By Sr. Margaret Carney, OSF
On October 6, 2022 the Franciscan Action Network honored Sr. Margaret Carney with the Franciscan Vision Award to highlight her visionary leadership of the Franciscan Federation. Below is the reflection she wrote that guided her remarks that evening which many of us found inspirational.
The question that rises in me when I am in the presence of people like you—people who spend every day on the JPIC barricades—is this: What allows you to go on day after day? How can you continue your work even when it appears that little progress is made, or progress can be demolished after untold efforts. Outstanding successes are few and often not heralded in the Times or CNN.
In Christopher Frye’s play, “A Sleep of Prisoners” there is a line that fits this sensibility.
“Thank God our times are now when wrong comes up to face us everywhere. Never to leave us till we take the longest stride of soul [man] ever took. Affairs are now soul-size. The enterprise is exploration into God.”
Fr. Bill Headly C.S.Sp., founding director of the Kroc Institute at the University of San Diego, spent years working with various national and international organizations like FAN. At one point he made a study to answer that question. He asked what made it possible for persons working in situations of extremely stressful conflict and injustice to have faith, to draw on their spiritual motives and resources. He conducted this work study in Northern Ireland, Palestine, South Africa. Years ago, I had the privilege of hearing him describe the outcomes of these visits and the people he came to know. He reminded me that very often the leaders making headlines are supported by a great many companions who share their risky ventures. The disciplines that developed within these persons, these communities, are what make it possible to persevere. These insights have remained helpful to me.
How do we sustain ourselves on the quest for a better world and church?
If I were to put the question to each of you this evening, you would surely answer with some of the following explanations:
- I have been called to this. I know this and accept this vocation.
- I am so inspired by those who do this work; I want to be part of it.
- The grace of God urges me forward.
- My community is a source of strength and hope.
- I must help to alleviate this suffering.
THE STORIES WE TELL
Whatever the reason that is upper-most in mind, I suspect that we also live with motives and aspirations that come from deep wellsprings in our cultures. Within those sources—whether they are of a nation, a race, a faith—we find myths, epics, stories and poems that fire the imagination. They plant within us a desire to live in such large ways. To “dream the impossible dream” of Don Quixote. To do the great deeds that matter.
In recent weeks I have been thinking a lot about the role of these legends that shape ways of thinking about truth, valor, moral courage. While they may not be the primary ground of our motivation, I believe that they continue to hold a fascination for us. After all, even in our 21st century, obsessed with technology and AI, we have seen new epics arise. Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars. (And we can hope that the untimely death of Chadwick Bosman does not prevent The Black Panther from joining that list in time.)
These three modern sagas share the core elements of the ancient tales.
1)There is a hero. This individual is usually the unlikely candidate for the role. A hobbit? A little person with furry feet? What can he do? An orphan boy who sleeps in a crawl space beneath the stairs because his Muggle relatives do not know what to do with him. The boy from a desert planet who only realizes after meeting his Zen-like mentors that he possesses the charism of a true Jedi.
2)There is a struggle against an evil force: Sauron, Voldemort, Darth Vader.
3)And this struggle demands that the hero lead the quest, dare to do the thing that will disempower the dark lords no matter the cost.
We also see in these stories tales of inclusion and diversity. The range of beings that inhabit a star-ship, the collection of hobbits, elves, dwarves that accompany Frodo—these fascinate us and teach us that heroes need to accept strength from many sources.
We might also reflect that these modern epics have exerted enormous attraction in a time of the anti-hero, the rise of cynicism and mistrust of government leaders and institutions. Let’s not miss that message; let’s think about their narrative power.
FRANCIS AND THE HEROIC DREAM
One of the reasons these modern myths are so interesting to me is that I see in Francis of Assisi a similar longing to be part of great and heroic deeds, to be in the company of knights. (This was so even though his state of birth would have been an obstacle to this goal.) Tales of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, The Song of Roland, these epic tales were in the air. Had Francis actually heard these performed by troubadours—the social media of that era? He certainly loved to describe himself as a troubadour. It was that poet’s role to sing the praises of the King, tell of his exploits and victories, and create poems of admiration for the ladies of the royal court.
We can see a very dramatic example of this literary influence on Francis in the Office of the Passion. This is a text which most of us normally avoided due to the difficulty of actually using it as a prayer practice. Then André Cirino teamed up with Laurent Gallant, OFM whose doctoral dissertation focused on this text. Together they created a marvelous new edition, one that is ‘user-friendly’ and thus provided us with a deep understanding of this prayer which represents the “mind of Jesus” as He endures the struggles of his Passion and Death. Gallant was convinced that Francis meant to create this work in the spirit of a troubadour who was telling of the great deeds of the Hero, the King, Jesus. With such a motive, the more accurate name for the text would be The Geste—the story—of the Great King. The word office portrays the melding of this unique Franciscan prayer with the monastic tradition of praying the various hours of the Divine Office.
Praying this text allows us to see the genius of Francis as he weaves a tapestry of Scriptural passages and psalms. They are carefully selected and edited so as to highlight the combined virtues of obedience as Jesus accepts the will of the Father and hope that his obedience will finally bring him to peace, to glory. The Geste has those elements of the heroic quest:
Jesus is the one whose mission it is to restore humankind to the good graces of God.
The dark forces are revealed in the temptation of Peter, the betrayal of Judas, the abandonment of the apostles.
The Resurrection—indicated in psalm verses and antiphons—confirms the victory of the Hero.
We need to remember that Francis and Clare lived in a situation of unending violence. The very nature of warring medieval communes created a constantly shifting panorama of feuds, vendettas, civil uprisings. This prayer gave them one way of standing in this environment while being reminded daily of the triumph of Jesus. Thus, they could continually draw from their faith in the ultimate victory that the Christ secured. Gallant said this: “The geste portrays the work of darkness, evil and death; but also proclaims the victory of light, goodness, and life “in superabundance (Jn 10:10). Francis harbored no naiveté concerning the weight of sin, which burdens humankinds’ march in search of fulfillment.” (The Geste of the Great King. The Franciscan Institute, 2001, 26.)
This remarkable work, this prayer, deserves our study and use. In that way we may become more attuned to the hope of Francis as he seeks to “sing” of his Lord’s goodness, bravery and ultimate sacrifice for us. Here is his epic prayer; his homage to the greatest deeds of saving ever seen.
A FINAL REFLECTION
On a night like this is may seem easy to invoke images of heroic work and ultimate victory. All the same, many times—most of the time—we are not feeling heroic or successful. We are just trying to hang in there day by day.
It may be just as important to recall those stories of quests that did not achieve victory, that appeared to end in failure. So often, such failures blind us to the merit of those heroes and heroines who dared to dream of being agents of salvation, of victory, of restoration of lost hope.
One such example might be the Irish rebellion of 1916. Any of us who have Irish parentage no doubt know some of this story. Ireland suffered under the hard hand of British rule. Barely recovered from the famines of the 19th century, the people continued to battle poverty and hostility to their religious identity. A group of radical insurgents planned and executed a “rising” during Easter week in 1916. It was an abysmal failure. Many Irish citizens were wary of the effort and stood by. The armed militias were mostly volunteers with only modest training. The communications were full of gaps. The leader was a poet, Padraic Pearse. (You may already guess that having a poet lead an armed revolt is not a formula for success. But that’s the Irish for you! We love our poets!)
What turned the military rout into a raging determination of the whole nation was the execution of the leaders. These young men had valiantly tried to give voice to aspirations that now could not be silenced. The road to independence was born of the carnage of those deaths. So, the legacy of Pearse is best summed up in a poem he wrote entitled The Fool. I leave you with his vision:
I have squandered the splendid years that the Lord God gave to my youth
In attempting impossible things, deeming them alone worth the toil.
Was it folly or grace? Not men shall judge me, but God.
O wise men riddle me this? What if the dream come true?
What if the dream come true? And if millions unborn shall dwell
In the house I shaped in my heart, the noble house of my thought?
Lord, I have staked my soul, I have staked the lives of my kin
On the truth of Thy dreadful word. Do not remember my failures,
But remember this, my faith.
May your faith hold true and final as you journey onwards.
Acting Franciscan 
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