Artists, Mystics, and Clowns

“The unlikely trio or artists, mystics, and clowns. . . force us to pose the question, ‘Is God different from what we perceive?’  They lay bare an incandescent truth long concealed by ignorance, myopia, and inauthentic tradition: our perceptions of God, of our fellow ragamuffins, and of ourselves are flat-out wrong.”  —Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust, p. 71. 

My first name is Francis. The most famous of our kind is probably St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)—although the current Pope is making a run. In St. Francis’ day, those who knew him called him le jongleur de Dieu—the clown of God.

We need artists, mystics, and clowns speaking truth these days.

Especially on days when we are arguing about the wrong stuff because we’re so angry that we’ve lost sight of the root of the real issues.