This evening, October 3rd, is traditionally celebrated as the Solemnity of the Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi. “Transitus” means passage, or transition, and tonight, we celebrate the Francis’s transition from this life to the life eternal.

If there ever was a patron saint for this site, it would be St. Francis, who has taught me so much about finding God in nature, in childlike simplicity, and in poverty. In fact, he’s taught me so well that I struggle to find God anywhere else. Therein lies my spiritual challenge.

There’s also the continual inspiration of the life of St. Francis, the way he walked in the footsteps of Jesus with a pure open heart before God and the cosmos, the way he saw all living things as his brothers and sisters. His journey to the Holy Land and encounter with the Sultan, who recognized his holiness and dialogued with him about the beauty of God, are also inspiring. He went there seeking martyrdom, he found God waiting for him.

What a stark difference between his life and the many forms of institutionalized and organized cruelty we hear about daily. How can we walk in Francis’s footsteps amidst those who want to build walls and circle the wagons, when so much of the dominant culture is afraid of a real encounter with the “other”? Another spiritual challenge!

And yet this holy feast reminds me that things are not so bleak. St. Francis welcomed “Sister Death,” he lived simply and peaceably amidst contradictions. He knew there was a lot of life in death and a lot of death in life, he knew the weeds and the wheat grew together, that the wild and the sacred were kin, that joy and suffering often hold hands. He said to always keep a part of your garden “wild,” to care for the wild creatures, our brothers and sisters, who may seek shelter there. A part of his spiritual garden always remained “wild,” and that wild love has echoed across the centuries.

On Transitus, the evening when he and sister death embraced, I remember that St. Francis lived a life of almost perpetually dying, that he sought out the liminal and the marginal, and always found God waiting for him there.

May we be inspired to do the same.