Monthly Spiritual Message, November 2025
By Fr Joe McKay OFM
The Franciscan Family is strongly associated with seeking peace. The Catholic understanding of peace is rooted in right relationships with God and neighbour. It is a state of harmony based on the work for justice and the effect of love. True and lasting peace is the gift of God, an act of grace.
St Francis was known for his greetings of peace: “May the Lord give you peace!” Francis said that it was the Lord who inspired him to give this novel greeting. (The Testament) This strange greeting was a call for people to change their hearts (1 Celarno, Chapter X). Even some of the friars were uncomfortable with the greeting, but Francis told them that even “the nobles and princes”, those who especially engaged in war, will come to respect them for it (Mirror of Perfection Chapter 6).
St Francis was known for crossing boundaries and engaging in dialogue with people who others would see as his enemy. He was willing to talk where others would fight and argue. In crossing the battlelines of the Crusades in 1218 Francis was willing to put his own life at risk for the sake of peace. He went not as an ambassador of the Christian army fighting a battle, but as the “ambassador of Christ”. He sought peace and the Sultan’s salvation. In many ways it was not St Francis’ words but his actions and genuine humility that impressed the Sultan Malik al-Kamil. Francis did not preach against Mohammad, he tried never to speak ill of anybody, but about Christ’s teachings.
Francis’ method is reflected in the Early Rule of the friars which called them to be a “servant to all” and to be careful to preach only when the listener is willing to listen and when it pleased the Lord. While Francis’ meeting with the Sultan did not achieve peace between the warring parties, they achieved peace and respect at a personal level. Francis’ actions did not just impress the Sultan but his attempt at seeking peace, in Christ’s name, lead several priest and layman in the Crusader camp to join the friars.
In the later writings of the deeds St Blessed Francis and his Companions (XXIII), and the Little Flowers of St Francis (XXI), we are told the story of the Wolf of Gubbio. This story is an example of how St Francis sort to bring peace to all of creation through prayerful dialogue. While the story of the Wolf of Gubbio comes from later Franciscan stories, Thomas Celano already had documented St Francis’ surprising relationship with animals (1Cel, XXI). Many of the early Franciscan writing used the wolf as a metaphor for hungry and possessive people. Francis in his dialogue with the wolf explains the benefit for both the wolf and the people in finding peace. He sought to see through the eyes of the other to seek a common understanding and path to peace. The anger of the wolf came from fear and hunger. By providing an alternative to violence, by asking the town people to provide for the wolf with food, it led to a new way of living and a genuine friendship between all parties.
St Francis was a peacemaker by first being at peace. There are many stories of Francis in his early years with the friars showing anger and an exhibiting a hot temper. Francis through a process of ongoing conversion learned to find peace within himself. It was his peaceful attitude that often surprised and changed people’s hearts. Francis in his Admonitions taught:
“Those people are truly peacemakers who, regardless of what they suffer in this world, preserve peace of spirit and body out of love of Jesus Christ. “(Adm XV:2).
Francis recognized that it is easy to be peaceful when we are content, but the test comes when we are confronted with ideas that we oppose (Adm XIII). He encouraged his followers to practice humility and patience as a way of avoiding being drawn into anger (Adm XVII.2).
St Francis saw being at peace was the first step to being a peacemaker. Peace starts by searching our own hearts and recognizing those areas of our lives that cause us anger and hurt. Francis’ way of peacemaking begins in prayer, seeking the Lord’s compassion and forgiveness for ourselves.
The early lay Franciscans were known for not carrying weapons and exercised a right not to join a city militia. They often engaged in peace talks between warring Italian cities. In more modern times, Blessed Franz Jagerstatter OFS is an example of Franciscan seeking peace. He was an Austrian who refused to bear arms during World War II because he believed that the Nazi regime was evil. He tried to humbly go about his life as a farmer and avoid conflict. However, when called to active service in the army, he refused and was consequently executed on 9 August 1942. He refused to participate in what he thought was an unjust war for an unjust regime. The French Secular Franciscan Louis Massignon (1883-1962) was a peacemaker through developing understanding and dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam. He did this by listening and discussing with Islamic scholars what they believed. His work paved the way for Nostra Aetate at Vatican II through his friendship with Pope Paul VI. The work of our own Jan Ruff-O’Herne, seeking justice for herself and the “comfort women” of World War II was done in the spirit of Franciscan peacemaking.
Members of the Secular Franciscan Order are called to be “bearers of peace”. They are called to seek peace through dialogue, trusting that everyone is made in the image of the divine, and a belief in the transforming power of love and forgiveness (OFS Rule 19).
They are to seek peace in their own families and society around them by proposing and spreading ideas and attitudes that foster peace. They are to work with the Franciscan family, local and universal Church (OFS Con. 23 & 98) and all people of goodwill to foster. They are to support those who have a conscious objection to bearing arms. They are to ensure peace in their family after their death by ensuring they have a will in place. (OFS Con. 23)
The Rule of the Secular Franciscans specifically references passages from The Legend of the Three Companions(Chapter 14), where St Francis tells the friars “not to judge anyone” nor “look down” on the rich. He tells his brethren that:
“As you announce peace on your mouth, make sure peace is in your hearts. Let no one be provoked to anger or scandal through you, but may everyone be drawn by peace, kindness and harmony through your gentleness. For we have been called to do this: to heal the wounded, bind up the broken, and recall the erring. In fact, many who seem to us to be members of the devil will yet be disciples of Christ.”
The Franciscan way of seeking peace begins within the heart. It calls us to trust in Christ’s forgiveness and pardon for ourselves, so that we can forgive others. We are called to be non-judgmental in our relationship with others, recognizing that they too are made in the image of God. It is through listening and dialogue, love and friendship that St Francis sort to change the world in Christ’s name. We are called not to argue but to share a word between friends out of love and concern.
What to do?
- Seek personal peace – through prayer, contemplation, reconciliation and self-understanding.
- Practice peace and friendship in fraternity.
- Ensure you have a formal will to stop future family conflicts.
- Look at what your local diocese is doing, or what Secular Franciscans and Franciscan congregations are doing around the world seeking peace.
- Reach across boundaries – Individually or as a fraternity reach out beyond your comfort zone. Arrange to visit a mosque, synagogue, a Hindu or Buddhist temple, a non-Catholic church to seek understanding and friendship?
Fr Joseph McKay OFM
National Spiritual Assistant
Image: Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fra_Angelico_-_Trial_by_Fire_-_WGA00621.jpg
