Putting Your Heart in Your Feet
Putting Your Heart in Your Feet
October 4 marked the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the humble friar who saw God’s love woven through every part of creation.
His life reads like a paradox: a man who owned nothing yet felt he possessed everything, who preached to birds and befriended wolves, and whose gentle rebellion against materialism gave birth to one of the Church's most influential religious orders.
You may have heard the quote “Preach the gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words.” It’s often attributed to Francis, but there’s no evidence he actually said these words. Francis was a preacher, and it was important to him that words and actions matched, admonishing his fellow brothers to “preach by their deeds.”
Whether you know him from garden statues or half-remembered stories, the real Francis was far more radical, more tender, and more challenging than legend often suggests.
Author Jon Sweeney engages students in an imaginative practice to help them embody St. Francis’ example:
“Look, for a moment, at your hands.
Keep your eyes there.
Take your time now.
Look at your fingertips.
Your palms.
Picture in your mind what they have recently touched or carried.
What did they hold—perhaps this morning or last night?
What have they recently given away?
Those hands of yours can be used to hurt, or they can be used to heal and help.
What do you use your hands for?
Are you gentle with them?
Did anyone teach you to be gentle with your hands?
Consider your own mouth.
What does it most often do?
Does it laugh?
Kiss?
Is it honest?
Do you use your mouth to speak in ways that are kind?
Maybe not always?
It is possible to throw words at people the way that we throw things, being careless or causing damage.
We should be kind with our mouths.
Think now about your feet.
Think about your feet as you look out the window at people on the street.
Do you see someone in need of kindness?
It is often easy to find someone who appears lonely.
Do your feet move you in their direction?
We often move around so quickly that we fail to notice when someone needs our help.
Or, let’s be honest, we don’t much care.
We see a need and instead we put our feet up.
Put your heart in your feet.
When was the last time you went looking for the person who needs a friend?
Be honest—when was it?
Whether in a classroom, at work, or on the street, it has never been easy to do the right thing because it takes a special kind of courage.
We will always feel more comfortable not helping, avoiding new and uncomfortable situations. But we need to do more than be comfortable.
God knows that my feet have not moved toward helping others, plenty.
I’m trying today to be more courageous than I was when I was your age.
I hope you’ll do better than I did.
In all of this, I have to tell you, I am channeling the teachings of the medieval saint I was talking about before.
He’s been immortalized in birdbaths everywhere, which is unfortunate.
You see, this is how Francis of Assisi imagined his role in the world: in very practical ways, using his hands, his mouth, and his feet.”
For Francis, prayer wasn’t confined to words spoken in a chapel—it was a way of being in the world. His prayers took shape in silence, in song, in caring for the poor, and in his deep reverence for all living things. To pray like Francis is to open ourselves to the presence of God everywhere—in the beauty, in the brokenness, and in the ordinary grace of each day.
Any thoughts about this imaginative yet practical prayer practice? I’d love to know.
Go make peace, my friends.
Pastor Leanne
Adapted from Jon M. Sweeney, Feed the Wolf: Befriending Our Fears in the Way of Saint Francis (Broadleaf, 2021), 10–13.
Photo by Sandi Mager on Unsplash
Community Presbyterian Church
32202 Del Obispo
San Juan Capistrano. CA 92675
949-493-1502
info@sjcpres.org