St. Francis and the Empty Cup...

Perhaps the only real bug-a-boo in the spiritual life is our normal human tendency of attachment to desired outcomes -- of course, this is also true for relationships, business, sports, school, etc. We work for profit or for wage. We explore relationships for intimacy. We submit to better or worse educators for the grade... on and on and on... We always attach in order to get...

​And what of the person who has no attachment to a desired outcome remaining?

​There is a story of St. Francis... This particular one occurs well after he was only marginally considered a fool and more often as a saint... As for what he thought of himself, no doubt it was as a fool, a rather exalted vocation when he came to think of it... So, here we have a saintly fool who begs in the streets, sings to the moon, and washes the wounds of lepers: and is confoundedly always happy. What might he say to us? thought a Bishop, or maybe it was just some local Big-Shot, anyway, Francis receives a message inviting him to a Big Dinner (everyone-who-is-anyone will be sure to show up): would the saint be so kind as to come and say a few words of blessing?

Perplexed as to the why of this strange invite, Francis asks Brother Bernard what he should do? Bernard, being a former businessman, quickly sees the advantages of attending... Clare, whom Francis next consulted, said otherwise, "You know brother, you will not be happy there." And, as Francis turned away and scratched his beard, Clare added, "but perhaps you could make them happy." And so it was decided...

What should I wear? was not a consideration. He had only the patched robe that he was wearing. Maybe he should wash up? He took a bath in the same stream as he washed his lepers... Ready now for his walk into town, a new thought plagued him: what should he take with him? Well, of course, he would take his empty cup...

On the road now, Francis started praying and before long he was just walking with his mind completely enveloped by his love for the Divine Beloved: he took no notice of the rocks, of the path, of the trees, even of the sky: he was simply loving his Love... He didn't notice the farmer family dropping a biscuit into his cup, or the strange old lady who lived alone in her shack adding a few slices of vegetables from her garden... He didn't even recognize mean old Father Sylvester laughing as he added bitter herbs growing on the edge of the path...

Arriving at the Palace of the Mayor, Francis horrifies the tidy butler and is ushered through the back door and into the kitchen where he is told to stand and wait for further instructions... Still being far away in a condition of spiritual inebriation he didn't notice the cook adding a rich broth to his now overflowing cup... The butler returns, and with an expectedly cruel flourish presents "the saint" to the waiting crowd of dignitaries... An ovation returns Francis to a surprised awareness of his having arrived at the Palace, "Wow!" he thought, "here I am! And they already filled my cup with food!"

It was precisely at this moment that Francis realized that he had been the first and only one served (which horrified him), so he did what any fool, or saint, would do: he offered his cup to everyone. He blessed the food and passed the cup to the person on his right (the Bishop, of course). The Bishop, realizing full well his predicament, opted to consider Francis a saint after all, and well, why not play his game? He reached into the cup and took a smidgen of food and put it into his mouth... everyone watched in a group horrification... the Bishop smiled and said, "Pudding! Just like my mother used to make!" And he passed the cup to his right: into the hands of the Banker's wife... She, too, decided to play along with the saint: she reached into the cup and took a smidgen of food and put it into her mouth... another gasp of horrification engulfed the room... the Lady smiled and said, "Fried cabbage! Just like my father used to fix!"

Without going into every detail of the passing cup, the general horrification, became the most wondrous thing ever! Everyone tasted the very favorite food of their childhood, and by the time the cup got back to Francis it was, once again, completely empty! He was so incredibly happy to have brought the cup with him! It was at this exact moment that the cook, with her twelve assistants entered the dining hall with the lavish meal they had prepared, fully expecting a normal dinner party, but of course, there was already nothing normal going on! It was, in fact, the banker's wife who whispered into the ear of the Bishop that she thought the Saint would be most happy if they were to carry all of this wonderful food down to the leper colony of the Saint...

Torches led the way down the hill... it seemed that half the town had tagged along to see the Big-Shots giving food to the very, very, Little-Shots... And so they did! And Bernard and Clare in sort-of-scolding voices to Francis, said "What took you so long?!" All Francis could say was, "I dunno, guess I got lost."

​What was that stuff about attachment to desired outcomes and the spiritual life?  

Well, here it is: "I got lost". Huh? The spiritual life both begins and ends when the "I" gets out of the way: gets lost: gone. When our identity is finally only loving we are home free. There is "no self" to realize: no enlightenment: no salvation: no Big Deal...

There is, though, the smile of the Buddha. There is the holy tear of the Christ. And there is the secure embrace of the Mother. As there are the empty cups of the Saints... and the only thing that matters. You can read it for yourself in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. It can be summarized as I was hungry and you did not feed me. Or better, I was hungry and you did feed me...

The spiritual life is becoming an empty cup, for others... And loving means compassionate action: loving is creative: loving is creating the conditions (justice and peace) in which everyone and everything (like the entire Planet) will flourish... If you want it in a nutshell, here it is: We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love. (Simone Weil) That is it and that is everything!