In
celebrating the birth of Saint Elizabeth, with all its richness and
importance, we are invited to appreciate every loving gesture that
preceded our own birth and the unfolding of our own lives and
histories.
Even
in her young life this child bride, challenged by maternal
responsibilities at a time in which she should have been enjoying
childhood games and dreams, demonstrated a serene awareness and
compassion for the most oppressed and abandoned of humanity.
II. Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen: A Living Experience
for Francis and Elizabeth
In the
lives of both Francis of Assisi and Elizabeth of Hungary we encounter
a vibrant experience of Jesus Christ, Servant of God, crucified and
risen, who was present in the poor.
The
culmination of this experience for Francis occurred at La Verna when
the vision of the crucified Lord ripped his soul and imprinted his
body and with a sword of compassion.
Elizabeth
was formed by this same penitential spirituality that she saw so
clearly in the lives of the Franciscans she encountered during her
formative years. It is clear that she was particularly aware of the
injustice that was present in the society of her time and of the
oppression of the weak by the strong. The mystery of suffering of the
innocent seems to have led her closer and closer to the mind of Christ
and the example of Francis and made her more compassionate to the
oppressed and the outcast.
When Elizabeth and her companions washed and dressed the sick it
seemed ever more natural for them to exclaim: �Quam bene nobis est
quod Dominum nostrum sic balneamus et tegimus� - How good it is
for us to be able to wash and to clothe our Lord (A. Huyskens,
Quellenstudien zur Geschichte der hl. Elisabeth Landgr�fin von
T�ringen, Marburg, 1908, pp. 155 -160).
There are
modern movements and ecclesiastical communities that embrace this
experience of compassion - this mystical experience of contemplating
the face of the Lord in the least of humanity - as an integral aspect
of their own life and ministry.
The leper,
who was cared for by Elizabeth in her own matrimonial bed and who, to
the eyes of many seemed to be the Crucified, reaffirms this reality.
Elizabeth continued in this service even after she was beaten by her
confessor, Conrad, for taking such risks (Ibid., pp. 158 -159). The
service to lepers unites Francis and Elizabeth in their response to
the call of the Lord of compassion.
One characteristic of Elizabeth�s service to the poor was
her desire to encourage them to be joyful. For example, in the great
distribution of alms that took place in Marburg in 1228 she made sure
that everyone received at least a little money. As it turned dark she
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