Assisi's Enduring Peace

A post by Trish Irvine:

The day was cool and rainy, a dramatic change from the spring-like warmth of the Rome we had recently left. It wasn’t a pelting rain, but the drops accumulated over time and began to seep through our clothes. If it wasn’t for the umbrellas and rain jackets that many produced, we all surely would have been soaked. A mass of students walked the few minutes to get to the limits of Assisi, before pausing to listen to a brief explanation by a friar. After that, we began the trek upwards, in silence. The bustle and business of Rome melted away to be replaced with the tranquility and quiet of Assisi. As the group ascended, we naturally spread out, a long line of students crawling towards the hermitage of St. Francis. Winds increased as we pressed onwards. Rosary beads slipped through my fingers as I walked where saints walked to a place where saints prayed. It seemed perfect to be striving to ascend heavenwards on a Friday during Lent; I could imagine St. Francis doing the same thing. The raindrops gradually transformed into snow, but hiking made the cool air feel rather nice.

Being an introverted person, my soul soaked up the solitude of the hermitage. When I got to the hermitage, I kept walking. I passed the students praying in the different rooms and chapel, passed the students lingering near the exits, and passed the students walking near the grottos. Although I loved Rome, I needed a quiet place to rest. I didn’t know where I was headed but the less people I saw, the better I felt. An adorable golden puppy appeared from seemingly nowhere. As I turned off the main trail and onto side trails, I was pleased to discover he was following me. I began to ascend the mountain again on winding paths with the puppy trailing me. I would turn on one trail and he followed obediently. Sometimes he would race ahead and when I chose a different path he would double back and join me. He was the perfect companion for me.

I walked to the top of the trail and sat on a ledge near a little traveled road and prayed. Sometimes you can just feel God in nature. The atmosphere was perfect—the cool chill surrounded me while I was yet warm from the hike and snowflakes gently fell on me. The puppy grew bored with my prayers and I was able to sit alone in the silence and feel so close to God. He was with me as I remembered the blessings of Rome and took in the blessings of Assisi.

After a while, I wandered back to the main area and by this time, many of the other students had left. The cool air had now changed from feeling nice to being penitential. However, it seemed right and proper to be uncomfortable in a place where St. Francis would come to pray. When I finally stumbled upon the chapel, I was ready for some warmth. I had the blessing of participating, although somewhat incompletely, in Stations of the Cross and Evening prayer in Italian. The beautiful voices of the friars, sisters, and lay people mixed together in a glorious sound. I didn’t really know what they were saying but I was able to pick up random words that were rather similar to Spanish. As I walked down the mountain with a friend in the fading daylight, I found myself opening up and being very pleased with simply life in general.

Assisi. The world seems to tell us that peace is boring and undesirable. How wrong they are! “Have you noticed the peace of Assisi?” a friar was asking us during a tour. He went on to say that the lives of the saints who have gone before us still impact the city. How beautiful, to think that our lives can affect more than those we know and encounter physically. St. Francis withdrew from the world, and for a few hours, I was able to as well. St. Francis was called the second Christ because his life was an attempt to mirror that of our Savior. Jesus withdrew from the world, St. Francis withdrew from the world, and I withdrew from the world. What better plan can I have then to follow the one who so closely followed Christ?