Instruments of Peace

October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), has gone by largely unnoticed by American Lutherans yet another year. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that our Lutheran confessions explicitly recognize Francis as a "saint" (Ap 24:7), "holy man" (Ap 27:21) and "holy father" (Ap 4:211), our hymnals, service books, and prayer treasuries today largely ignore him.

Francis was a thorn in the side of the papacy and of the corrupt medieval church bureaucracy. In fact, some members of the religious order founded by Francis were the first to refer to the medieval papacy as "antichrist" - two centuries before Martin Luther began sparring with the Bishop of Rome. To this day, men and women in the Franciscan order - both within and without the Roman Catholic Church - are beggars for Christ, are interested in peace and serving the poor, and make it a priority to show compassion for all of God's creatures.

Artwork of St. Francis often depicts him surrounded by animals.

So, in memory of the gentle preaching of Deacon Francis, as a witness to his implementation of our Lord's call to compassion, as a tribute to the affection and respect shown to this "holy father" by our Lutheran confessions and the entire western church, here is something you can do on a daily basis as a small act of compassion to the creatures over which we have been given dominion:

You can visit The Animal Rescue Site every day and click on the purple button that says "click here to give, it's free." With each such click, the sponsors donate money. The organization donates 100% of ad revenues to their charitable work to feed animals in need. These are domesticated creatures that serve mankind, and they are our responsibility, we having been given dominion over them, and we having removed them from the wild. Clicking on the button costs nothing, and yet each click donates .6 of a bowl of food for animal shelters to feed these creatures pending their adoptions. You can even click on "get a daily reminder to click" and you'll get an automated e-mail every day with a link to click the button. It takes five seconds, and costs nothing.

Animals are an integral part of the Lord's creation. And before the Fall, man and animals had a peaceful, harmonious, non-predatory relationship. The gift and the blessing of domestic animals is a vestige, a little window looking back, a tiny glimpse of happier times in the garden of Eden, as well as a peek into eternity yet to come in which this pacific bestial harmony will be restored.

Until that time, we can only do what we can in this fallen world to alleviate suffering and strive to create an ethos of mercy for all of the Lord's creatures, as we pray in the words of the prayer attributed to Francis: "Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace."