{"id":364,"date":"2022-10-05T20:33:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T20:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/2022\/10\/04\/pulled-in-two-directions\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T20:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:17:08","slug":"pulled-in-two-directions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/pulled-in-two-directions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulled in two directions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cYou what?!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had him baptized. With the name Giovanni, in honor of John the Baptist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Baptist is the wackiest one in that whole wacky religion. And you named my son<\/em> after such a man? I don\u2019t want a man of God \u2013 I want a man of business! A man of the world! A man who will inherit my hard work and success, and who will multiply my profits!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m his father; his name is my choice. I\u2019m giving him a name that will show to everyone that he is a man of the real world, a man of the times. I\u2019m calling him \u2013 Francesco!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Italian infant had been given the baptismal name \u201cJohn\u201d by his mother; his father named him, essentially, \u201cFrenchman.\u201d The competing values these two names represented continued to pull this child in different directions \u2013 much as they do all of us. The world and the Kingdom of God. The flesh and the spirit. God and Mammon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo one can serve two masters,\u201d Jesus taught his disciples (Matt. 6:24). And we understand the lesson as we are daily pulled in multiple directions, trying to stay focused on God, but sometimes unsure of what that would even look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy in the story was tossed back and forth between the values of his earthly father (and his own love of fashion) and the consistent tug of his holy Father on his heart. The legends say that as he grew up he was a hit at every social event, always the best-dressed, and he sought his glory in military campaigns. And yet, they also say that once, after turning away a couple of people begging for alms, he later ran after them and gave them all the money he had in his pockets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This young man would eventually choose which master he would serve wholeheartedly: God. And as he made this choice \u2013 not just once, but every day, in so many actions large and small \u2013 our young Giovanni Francesco became St. Francis of Assisi.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know St. Francis as the little statue people keep in the gardens, a lover of animals and all of nature. As a wealthy man who turned away from his inheritance to take a vow of poverty. A man who nursed lepers in their suffering. A man who received holy visions. We think of him as one of the great heroes of the faith, a man almost otherworldly in his devotion to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many denominations (including Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran) commemorate St. Francis on October 4. It\u2019s a reminder to reflect on the way St. Francis lived: how this man was able to walk a path of serving God as his one true master; how this man\u2019s life of faith can help us to see and understand Jesus and the call to follow only him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God\u2026we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and [Gentiles], Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God\u2019s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God\u2019s weakness is stronger than human strength\u201d (1 Cor. 1:18, 23-25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of God was<\/em> foolishness to St. Francis\u2019s father. One story tells of Francis hearing God say: \u201cgo and repair my church!\u201d Francis immediately sold some cloth from his father\u2019s store and gave the money to the local priest. Then, he hid from his father in a cave. This was a smart move<\/a> \u2013 because when his father found him, he dragged Francis home and locked him up in a storage closet. He took Francis to court and demanded that he stop using family possessions so wastefully; Francis resigned his inheritance and all the wealth of his family \u2013 even the clothes on his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Francis, committing to God meant living in a way that was only wasteful foolishness to his father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the way of the Christ \u2013 the way of our crucified savior. A way that doesn\u2019t make sense, because it is so contrary to so many of the values of the world around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.\u201d<\/p>\nC.S. Lewis<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As we remember St. Francis, let\u2019s reflect on how God is making each of us into \u201clittle Christs\u201d and how we can serve God as our only master in our own daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prayer by ST. Franics for meditating on the crucifix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense, and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out your holy and true command. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

+++<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pr. Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Katherine Museus Dabay<\/a> serves as university pastor at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and takes turns writing weekly devotions with University Pastor James A. Wetzstein.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou what?!\u201d \u201cI had him baptized. With the name Giovanni, in honor of John the Baptist.\u201d \u201cThe Baptist is the wackiest one in that whole wacky religion. And you named […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-katherine-museus","category-csl-newsletter-devotionals"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"dev@eridesign.com","author_link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/author\/deveridesign-com\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/10\/StFrancis-300x169.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Katherine Museus<\/a>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Katherine Museus<\/span>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 5, 2022","modified":"Updated on August 18, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 5, 2022 8:33 pm","modified":"Updated on August 18, 2025 8:17 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":729,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}