Comfort the Afflicted; Afflict the Comfortable

I have already written in Rabbi Spitzer’s blog about my very first impression of Rome- a peace that came and settled into me the moment I arrived. It rests somewhere between my rib cages, and is present almost whenever I am outside in Italy.


However, in this journal I would like to talk about my trip to Assisi. I felt a very spiritual connection to this town because St. Francis is associated with his advocacy for the poor in around the 13th century A.D. I have, as you know, continued to feel a calling to work on behalf of the poor. I sat and prayed in the Basilica di San Francesco for a half an hour, just being in the presence of this saint’s spirit.

I really enjoyed the Rick Steve short because he opened with a version of this line: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” (paraphrase). He advocates breaking down our ethnocentrism and to use traveling to challenge our perspectives. Though I didn’t think that this trip would do that, because it’s not in a third world country, I did get to meditate on the devotion of St. Francis this weekend. I asked God to show me where he wants me to go in my life. You never can be sure what the answer was, but all I could keep thinking was: “Keep going. I will show you.” Sounds feasible to me. Like Rick Steve, I want to help people (including myself) to be “active Christian citizens mobilized to make our country a positive force.”

Gaudium et Spes (21) is a similar call to action: “faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer’s entire life, including its worldly dimensions, and by activating him toward justice and love, especially regarding the needy.”

Tim Cahill’s “Introduction” is very funny because he makes fun of his own writing and other professionals in his field. Cahill posits that there is a recent rise in the demand for travel writing. Without the story, however, travel writing is simply “a ship’s log” (Cahill xviii). I especially love his description of the so-called “ecological Armageddon” (xix). He indicates that instead of reprimanding people for what they did or did not do, one can use a story in travel writing to persuade people to care. I am able to use this storylike approach in my career to engage people in social justice, instead of presenting bland facts.

Though Assisi had many other attractions, such as picturesque landscape views (especially from the castle at the top of the hill Assisi rests on) and cobblestone roads, I felt personally connected to the city by remembering the life and dedication of St. Francis.