By Sister Rosemary Lynch, OSF

This article is to be published as a foreword in A Disarmament Guide by Franciscans International.

It was said of Francis that he “walked the earth like the pardon of God.” His dying words to those brothers who had followed him with love and fidelity were “I have finished my work. May God give you to do yours.” What is the work that Franciscans for over more than eight hundred years have, with God’s grace, been called to do? Why is it that this call, this testament, has never lost its charm, its ability to attract?

Francis recalled the world, the powers of his day, to a deeper understanding of the intrinsic “familyhood” of all life, of all that exists. His own story reveals many keys to this understanding, summarized in his “Canticle of the Creatures.” How could he damage, injure, kill any part of this sublime gift? How can his followers today not see the colossal wounds which war inflicts on Mother Earth and beyond?

The encounter of Francis with Bishop Guido of Assisi reveals an illuminating insight into our call to “disarm.” When the bishop reproached Francis for his ways of poverty, his indigence, the saint replied, “O Domini Mi, if we had possessions, we would need arms to defend them, and we are persons of peace.” These simple words are our charter, calling us, as followers, to understand disarmament as a cherished inheritance, a contemporary task.

This task transcends nations, borders, and cultures. Here, too, Francis is our guide. The legend relates that, when the saint, having passed through the dangerous encampment of the Muslim army, arrived at the tent of the great Sultan Malik-el-Kamil, he came as a brother, not as a warrior. The Sultan, impressed by the simplicity and holiness of this pilgrim, wept when Francis departed and said, “Woe is me, if the knights of the West come armed only with love like this brother. As long as they come armed with weapons, we can easily defeat them.”

While nations and governments today struggle and wage wars for the unstated but obvious motive—control of the world’s oil supplies, water resources, mineral treasures—Franciscans indeed have a mission to be engaged, at whatever level possible, in the process of disarmament. This includes freeing minds, hearts, energies for the great tasks of our age—the establishment of that “family of nations” which will be possible only when peoples everywhere recognize both the sacredness of all life and the destructive power now in their hands. To understand this, it will be necessary to disarm, in the deepest meaning of the word, our souls, hearts, minds and wills.

When Francis realized that he had finished his “work” and commissioned his followers to do theirs, he could not have foreseen a world tottering on the brink of destruction. Yet, his words would, no doubt, have been the same. He would have blessed all efforts of Franciscans today to dedicate themselves with love and energy to the formation of a disarmed world. He would have rejoiced in the prospect! It is time for all his followers to unite in preserving the beautiful planet Mother Earth, which is our home, and indeed the entire universe given to our care.