Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
I’m in the midst of a Youth Ministry class right now. Recently we had a panel of individuals involved in Youth Ministry come in for half of our lesson. One of the guests reminded us of the importance of taking a posture of being “consciously incompetent.” In other words, knowing that sometimes we don’t know best. While that might not be the start of a motivational speech, it ties into a line from the Gospel today and our celebration of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
St. Francis challenges us to rethink service and a life devoted to the Gospel. He is a man who did great things, but arguably without seeking to be known as a great man. His material poverty speaks to the fact that it doesn’t take great resources to respond to grace. The simplicity of his vocation, since he was never ordained a priest, speaks to the ways that God doesn’t isolate His work to the clergy. Finally, his love of nature speaks to our ability to encounter God in the simplest ways. These lessons encounter this idea of being consciously incompetent because the simplicity helps guard against being unconsciously incompetent. Or being ignorant to our own inabilities.
I think the concept of unconscious incompetence arises in Christ’s words from Luke today, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” Passages like this have always been a struggle for me. I never knew how God could both desire to make Himself known (even to the point of becoming human) and then hide himself from people. Reflecting further though, I think the wise and the learned are not truly living the virtue of wisdom. Rather they have accounted themselves as wise and learned. In doing so, they don’t know, what they don’t know. You could say that they are unconsciously incompetent. I don’t think God hid himself from them, but in their blindness to their own ignorance, they failed to see Him.
And this brings us back to St. Francis. Do his lessons in simplicity mean that all of us should wander around with no possessions? That we should scrap the sacrament of Holy Orders? And only encounter God in nature? I don’t think so.
But we shouldn’t confuse material wealth with blessings and ability. For while we can use our wealth to serve God, we can also begin to respond more to money than mission. Also, we should be wary of equating people’s vocations with their holiness. Finally, we should avoid the misconception that we can only encounter God in one place or one way. God has certainly revealed where we can find Him. But it would be erroneous to assume that we can declare where God can’t be.
So on this Feast of St. Francis, let’s take a step back and examine if we are closer to the childlike and St. Francis, in that we are willing to allow God to be God. Or are we the wise and the learned, who because we don’t know what we don’t know, are missing God around us? Or are we a little bit of both?
I am. I have to fight daily to not put our infinite God in my very finite box.
- - Spencer Hargadon