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The Chartula of St. Francis of Assisi

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The Chartula of St. Francis of Assisi The Chartula of St. Francis of Assisi Insights into intercession Jim Smith 1 Index Introduction Part 1 Holiness and purity What it means to enter the presence of a holy God. Part 2 Authority What it means to move in the authority of Jesus. Part 3 Deeper Moving in the deep places of intercession. Part 4 In the presence of the King Different challenges of intercession. Part 5 The Breastplate The protection of the Chartula. Index Further reading and books used in this material. ©Jim Smith. October 2013. This material may be downloaded and used for personal, group or church study. It is not to be changed and it is not to be sold. E:[email protected]. www.serving-africa.org (+44) 07803 617435 Freshfields, Mutton Hall Hill, Heathfield, East Sussex. U.K. TN221 8NL 2 Introduction The Chartula of St Francis was written by him on Mount La Verna, after the appearance of the Seraph and the cross, and the reception of the Stigmata. He wrote it on a small parchment, and gave it to Brother Leo, one of his closest companions. (Read about this in the account of the “Life of Francis” by Thomas Selano, and also “The Road to Assisi” by Paul Sabatier) I was first attracted to this document as I began to study the life of Francis. As an Intercessor, I wanted to see if this precious and unique text, written by a very powerful man of prayer, could give me some idea about how to intercede at a deep level. I have taken the text, and used it as a way of exploring deeper intercession. I am deeply impressed with Francis. His life has had a big impact on mine, so I write from that position. I am not a Franciscan scholar, so I apologise in advance for any errors that such experienced scholars might see. But I am writing to help others intercede in the way that Francis might have interceded. Translation has not been easy, because of the way the Chartula was folded, and even with modern techniques, we still struggle. The translation used here is from the Lapsanski and Kajetan Esser, although I have also referred to the original text as presented by Bartoli Langeli. I have divided the Chartula into five sections and each section has its own teaching. The poems and reflections are all written by me, unless otherwise indicated. 3 The Chartula You are the holy Lord God who does wonderful things. You are strong. You are great. You are the most high. You are the almighty king. You holy Father, King of heaven and earth. You are three in one, the Lord God of gods; You are the good, all good, the highest good, Lord God living and true. You are love; charity; You are wisdom, you are humility, You are patience, You are beauty, You are meekness, You are security, you are rest, You are gladness and joy, You are our hope, You are justice, You are moderation; You are all our riches to sufficiency. You are beauty, You are meekness, You are the protector, You are our custodian and defender, You are strength, You are refreshment, You are our hope, You are our faith, You are our charity, You are all our sweetness, You are our eternal life: Great and wonderful Lord, Almighty God, Merciful Saviour. 4 In the stillness a whisper of love calls I reach out and touch a beauty I have never known. Caressed by the Eternal I cry at the sterility of my life and long for more 5 Part 1: Holiness and purity Chartula You are holy Lord God, You do wonderful things. I was teaching at a conference once, and I asked if anyone had a good way of describing the holiness of heaven. One woman stood up and said “Heaven is holy, and there is no place for our dirty feet there. So God has provided a heavenly shower - the blood of Jesus!” Everybody laughed, but she had put her finger on something which every intercessor knows – God is holy, and being in that holy presence challenges us deeply, and demands a holiness and purity in us which is hard to contain in our spirits. At first, some intercessors do not realise the truth about holiness. Moses didn’t, and God had to teach him:- “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Ex.3:5) Moses did not understand that to come close to God would expose his own heart, and demand a humility and obedience which he did not yet have. He had to be told. The Prophet Isaiah was already aware of this truth. When he saw the Lord, he showed his awareness of holiness, and he also saw its implications:- “Woe is me” I cried. “I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isa.6:5) Isaiah did understand. In the light of a holy God, he saw his own sinfulness, and realised the consequences of coming to God in an unforgiven state. The holiness of God exposed his impurity. This is a key lesson we all have to learn. We may try to hide our impurity, pretend it isn’t there, or that we have dealt with it, but the holiness will shine straight through our deceptions and show the truth. This will happen every time we come to intercede. 6 The holiness of Jesus To get the full picture of the holiness and purity of God, we have to look at Jesus. He was wholly different, wholly holy, and this is the holiness which challenges our purity. Here are the challenges he offers to every intercessor:- * “God made him to be sin that had no sin.” (2 Cor.5:21) Jesus was so holy that he could forgive, without the need for forgiveness himself. * “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5) Jesus was so holy, so without sin, (2 Cor.5:21) that he could forgive sin. * “Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” (Mark 1: 34) Jesus was so holy, that he could heal (Mark 4/5) but did not need healing. (Isaiah 53:6) * “Be quiet” said Jesus, “Come out of him.” (Mark 1:25) Jesus was so holy, that he confronted and broke the power of darkness in demons, in nature, in sickness and in death. He did this while being totally pure, with no shadow of evil in himself. * “Look the lamb of God.” (John1:35) In his holiness, Jesus was willing and able to offer the perfect sacrifice, because he was perfect himself. (Matthew 5:48: Hebrews 9:11-14) * “By his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebs.2:14-15) In his holiness, he was totally powerful, breaking death (John 20) without being subject to death. 7 Holiness and us When we come to intercede, this is the holiness we face, and this is the standard we will have to be judged by:- “Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-23) When we come to intercession, this is the mirror into which we must look - into the utter purity and holiness of Jesus. It’s an enormous challenge. We cannot come unprepared like Moses. We cannot come proud like the Pharisee, (Luke 18:11) but must come like Isaiah, aware of our unworthiness. We are unworthy. We are stained with guilt, with the past, with our weaknesses, our failures, our pride, our arrogance, our man centred confidence. Isaiah had to be cleansed by the burning coals. We have to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. This is so easy to write and to say, and we say it so easily, forgetting the awful price the blood represents - the insults, the stripping, the crown, the beatings the scourging, the execution, the public agony, the filth, the shame, the blood, the agonising death, the gloating of the enemy and all the demons, feeling the pain in the Father’s heart. Henry Suso, writing in the Fourteenth century wrote this description:- 8 “I was suspended on the lofty tree of the cross because of my unfathomable love to thee and all mankind. My whole frame was grievously distorted. My bright eyes were extinguished and turned in my head. My divine ears were filled with scoffing and blasphemy. My delicate nostrils were wounded with foul smells. My sweet mouth was tormented with bitter drink and my tender feelings with hard blows.
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