Francis’ encounter with the Crucifix of San Damiano
Introduction
The icon of San Damiano crucifix has had great diffusion in the Catholic piety, in any store or lithography it is easy to get it, surely its design and coloring make it especially attractive, simply from pious or aesthetic interests, and suddenly you find it in the office of a bank manager or in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.
I would like to share with you a short reflection on the encounter of St. Francis with the Christ of San Damiano at the beginning of our spiritual journey, a reflection that I have dared to call «An icon that speaks».
Scholars of the icon of San Damiano place its origin in the tenth or eleventh centuries, most likely painted by a monk who lived in the region of Umbria. Making an icon requires an infinite sense of contemplation, prayer and mysticism about the figure to be painted.
An icon is painted essentially to be contemplated, in this one of San Damiano, the first thing that jumps to the sight is the figure of a crucified and at the same time resurrected Christ, with enormous open eyes and great luminosity in the colors of the figures that accompany him; colors that contrast with the black background that in the iconography of the time means death, red that indicates divinity, gold that represents eternity, blue and green that refer to the world and the passing of human history.
This encounter of Francis with an icon that speaks to his heart from a church whose roof is collapsing is a foundational event of the Franciscan charism. He had already had two important encounters before, with himself in sickness and loneliness and with the leper, outside the city walls, on the road.
The order of the encounters reflects the evident centrality of the human being in Franciscan spirituality, situated in contexts of margination. With regard to encounters, it is worth noting the importance of the theme in the magisterium of Pope Francis when he speaks of the culture of encounter.
From Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti there is no doubt, as the Pope says, that everything is related and that we are all brothers and sisters in this wonderful pilgrimage that is life, intertwined by the love that God has for each of his creatures, a love that unites with tender affection, the brother sun, the sister, and the brother and sister who are all brothers and sisters.,
to sister moon, to brother river and to mother earth» (LS, 92). Moreover, with the certainty that it is not possible to accentuate one encounter while neglecting or ignoring another, or what would be worse, blocking it, creating an internal fracture that can lead to death.
It is evident in Franciscan spirituality the relationship between encounter, reparation and care, three themes that reflect a maternal sense that sets tasks that can only be accomplished from a true integral, ecological and pastoral conversion.
In order to live the Franciscan vocation, in addition to a holistic conversion, it is necessary to walk towards a renewal of senses of understanding, towards a new understanding of relationships in the key of life of openness and availability of heart, of mind, an openness that goes beyond the narrow institutional walls, of the self-referentiality that impoverishes and immobilizes.
It is urgent to return to Jesus of the Gospel, the Jesus of Emmaus, the Jesus of the fishermen in the harbor, the Jesus of the wedding feast at Cana, the friend of those in Bethany. To the praying Jesus of the desert, tempted by Satan, to the Jesus who mourns his dead friend, who heals the sick woman. For a true encounter with Jesus of Nazareth to take place, we must follow the path taken by Clare, Francis, Anthony, Bonaventure, Friar Luis Amigó and many, many other men and women who dared to leave everything to open themselves to the world in such a way that the Culture of Encounter becomes possible.
This is the only way to repair the house that threatens ruins, the common home, hit by global warming, poverty and war. It is necessary that the Franciscan identity be known and truly assumed, from the initiatives promoted by the Franciscan Families in each country, the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commissions, the JPIC, the networks of Migrants and of human rights defenders of women, children, LGBTIQ+ populations, and ancestral communities. Daring to weave with others, opening institutions to those who wish to be peacemakers with justice and dignity.
It is necessary, as Pope Francis tirelessly says, to assume the duty that as Christians we have to get involved in politics because it is one of the highest forms of love, since it seeks the common good, Clare and Francis were conscious of being citizens and worked for a coexistence in peace and justice. In this way it is important that as Franciscans we make synergy in the United Nations from the office of Franciscans International that makes visible to the international community the state of ruin or repair of the house.
May we continue to build, encouraging the «Blessed common belonging» that makes us brothers and sisters, as Pope Francis says in the FT: «Fraternity and social friendship are expressed through acts of benevolence, with forms of help and generous actions in times of need. A selfless affection for other human beings, regardless of difference and belonging.»
Juan Rendón Herrera OFM