pray, Pray, and Pray again.