PERHAPS THE MOST popular sculptured image of Francis of Assisi is that of the bearded little man standing on a birdbath. This figure is so universal that you can find it as readily in an Episcopalian’s backyard or a Buddhist prayer garden as at a Franciscan retreat center.
To those who complain, "This birdbath art is too lowbrow and sentimental!" I say, "Relax, it’s not always inferior art. Besides, Francis belongs to the popular arts (e.g., key chains, fridge magnets and the like), as well as to the fine arts."
To set Francis on a birdbath or in a flower garden or to depict him with birds circling his head is simply a popular way of saying, "This man had a special link with all God’s creatures, and it’s just like him to be standing there humbly among them."
Francis was in awe of the swallow, the cricket and the wolf. "Where the modern cynic sees something buglike in everything that exists," observed the German writer-philosopher Max Scheler, "St. Francis saw even in a bug the sacredness of life."
Another reason Francis should remain on the birdbath or in the garden is that his being there helps us recognize, as Francis himself did, that the world of God and the world of nature are one. Francis did not build an artificial wall between the natural world and the supernatural, the secular and the sacred...
St. Francis of Assisi addressed creatures as "sisters" and "brothers," that is, as equals, not as subjects to be dominated. And that is why the humble figure of St. Francis standing on the birdbath or among the shrubs is so right for our day. He truly saw himself as a simple servant and caretaker of creation - little brother to the birds and the fish and the lowly ivy.
Sometimes we can be too highbrow for our own good, and we miss the grace God has for us. We should continually, like Jesus, praise God that he has "hidden these [spiritual] things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children." (Luke 10.21 NIV)
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