Back in March, we all rejoiced as the white smoke billowed and jubilation erupted in St. Peter’s Square and around the world –habemus papem!  We have a pope.  When the name of the new pope was announced, given that he was a Jesuit, I assumed it was in honor of St. Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit missionary and saint.  That would have been a great choice to tap the tradition of his own order for a new evangelization.  But from the beginning, it was clear that there was something different here – “See I am doing something new.”  Even the first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter’s was different. Here was our new pope – and instantly I was struck by his appearance.  It was as though he was wearing the minimally acceptable papal wardrobe – and the pectoral cross seemed plain – and his demeanor unassuming.

Even the way he greeted the people was different – just a simple man saying “Hi.”

The most hardcore reporters on the scene were even taken by his humble leading of 100,000+ people in the most familiar of prayers – the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.  They were taken by the reverence of the moment, so many people in unison praying for something bigger than themselves – the future of their church.  And then when Pope Francis humbly asked them to silently pray for him, bowing before them –the square was filled with silence.  Even the most jaded of reporters were stunned – “see I am doing something new.” (Isaiah 43:19)  Almost across the spectrum from east to west, north to south, believer to non-believer, and any way we slice and dice people’s identity, there is a hopefulness – not because of words, but in the simple way he goes about being Pope -“see I am doing something new.”

By the time we read this, Pope Francis will have spent the day of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4^th, in Assisi.  He was invited by the guardian of the Franciscan Convento at the Basilica of St. Francis, Fr. Gambetti, OFM:

“So I took the liberty to say to [Pope] Francis:  “So Father, it would be great if among your many other commitments today, you came here at least to say the Our Father, as Francis did 800 years ago.”  The Pope’s answer really threw me.  He said:  “The Our Father?  But I want to talk about how the Church should undress and somehow repeat that gesture Francis made and the values inherent in this gesture.”

Pope Francis refers to an encounter when St. Francis was coming to a crossroads in his life.  His father, Pietro, thought his son should embrace the values of the merchant class of Assisi, even as the Lord called Francis to the value of the kingdom.  Francis of Assisi chose.  He removed his fine clothing, undressing before the crowd, and placed his father’s clothes at the feet of his family.  He announced, “Until how I have called Pietro di Bernardone my father.  But, because I propose to serve God, I return to him the money … and also the clothing which is his, wanting to say, from now on:  ‘Our Father who art in heaven,’ and not ‘My father, Pietro di Bernadone.’”

We have a pope who appeared in the simple clothing of a pastor on the loggia at St. Peter’s.  A pope who reminded us all things begin in prayer.  A pope who carried his own bags, makes his own calls, who has “undressed” the papacy in order to reveal the Christian life.  Could it be that, as a Church, we are reminded that we are ever at the crossroads?

We celebrate a saint from Assisi, who at the crossroads, undressed, stripping himself to walk the way of following Christ, beginning in the prayer that unites and binds us all, “Our Father….”

St. Francis of Assisi had the courage to be “doing something new.”  Pope Francis has that same courage.  On this weekend, when we celebrate the poor saint from Assisi, let us remember his namesake, Pope Francis, and may we be a people, “doing something new,”  always for the greater glory of God.

Happy Feast of St. Francis.