The Fire of His Love (Incendium Mentis)
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B
September 15, 2024
Isa 50:5-9; Jas 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35
St. Francis of Assisi Church
Today the Archdiocese of Baltimore celebrates its annual “Blue Mass” honoring First Responders (Firefighters, Police, EMS personnel) at St. Joseph’s Monastery in the Irvington neighborhood of West Baltimore, especially in honor of those who lost their lives in service to their community.[1] The tradition goes back ninety years, begun by Father Thomas Dade, born in East Baltimore, who founded the Catholic Police and Fireman’s Society and celebrated the first Blue Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Washington D.C., on September 29, 1934.
It may not occur to us today that when Jesus tells his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” Jesus was not speaking metaphorically. Crucifixion was a feature of daily life in the Roman Empire. Eleven out of the Twelve Apostles would someday die in the line of the duty of discipleship.
This weekend also marks the 800th Anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi receiving the Stigmata, the Five Wounds of Christ, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.[2] In the last years of his life, while on retreat in the town of La Verna, Francis went off to fast and pray. His early biographer, St. Bonaventure, writes:
“Although his body was already weakened by the great austerity of his past life and his continual carrying of the Lord’s cross . . . his unquenchable fire of love for the good Jesus had been fanned into such a blaze of flames that many waters could not quench so powerful a love (Cant. 8:6-7).”[3]
“On a certain morning about the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, while Francis was praying on the mountainside, he saw a Seraph with six fiery and shining wings descend from the height of heaven . . . There appeared between the wings the figure of a man crucified, with his hands and feet extended in the form of a cross and fastened to a cross.”[4]
“Eventually he understood by a revelation from the Lord that divine providence had shown him this vision so that, as Christ’s lover, he might learn in advance that he was to be totally transformed into the likeness of Christ crucified, not by the martyrdom of his flesh, but by the fire of his love consuming his soul.”[5]
St. Bonaventure later wrote in his spiritual classic on prayer called The Soul’s Journey Into God, “There is no other path but through the burning love of the Crucified.”[6]
St. Francis becomes a firefighter, one willing to run into the burning heart of God that is Christ on the cross. He comes out bearing the scars.
Jesus is God’s first responder. Jesus is God’s response to our cry for help. Jesus enters a world in need of rescue. “The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced” (Isa 50:7, 9). On the wood of his cross, the Sin of the world is consumed by the fire of his love. Anger, hatred, envy, despair is consumed and transformed into peace, joy, and mercy. Apart from the cross, we are only left to be consumed by our anger, hatred, envy, and despair. The Stigmata is ultimately about how we become what we behold. Behold, the wood of the cross.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it."
Because Jesus is God’s First Responder, you and I are also summoned to respond to the gospel invitation to pick up our cross and maybe even lose our life. The question, “Who do you say that I am?” is also a question about ourselves. Who will you be? What will be your response?
Not many of us will lay down our lives in service so dramatically as firefighters Rodney Pitts and Dillon Rinaldo, who names will be read at the Blue Mass.
Not all of us will bear the Stigmata like St. Francis.
But each and every one of us is called to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Each and every one of us who choose to pick up the cross will bear the marks of Christ, whether in visible or invisible ways. Perhaps the Five Wounds of suffering we bear at the moment go by the names of: Shrine of the Little Flower, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic, Most Precious Blood. Let us bear our wounds as Christ bore his.
After receiving the strange gift of the Stigmata, Francis wrote a prayer of thanksgiving called the “Praises of God,” that I will offer in closing. We might even hear them as St. Francis’ personal response to the question that Jesus asks the disciples and Peter in the gospel: "But who do you say that I am?"
Francis said to him in reply,
“You are holy, Lord, the only God,
You do wonders.
You are strong, You are great,
You are the most high,
You are the almighty King.
You, Holy Father,
the King of heaven and earth.
You are Three and One,
Lord God of gods;
You are good, all good,
the highest good,
Lord, God, living and true.
You are love, charity.
You are wisdom;
You are humility;
You are patience;
You are beauty;
You are meekness;
You are security;
You are inner peace;
You are joy;
You are our hope and joy;
You are justice;
You are moderation,
You are all our riches.
You are meekness;
You are the protector,
You are the guardian and defender;
You are strength;
You are refreshment.
You are our hope,
You are our faith,
You are our charity,
You are all our sweetness,
You are our eternal life:
Great and wonderful Lord,
God almighty, Merciful Savior.”[7]
When Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” how do you respond?
[1] Jonathan M. Pitts, “Remembering those who served: First responders to be honored at Blue Mass in Baltimore” The Baltimore Sun, September 13, 2024 <https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/09/13/remembering-those-who-served-first-responders-to-be-honored-at-blue-mass-in-baltimore/>
[2] Pope Francis, “Address to the Communities of the Friars Minor of La Verna and of the Tuscan Province,” April 5, 2024. <https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2024/april/documents/20240405-frati-minori.html>
[3] Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey into God; The Tree of Life; The Life of St. Francis, ed. Richard J. Payne, trans. Ewert Cousins (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1978), 305.
[4] Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis, 305.
[5] Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis, 305–306. The term is incendium mentis, literally the conflagration of his soul.
[6] Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey into God, 54.
[7] Francis and Clare, Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, ed. Richard J. Payne, trans. Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius C. Brady (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1982), 100.
What a beautiful prayer and reflection!