From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear the brand marks of Jesus Christ on my body. Today the Church commemorates one of its most popular saints, Francis of Assisi. Not many saints have a world-wide recognition and following as Francis of Assisi does. And this is because of the one thing that is almost synonymous to the name Francis: poverty and simplicity of life. Born to a relatively wealthy father, St. Francis chose a life of poverty as a way of identifying with those who were less fortunate in the society. Because of his love for all of God’s creation, St. Francis is the patron saint of ecology.
The words of St. Paul quoted above are heard on this feast day of St. Francis of Assisi as if spoken by the man Francis himself. Those who hear in these words the voice of St. Francis immediately associate them with the stigmata that St. Francis was blessed to receive. And rightly so, for the marks that appeared on the body of St. Francis connected him to Christ on a level that most of us would never be (bearing the marks of the stigmata). However, when we associate the words with the stigmata, they come across as if Francis is boasting, something that Francis would certainly not approve. To put these words on the lips of St. Francis in a way that he would approve, we have to go back to the original context in which St. Paul spoke them.
St. Paul did not receive the stigmata, and when he uttered the above words, he was not referring to any special phenomenon unique to him other than the fact that he had been baptized in Jesus’ name. Yet, Paul understood the effect of his baptism better than we sometimes do. To Paul, baptism isn’t simply an external washing or a ritual that we have to undergo/perform as a matter of formality. To him, baptism is real and it offers a person an opportunity to become a new creation in Christ Jesus. A baptized person acquires a life that is tied to that of Christ so much so that he/she becomes Christ-like. This is how Paul understood his post-baptism life. When he says that he bore the brand marks of Christ (being branded for Christ), Paul meant that from the moment he was baptized, he became Christ’s. In other words, the life he was henceforth living was not his but rather that of Christ (cf. Gal 2:20).
St. Francis’ life reads as that of St. Paul. Like St. Paul, he too ‘encountered’ Christ and was left changed forever. Francis’ life after the encounter with Christ was one of embracing the things of which he had been afraid in life. He achieved so much in his post-encounter life that he was declared a saint while still alive. But Francis did not credit his ‘achievements’ to his personal efforts. He saw himself as simply being an instrument of Christ, for like St. Paul, the life he was living was not his but rather that of Christ. When we, therefore, put these words of St. Paul on the lips of St. Francis, we should hear St. Francis reminding us that he is Christ’s. The brand marks of Christ that he bore were a demonstration that he was claimed by Christ. As Christ’s, there was nothing about him that was to be credited to him but rather to Christ.