Rejoice and Release

Recently, Brother Peter and I were in conversation about doing some kind of event at Spiritus to mark the 800th anniversary of the passing of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis is, perhaps, the best known Catholic figure and is someone whose life and witness literally changed history.

I have only limited knowledge of St. Francis, so Brother Peter suggested the book Experiencing God by Jon Sweeney (Monkfish Publishing, 2026). Sweeney is a prolific spiritual writer and has many books on Franciscan spirituality. This book lifts up 36 concrete ways that we might experience God in the tradition of Francis. Some of the chapter titles include “Practicing detachment,” “Getting rid of stuff,” and “Overcoming fear.”

In one of the chapters, Sweeney tells the story of how Francis, after his mystical conversion, went to a local church and asked the parish priest to read him 3 random scriptures from the gospels to help him develop spiritually (Francis could not read so well and thus needed some help reading the scriptures). Many of us have probably done this at some point – open up the bible, put our finger down on a passage and try to glean something from it…

But on this particular day, the priest read from the passage we read today from Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 19, a young man approaches Jesus and asks what he must do to “inherit eternal life.” Jesus goes on to instruct the young man to follow the commandments and highlights the following, “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your parents; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man says that he has observed all of these and asks, “What do I still lack?” And Jesus drops this jewel which has haunted his followers since the time he said it, “If you wish to be perfect (whole or complete), go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The young man hears this and goes away sad, “for he had many possessions.”

For centuries, the church has wrestled with this passage because the church has wrestled with the realities of wealth and affluence. We (collectively) have twisted this story around so that it might be more palatable for us and our way of life. In fact, I still find it slightly miraculous that the church kept it in the canon of readings given how challenging it really is!

Francis, however, took this story literally. He released everythhing that he owned and vowed to own nothing after that. And Sweeney says that Francis “found joy and freedom” as a result.

Wow!

Now I am not saying that Francis did not also struggle with this passage, but he, like Jesus, probably knew that with possessions comes worry. With possessions comes attachment. With possessions comes expectation. And the more we have and try to hold on to, the less likely we are to feel free to follow God.

So Francis went all in and encouraged those who wanted to be in his circle to do so as well.

I wonder what comes up in you when you hear a passage like Matthew 19. What do you feel? What questions arise for you? 

I know that one of my questions is, “What would Jesus think about having a 401K? Would he tell me not to have a retirement account?” Or I think about some of the possessions that really bring me joy (for example, my guitar). Would Jesus ask me to give that away?

When I try to “feel” this passage, I admit that I feel some fear when I consider “giving away all of my possessions.” I can also feel a sense of impossibility that arises in me and makes me say, “I can never do all of that…” and I just sort of give up on it. 

But when I can stay with it – through the fear and through the seeming enormity of the task – I can access memories of times when I got rid of a lot of stuff or was in a situation where I was forced to live more simply and actually found some freedom and joy in the process.

I also have to say that voluntarily letting go of stuff/possessions is different from being deprived of them or not having access. I in no way want to “glorify” poverty or suggest that somehow people who are victimized by poverty, dispossession and economic injustice are spiritually better off. This passage is not a “pass” to avoid the very real and difficult work of justice-doing in the world.

To the contrary, it is probably one of the reasons why justice-doing is so hard – because the “have’s” refuse to part with what they have to whatever degree they (or we) have it!

I don’t know if we’re all called to give away everything and live like Francis. But I do know that such a radical witness like his has inspired people for 800 years! And it inspires me.

For me, today’s reading offers a mirror. To whatever degree that we have stuff/possessions, we are invited to think more deeply about letting go of more and more of it. Francis, like Jesus, knew that, ultimately, everything belongs to God’s Great Economy, and our job (spiritually and physically) is to only “take what we need” and let the rest keep flowing through the world.

Matthew 19 is meant to make us uncomfortable in many ways, and asks us to keep asking questions about money and possessions. It invites us to keep trying to simplify, release, share and let go. May we, when we hear Jesus’ invitation to give away all our possessions, not go away sad like the young man. May we, like Francis, rejoice and release, finding a new freedom and joy as we seek to follow Jesus more closely.

Note: I would actually love to hear from you what comes up for you related to stuff/possessions and money. What questions come up in you? What do you wonder about or wrestle with? Feel free to put them into the comments or write to me at mboucher@spirituschristi.org. I think that it remains important to keep having public conversations about money/wealth/possessions in order to counteract the pervasive cultural silence that often accompanies this topic.