Walking back to our apartment this afternoon, I couldn't help but notice a beautiful young girl pose next to a shop window. She smiled and lifted a heal, her father snapped the shot. And her mother looked away, somewhat amused, but not planning to show it. It seems to be a universal truth about humans: We want to be noticed.
All of us have seen landmarks ruined by names scribbled, scratched or carved into their surface. Names with dates or initials of lovers left behind hoping that someone, someday will see and recognize them. Recently I saw a footbridge in Kiev, Ukraine where couples write their names along the way, or better yet on padlocks which they affix to the handrails, hoping they will never be taken away. A way of saying "I love you, and I mean it."
Today, I was blown away by another sort of graffiti, a differing sort of signature left behind for posterity. We climbed high above the walled city of Assisi to the site of mountainside caves where St. Francis and his brothers used to go to pray for extended periods. There is one particular place where rocks once fell from the mountainside during a prayer battle with Satan. Upon his defeat and exit, stones fell away from the mountain; and where the stone mountain walls remain, is now a place of prayer.
Pilgrims and faithful come from all over the world to see this centuries-old place of prayer. And when they arrive, and after they have prayed, they have for centuries marked the wall with graffiti. How do they wish to be remembered? Look
closely at these photos. They show only a tiny portion of a huge area.
Francis of Assisi's life was at one time about gaining honor and fame as a brave knight. Two times he went off in bright armor in order to make a name for himself. And two times he returned to Assisi perceived to be a failure...a coward even. But God had spoken to him and told him to return. And
Francis chose to leave behind all gains in order to follow in the ways of Jesus. His life was to be about the glory of Christ's life.
When people go to see this monument of his devotion to prayer, they seem to understand. We do not leave our own names behind for posterity. Rather,
we celebrate the sign of the ONE who matters forever.
We can and will be forgotten. He will not.
