{"id":2743,"date":"2008-10-04T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-04T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html"},"modified":"2008-10-04T00:02:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-04T00:02:00","slug":"st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html","title":{"rendered":"St. Francis of Assisi, deacon: “We ought to be servants”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a> “St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer”
by Bartolom\u00e9 Esteban Murillo, 1645.<\/span><\/div>\n

Many people mistakenly think that St. Francis of Assisi must have been a priest.<\/p>\n

Nope.<\/p>\n

He was a deacon.<\/p>\n

On this, his feast, we are reminded of his spirit of diakonia<\/i> in these beautiful words, from one of his letters:<\/p>\n

We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather, we must be simple, humble, pure. We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God’s sake. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father’s children who do his work. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read much more about this “model deacon”<\/a> over at Deacon Scott Dodge’s blog, where he notes:<\/p>\n

“”Of all the saints,” writes Bp. Mark Santer, formerly Anglican bishop of Birmingham, England, “the one whom most people find most Christlike is St. Francis.” His Grace continues that he thinks it significant that Francis “was never ordained a priest.” Instead, Francis “was an ordained deacon, a servant, to the end of his life.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer”by Bartolom\u00e9 Esteban Murillo, 1645. Many people mistakenly think that St. Francis of Assisi must have been a priest. Nope. He was a deacon. On this, his feast, we are reminded of his spirit of diakonia in these beautiful words, from one of his letters: We must not be wise…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons","category-hanging-with-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Francis of Assisi, deacon: "We ought to be servants" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Francis of Assisi, deacon: "We ought to be servants" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer”by Bartolom\u00e9 Esteban Murillo, 1645. Many people mistakenly think that St. Francis of Assisi must have been a priest. Nope. He was a deacon. On this, his feast, we are reminded of his spirit of diakonia in these beautiful words, from one of his letters: We must not be wise…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-04T00:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SObnseQ8RHI\/AAAAAAAADFU\/PfYPmkqkkpI\/s400\/421px-Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_St_Francis_of_Assisi_at_Prayer.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"St. Francis of Assisi, deacon: \"We ought to be servants\" - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"St. Francis of Assisi, deacon: \"We ought to be servants\" - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"“St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer”by Bartolom\u00e9 Esteban Murillo, 1645. Many people mistakenly think that St. Francis of Assisi must have been a priest. Nope. He was a deacon. On this, his feast, we are reminded of his spirit of diakonia in these beautiful words, from one of his letters: We must not be wise…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-10-04T00:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SObnseQ8RHI\/AAAAAAAADFU\/PfYPmkqkkpI\/s400\/421px-Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_St_Francis_of_Assisi_at_Prayer.JPG"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html","name":"St. Francis of Assisi, deacon: \"We ought to be servants\" - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SObnseQ8RHI\/AAAAAAAADFU\/PfYPmkqkkpI\/s400\/421px-Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_St_Francis_of_Assisi_at_Prayer.JPG","datePublished":"2008-10-04T00:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-04T00:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SObnseQ8RHI\/AAAAAAAADFU\/PfYPmkqkkpI\/s400\/421px-Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_St_Francis_of_Assisi_at_Prayer.JPG","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SObnseQ8RHI\/AAAAAAAADFU\/PfYPmkqkkpI\/s400\/421px-Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_St_Francis_of_Assisi_at_Prayer.JPG"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/st-francis-of-assisi-deacon-we-ought-to-be-servants.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"St. Francis of Assisi, deacon: “We ought to be servants”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"description":"A Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, Greg Kandra is News Director for the diocese's cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television.) Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}