Editors Note: This article originally appeared on Huffington Post. 

We are living in exciting times. Just when Church was so full of judgment, rules, and order, Pope Francis comes along and is showing us another way.

Everyday he is speaking of joy, openness, and looking into our heart. He is washing the feet of prisoners, the sick and elderly showing us that true spirituality is of the heart, wanting to serve instead expecting to be served.

Truly, Pope Francis is bringing alive the spirit and life of St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis, the medieval saint from the 12th century is being remembered for his love of nature and his humility and concern for everyone—no matter what is their walk in life, particularly the very poor.

If we look deeper, we will also see Pope Francis practicing the inner path which brought St. Francis of Assisi to so much joy. Pope Francis can illuminate these practices as well as clear up misunderstandings. There has been too much self-denial and sacrifice embedded in religion for too long and for too many.

If Pope Francis can show us the true footsteps of St. Francis and spirituality of the heart, a new era may unfold.

Most people don’t know that St. Francis spent a good part of his short life living simply on mountain tops all over central Italy.

His many days and long nights were spent in the big silence, contemplating all elements of life. Nature in all its beauty, the sky in its wonder, and his own nakedness stood out nearly every moment. This time alone in silence guided him to a profound peace within himself. His time alone in the perfect stillness was sacred.

This time was about simply being and much more. It was time without distraction.

St. Francis would venture deep into the great vastness of his heart. Loneliness and everything human was present, but time and time again, it all fell aside to something greater. St. Francis found a great vastness of God.

A perfect peace was found inside the heart in the midst of the beauty and quiet of the mountaintop.

Today Pope Francis, the Dali Lama and spiritual leaders of many faiths are practicing a similar path of spending much time sitting in profound stillness, the deep quiet of the heart. They begin each morning, taking time to be and listen to the depths of the inner stillness.

This is the source of their openness, humility, wisdom, humor and compassion.

St. Francis battled his ill body, his desires and his feelings on his journey into the vastness of God. Pope Francis, the Dali Lama, and spiritual leaders today have learned the battle is not necessary.

The middle road of taking time to listen and receive the silence of the heart is a true path. There is no need to punish ourselves. At the end of his life, St. Francis asked brother body to forgive him for being so hard and unforgiving towards what is also a gift from God, his body and all his humanness.

Since those medieval times, serving others and self-sacrifice have been confused in the Church and in many traditions.

Many think helping others includes denying ourselves.

This is where Pope Francis and today’s Church must speak openly about leaving behind medieval thinking and join the modern era. How can being unloving to ourselves lead us to be more loving with others? How can we think battling with ourselves can lead to peace? If God is love how can we love one another if we are uncaring and supportive towards our own feelings and needs? After saying “no” to parts of ourselves, how can we suddenly expect to find a big “yes?”

Denying our feelings, trying to turn off our sexuality has led to the problems that have existed for centuries in all traditions, but are now very public. When are we going to realize the excess in fasting, controlling, berating, judging ourselves and others has nothing to do with God?

Denying the self to free the self does not work. We free the mind by discovering and receiving God inside our heart and in life all around us. The great love, all that is good is abundantly present when we are heartfully present, available, and sharing it with others.

There is a big difference between self-denial and sacrifice and humility and compassion. One is hurting to the heart. The other is fulfilling the heart.

Humility and compassion cannot be forced. They grow slowly, naturally as we discover the abundance of our inner garden. It is time to recognize that God is the resource we find in the quiet of our heart and this resource grows as we ask like St. Francis to be instruments of peace and healing in the world.

A true spiritual life is neither self-sacrifice nor being selfish. It is neither self-denial nor self-importance. Battling parts of ourselves does not lead to peace but inner conflict, hidden lives, and destruction.

Being poor and suffering is not a path to holiness, but about being poor and suffering. Similarly being successful and healthy can be a distraction if we are busy acquiring possessions and forgetting about our heart and the hearts of others.

The path is not really about having possessions or no possessions, having desires or trying to have none. St. Francis and Pope Francis point to a spiritual practice in silence with no distractions. Today, we call it unplugging or disconnecting. When the mind is not so occupied and busy, awareness of the heart naturally begins.

Inside each of us there is a vastness of presence, God overflows our normal limits of self and personality. We find ourselves more forgiving and offering the gifts of life to others. From the well of silence in our heart comes generosity, gentleness, innocence, and joy.

Today, with all the humility and beauty being demonstrated by Pope Francis, let’s speak clearly about the end of putting ourselves down in order to lift someone else up. It makes no sense and never has.

It is time to lift ourselves and everyone with a sincere and meaningful spiritual life like St. Francis long ago and Pope Francis today.

It is time to recognize that God is the resource we find in the quiet of our heart and this resource grows as we ask like St. Francis to be instruments of peace and healing in the world.

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Apprentice Editor: Emily Bartran / Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Wikimedia Commons