The Way 65/4 (October 2026) Surprising Grace

The year 2026 marks the eight-hundredth anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi in October 1226, and we honour his memory in this issue of The Way with a number of articles. Shortly before his death, Francis gave a testament recounting the pivotal graces of his life, and offering them as a blessing to those who would come after him. The account is filled with holy surprise that, without anyone else to show him the way, God had helped him to ‘live according to the holy pattern of the Gospel’ (n.14). At the time of his conversion, his feelings of revulsion towards lepers were transfigured into ‘sweetness of soul and body’ (n.3). Later he was able to recognise Christ in the ministry even of clerics who persecuted him (n.6). And he not only received followers as a gift from God, but also the manner in which they were to live together (n.14). His life disclosed the surprising ways in which the grace of God had been at work, and affirmed that the initiative had always belonged to God.

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