The Saint Francis Effect
Author: Kate Loving Shenk

I just saved a Bull Frog in the cistern we are restoring in
our 100 year old barn. She is a beautiful creature and has
lived there for for perhaps more than a year. But since we
are about to do some heavy duty construction on the barn's
foundation, I needed to go down through a very narrow hole
to retrieve her.

I grabbed her with two hands and looked into her eyes
before placing her in a plastic jar to hand to Tom, my
husband, who had created a large pool for her in the
basement.

A Saint Francis moment, indeed.

Saint Francis moments abound here on Blue Heron Farm, which
we call this beautiful place.

We live on the meandering Conestoga River, bringing geese,
heron, ducks and bird life to us in abundance. And Frogs,
of course.

We have deer friends who are secure here after our eighteen
years of residency.

One friend in particular is a deep brown color and we plant
a tomato garden for her and her family every year.

She stands and looks at us in the early spring each year as
if to say: Hey! Don't forget to plant my garden!!

Humans are not the most trustworthy species as far as deer
are concerned.

The fifth aphorism of Pananjali states: "When a person is
steadfast in his abstention from harming others, then all
living creatures will cease to feel enmity in his presence."

The deer, racoons, geese, frogs and heron all use our
property as a refuge.

They know they are safe and we marvel in their company.

Hanging out with these creatures of God-ess reminds me of
Saint Francis and what I call the Saint Francis effect.

My dogs are the recipient of great love in what they teach
us in this life time: unconditional love, forgiveness, and
great patience in the face of human foible.

The greatest book ever written about Saint Francis is
called: "God's Pauper: St. Francis of Assisi" by Nikos
Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek.

The book was out of print for many years but then was
re-published in paperback in 1999. I got a copy as soon as
I heard about it, circa 2002.

Reading the book transports consciousness to a mystical
perspective.

The prologue of the book serves as an example:

"If I have omitted many of Francis's sayings and deeds and
if I have altered others, and added still others which did
not take place but which might have taken place, I have
done so not out of ignorance or impudence or irreverence,
but from a need to match the Saint's life with his myth,
bringing that life as fully into accord with its essence as
possible.

"Art has its right, and not only the right but the duty to
subject everything else to its essence. It feeds upon the
story, then assimilates it slowly, cunningly, and turns it
into legend.

"While writing this legend which is truer than truth
itself, I was overwhelmed by love, reverence and admiration
for Francis, the hero and great martyr. Often large tears
smudged the manuscript; often a hand hovered before me in
the air, a hand with an eternally-renewed wound: someone
seemed to have driven a nail through it, seemed to be
driving a nail through it for all eternity.

"Everywhere about me, as I write, I sensed the Saint's
invisible presence; because for me, Saint Francis is the
model of the dutiful man, the man who by means of
ceaseless, supremely cruel struggle, succeeds in fulfilling
our highest obligation, something higher even than morality
or truth or beauty: the obligation to transubstantiate the
matter which God entrusted to us and turn it into spirit."
Nikos Kazantzakis

Do we all have this same obligation? to transubstantiate
the matter which God entrusts to us and turn it into spirit?

Only Nikos Kazantzakis could or would ask that question and
have us wonder if we, too, can rise to this test of human
potential?

Communing with the animals of Mother Nature these last
eighteen years continues to be a spiritual practice: of
being riveted in present moment reality, of experiencing
compassion and love for all creatures great and small, and
in these spaces of infinite awareness, we perceive the
fragile preciousness of this world and beyond.

The Saint Francis statue which beautifies the flower garden
is also a reminder of this fragile balance.

The Bullfrog in her new home typifies many more hours of
grace as we care for her. The dogs know she is here to
stay, probably knew this long before I did.

The Saint Francis effect is now clear. All of these years
of animal communication and sharing the land and our home,
and reading Nikos Kazantzakis's words today, has simplified
this.

As we look to the Saints and in this case, Saint Francis
for guidance, we are automatically transforming matter into
spirit.

God-ess has entrusted this beautiful planet to us, our
families, homes, our very lives; may we care and love and
transform all of it and ask the infinite realms, which
surround us at all times, to help us remember their guiding
presence and to learn to access it the moment we ask.

May we know that these wishes are granted ceaselessly.


About the Author:

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Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the
creator of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career
and Discover Your Calling and Destiny." Click here to order
the e-book:
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com
Check Out Kate's Blog:
http://www.nursehealers.typepad.com
http://www.katelovingshenk.com/blog
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