It is now eight centuries since St Francis first gave his Gospel message to the world. Yet no one can be in any doubt about its power to attract, or of its present relevance. The witness given by the poor man of Assisi stretches far beyond the limits of his own day and culture. It cannot be restricted to the confines of a single religious tradition, still less to being a sort of "private possession" of his own followers. It is a reality of the spirit, having its own special dynamic whose attraction is not confined to any one time or group.

It is just when you think you have expressed the message in definitions, or when you believe it has been understood and formulated once for all time, that its richness explodes in a revelation of new depths and new surprises. Many religious families have followed it through the centuries. They and other groups have shaped their development on this charism as have the various "reforms" of the Franciscan Orders. All show how deep run the riches of this restless spirit. We are talking of a message, and a spirituality that lays claim to a freedom and joi de vivre that is its due. The more it is homeless, the more it is "at home".

Every trace of slavery disappeared in face of the message proclaimed that day in the piazza of Assisi, before the bishop and the amazed townspeople. It was the moment when Francis stripped off his clothes, giving them back to his father with the words: "From now on I can say with freedom: ‘Our Father who art in heaven..’ and no longer ‘my father Pietro Bernardone’". From now on there was to be no suit of clothes that would fit him.

"Francis, why does the whole world run after you, and everyone want to see you and hear you and obey you? Francis, why after you?" (Fioretti, 10). Fra Masseo’s question would receive various answers today: ‘because of your poetic spirit’, ‘for your love of nature and all creatures’, ‘for your instinctive sharing with the poorest of the poor’, ‘for your ability to bring opposed parties together in reconciliation and peace’. The list could go on. In fact every age has its own list of the things most germane to it. Each Franciscan family or Institute among the hundreds that have sprung up in the course of the centuries can lay claim to and define its own symbol, its own "habit", its structure and chosen work. But beware of seeing the works, or the external shapes as if they were a definitive expression of Franciscan spirituality! To each Francis repeats: "Do not talk to me of any rule, whether of St Benedict, St Augustine, or St Bernard; do not speak of any ideal or form of life other than that which the Lord in his mercy has deigned to give me and show me. The Lord has told me only to wish to be like him, a simpleton in this world.." (Mirror of Perfection 68 cfr 1 Cor 4.10).

The Francis who is a wonder of gospel living came into being at the moment when his life, hitherto shaped by commerce and acquisition and seen clad in the panoply of chivalry, changed direction instead towards the image of the poor Christ, the image of a God who reveals himself in poverty, in being vulnerable, in the self-emptying of the most radical act of self-giving: "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head".

It was precisely in this absence of security chosen by the Son of God for his earthly life that the saint of Assisi found his security. Here was the point of reference, the clear horizon that so completely captivated him that everything around him changed its look and meaning. So came to birth new relationships themselves free and liberating. New power flowed in him: new depths of meaning emerged, an affectivity knowing no restraints, an imaginative wealth of symbols that by the year grew bolder and more trusting. Focussed on the conviction: "Now I can say in full freedom: Our Father who art in heaven", the whole of life became simple and a single whole. His poverty makes room for the Spirit, who in turn multiplies the creative abilities that come from God and from Him alone.

Why does Francis still exercise his fascination, and not leave us to sleep in peace? Surely because he sends us back to the Good News, straight to the simple Gospel message with its invitation: "Now it is your part to give flesh to the Gospel in your own body and heart, and to do it with courage and no hesitation. You are in the arms of God the Father. Have no fear!"

Francis attracts because he draws out and gives expression to all the hidden possibilities in us that do not break free precisely because of the stifling anxieties of our self-involvement. When he abandoned himself to God Francis awoke to a self-confidence, knowing himself the recipient of God’s endless gifts, offering forms of expression without limit. It showed him the joy of total renunciation of anything of his own, and the freedom of the Kingdom. It opened visions of the vitality that can be released through relationships with other people, and with the whole of creation, that made him a man of dialogue, communion and peace. But this total abandonment, like that of a child relying on his parents for everything, is only achieved through daily listening to the Word, protecting God, as it were, from our selves, boldly accepting the ways in which we are stripped of possessions.

"Francis" says his first biographer, "seemed like a man from another world" (1 Cel 36). It is a world more human, more fraternal, more respectful, of solidarity; the world we all dream of and want. It can be the world of the third millennium. What is needed is that we refuse to accept passively the many forms of idolatry and self-centredness which loom over us, instead welcoming with a renewed heart God’s first intention for our growth. It is so important that once more we make our own, with enthusiasm, the freshness of the Gospel message that came to us first through the attraction of Francis. We have to find new forms through which the essence of this will be better seen, better expressed so that its meaning comes through. We have to find "new skins for the new wine" so that our life becomes a clear witness of Him in whom we have placed our hope.

When at the point of death, the Poor Man laid on everyone of us, man and woman the grave injunction: "I have done my part; may Christ teach you to do yours"(2 Cel 21,4). Francis has left us a "naked" content, just as he stood naked in the piazza of Assisi. It is for us to clothe it in the flesh of our witness.

"Why after you, Francis?" When Francis walked through the streets they followed him because they sensed that within him there was something much more than him. Our job now is to make the message fresh, practical in terms of today. We dare not disappoint the hopes of the world in which we live.