I offer this article by Fr. Gene Bayato Pastidio, O.F.M., a Franciscan friar in the Philippines, as my blog today. I believe it is particularly appropriate for our apostolate as we bear the suffering and frustration of chronic illness and/or disability.
The "Stigmatization of St. Francis" that we celebrate on September 17 is a theologico-mystico-emotional part of our Franciscan history. It supposedly occurred in September 1224 on Mount La Verna where the Saint was having one of his personal fasting periods in honor of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14, when he received the imprint of the wounds on his hands, feet and side from the Lord himself who appeared as a Seraph, an angel with six wings. It is constantly depicted in graphic art until today, even more than the Greccio event. I have often asked why it is so. What is there in the Stigmata that has captured and has spiritually obsessed our collective Franciscan psyche?
I accidentally came upon an answer in the Bible, in the reference that when a person is tried with problems and difficulties, he is like silver or gold being purified by fire (cfr. Malachi 3:2-3; Ezekiel 22:17-21; Psalm 66,10; Isaiah 48:10, among others). The process of purification and cleansing of a person's heart is compared to the process being done to these precious metals. We can see the connection when we understand the process of how these precious metals are purified or refined.
First, the metal is put in a fire-resistant container, which is put over a fire. The intensity of the fire is increased to melt the metal. The silver or goldsmith will stir the molten metal to even the melting process, liquifying it, leading to its boiling point. A silversmith while going through this process in his shop was once asked, "How do you know if the silver has been refined?" The silversmith smiled as if the question was unnecessary, and he answered, "When I can see my image in it; when the molten metal becomes like a mirror and I see my reflection in it; then I know the process is done; the silver is refined."
So that's what trials and sufferings do to us. As we go through life, we absorb all kinds of impurities and attachments that tarnish us, so the trials and sufferings are sent to purify us and restore us to what we were -- to what we should be. Like a precious metal, we are being melted by them until the silversmith sees his image in us. Who is the silversmith? The Lord, evidently. We are put on that fire of trials, until he can again see in us his image: as loving, compassionate, gentle, forgiving, merciful. Trials and sufferings, when we allow the Lord to guide us through them, will melt the impurities, the attachments, the selfishness, the anger, the hardness of heart, the materialism and all, until we are purified and cleansed. A powerful lesson to learn, and quite hard to put into practice; but then, nothing is impossible with God.
This reflection helped me understand the Stigmata, whether it truly happened or not, or it was given in a graphic way to teach us the lesson of the Cross. We are familiar with the life of St. Francis. We know what he went through as he journeyed through the world, fulfilling the message of the Cross of San Damiano. It was only after he became aware of the broader meaning of the message that he was able to go out to the world and embrace the brokenness that he saw around him: in the Church, in the society of his time and its varied conflicts and from there to the rest of the world and of creation. He started with himself, in the solitude and contemplation of San Damiano and the shattering of his dreams that he was able to find Christ and embrace him in others and in all creation.
In the midst of it all, he composed the Canticle of Brother Sun, and soon after orchestrated his last moments to echo those of Jesus. All of this put together made him a reflection of the Savior, faithful, simple and poor, devoid of any prejudice or bad will against anyone, welcoming all into his heart, being a brother to all creatures and trusting in the Father alone. He had become an image of Jesus, even physically. He had been purified many times over like silver, and the divine Silversmith saw in him the image of his Son. The Stigmata was the ultimate stamp to show that the silver had been purified.
Now we know why St. Francis is called "the mirror of Christ."
And by the way, the proclamation of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the introduction of the Season of Creation, the announcement of the Jubilee of Mercy with the faculty to absolve abortion being given to all priests, and the revision of the process for annulment of marriages -- all done by this pope named Francis -- in this month of the Stigmata -- are these just pure coincidence? It gives me goose bumps! And what of his visit to the USA later this month and the statements he will make, knowing that country's stand vis-a-vis global warming and of creation in general, the migrants, its foreign policy etc., etc., perhaps some of them in the context of his canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra?