Reflection for the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time by FAN Board President, Sr. Margaret Magee, OSF
This reflection was originally posted in our June 4th newsletter
I’ve always found the gospel for this Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time difficult to hear, especially the text that says, “Jesus came home with his disciples. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘By the prince of demons he drives out demons.’” I try to imagine being present, prayerfully placing myself in Jesus’ hometown and hearing these condemning and disparaging remarks. How could they say such things?
Perhaps you have been the unfortunate victim of condemning and disparaging remarks or rumors made about you. If so, you know the intense feeling of pain, which can be debilitating and demeaning. I’m reminded of Francis of Assisi and how he grew through his conversion experiencing the condemnation of others. Francis’ own father, Pietro Bernardone, was what today we would consider abusive. After Francis returned, defeated from battle and imprisonment in Perugia, he began behaving more and more strangely, choosing to spend time in silence, in caves and walking around Assisi filthy and dressed in rags. His former friends and the people in the town thought he was crazy. Francis’ biographer, Thomas of Celano, wrote, “The townspeople threw stones and mud at him: “The noise of that ridicule echoed here and there.” (First Life, Chapter V). When this news reached Pietro, he became convinced that his son had lost his mind. He dragged Francis home and locked him in a small cell. Who knows how long he might have stayed there if not for his mother, Pica, who released him.
Yet Francis persevered through all this because of his conviction that it was God working through him and calling him to live the gospel and to see the presence of the poor and suffering Christ in the leper, in the outcast and in those people, who the social norms discarded as if they were garbage.
We know that Clare of Assisi also had to deal with the reproach of her family as she followed Francis and embraced a life of radical poverty. As Clare came of age to marry, her uncle Monaldo began to consider an appropriate husband for her. His concern was not so much for the welfare of Clare but for the wealth, status and honor her impending marriage could bring to their family name. Clare however resisted and chose to join Francis and the brothers in living evangelical poverty. As Clare stole away on Palm Sunday night to join Francis and the brothers, Monaldo and other family members tried to bring her back but without success. Later as Clare and the Poor Ladies began to form their life of prayer, simplicity and absolute poverty they were met with great opposition. This opposition not only came from family members but from bishops and the pope himself. They were seen as being weak idealistic woman and much too literal in their desire to follow the poor and crucified Christ. Yet, despite all this they too persevered.
In his most recent Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis writes, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus himself warns us that the path he proposes goes against the flow, even making us challenge society by the way we live and, as a result, becoming a nuisance. He reminds us how many people have been, and still are, persecuted simply because they struggle for justice, because they take seriously their commitment to God and to others.” Pope Francis continues to state, “Persecutions are not a reality of the past, for today too we experience them, whether by the shedding of blood, as is the case with so many contemporary martyrs, or by more subtle means, by slander and lies. Jesus calls us blessed when people “utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Mt 5:11). At other times, persecution can take the form of gibes that try to caricature our faith and make us seem ridiculous. Accepting daily the path of the Gospel, even though it may cause us problems: that is holiness.”
As Franciscans we are called to a radical living of the gospel. We are called to incarnate the suffering and crucified Christ and to humbly recognize the suffering and crucified Christ in our sisters and brothers who are poor and marginalized by our society. We truly become the brothers, the sisters, the mothers of Christ when in our struggle for gospel justice, we withstand the persecution and ridicule of others, to welcome the immigrant, the refugee and those who are unwanted. May we continue to faithfully live our Franciscan call of gospel justice, doing the will of God, as the brothers and sisters and mothers of Christ present in our world today.
Sr. Margaret Magee, OSF
FAN Board President
Acting Franciscan 
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