One day I am going to make it to New York City for the Blessing of the Animals at St. John the Divine Cathedral on the first weekend in October. I can only imagine the atmosphere of the hours-long ceremony in honor of St. Francis of Assisi that includes a great parade of diverse creatures as well as “blessing” stations scattered around the massive interior of the great Gothic Cathedral. I was reading that this year that an “off-script” occurrence took place in the parade of animals when an alpaca decided to plop down on the Cathedral floor during the parade and refused to budge. The wonder of seeing all these animals, not to mention the experiences of “accidents” which I’m sure must be quite numerous and probably quite odiferous, would be something to witness. The “wildness” of creation gathering to both give and receive a blessing. 
In today’s scriptures commemorating the beloved St. Francis of Assisi, we hear Paul addressing the Galatians (GAL 1: 13-24) concerning his “conversion” from a life directed toward persecuting the “Church of God,” to a life of “preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” What strikes me about this reading is not so much the conversion of St. Paul, but the “authority” that he was directed by in this transformation in his journey:
“…when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas”
Paul almost sounds a bit dismissive about what he considered the recognized “authority” in terms of the earliest church. He indicates that he did not “immediately consult flesh and blood,” nor go up to Jerusalem to talk to Peter immediately. The scriptures actually point out that Paul spent 3 years in Arabia before he even confronted the other Apostles. Perhaps Paul is not so much undermining the church authority in detailing his conversion process, but pointing up something that will appear throughout Paul’s writing…this sense of “inner authority,” that does not oppose necessarily the traditional models of authority, but does operate from a deeper level of relationship that in fact grants a Truth in conviction and mission for him. I think we could look at this 3-year stay in Arabia as an intensive and all-inclusive discernment process for Paul, where He was under the direct tutelage of the Holy Spirit. This is perhaps an inner authority that affords a way of identifying the presence of the Holy Spirit working in all peoples and creatures – that is the whole universe. We hear this universal language in much of Paul’s writings in the epistles.
In the Gospel (LK 10: 38-42), we hear the familiar story of how two sisters seemingly choose different ways of “being” with Jesus. Mary is listening intently to what Jesus is telling her, while Martha becomes perturbed by the fact that Mary is not helping her perform the traditional hospitality for a house guest:
“Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”
I have heard many sermons on this Gospel that focus on the busyness of Martha in contrast to the “listening” attitude of Mary. I think it’s fair to say that Jesus is challenging Martha, who is “burdened with much serving,” not so much by what she is doing but rather her attitude about what she is doing or, more precisely, what her sister is not doing. Obviously a bit resentful, Martha approaches Jesus and first complains that her sister is not helping her, followed by a statement about whether Jesus even notices – “Lord, do you not care…” – and then ends by asking Jesus to make Mary help her. Jesus’ reply although seemingly favoring Mary, is more about Martha’s frame of mind that is preventing her from really being present.
I don’t think Jesus was necessarily saying to Martha that she needed to sit down at his feet like Mary and listen to his words so much as he was challenging her to be more present to what she was doing. There is more than one way of “listening.” Being present cannot be relegated to either prayer or action. Although we do all need times and space for silent listening, – 3 years perhaps for Paul – the real test of being present is how we can remain “present to Christ” in everything we encounter in our everyday lives – that is, all the “serving” that we must do. Could it be that this Gospel, like Paul’s address to the Galatians, is about learning to be present?
How do we attune ourselves to the world and universe in which we live in such a way that does not predominantly make us anxious, but can actually allow us to embrace and enter into the seeming chaos that comes our way so that it can transform us and others? How can we step away from complaining about what someone else is or is not doing and mindfully and heart-fully step into the situation itself?
Is this what Paul, Jesus, and Francis are challenging us with today? How do we get in step with the chaotic parade of creatures, as in St. John the Divine Cathedral, and appreciate the “wildness” that is here, but not see it as something negative, but actually as an invitation into the divine that is present in all of creation? How do we begin to recognize what we pray in Psalm 139:
“Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works”
The challenge is to allow ourselves to be guided by an “authority” in our “inmost being,” which is nothing more than recognizing and celebrating God as present and working and living, i.e., BEING within everything. The Holy Spirit lurks in the nooks and crannies of our life waiting for us to tap into Her and help manifest this Presence – Christ – in the world. There are so many ways to do this, which is why presence can be seen as “wildness” – the imagination cannot exhaust the wonderfully diverse ways that this creative transformation explodes – Paul, Martha, Mary, Francis, you, me…We have only to respond in gratitude to having been ‘fearfully and wonderfully made!”
The “better part” that Jesus says Mary chose is really the Whole part, because it is being present to God, who is always present. We have only to allow this call of the “wild” presence of God to bless us in everything and further allow us to pass the blessing along.
As St. Francis of Assisi invites us…
“There are beautiful wild forces within us.
Let them turn the mills inside and fill sacks
that feed even heaven”
Peace
Thomas