Who knows how many times Francis, the Herald of the Great King, in reading the episode of the lost sheep will have dwelt on that "What do you think?" (Mt 18:12). As if to say: "Would you do it?". 

Francis will certainly have asked himself this disarming question, to which his entire eloquent existence was answered "Yes, without any doubt".

For just one sheep of his flock he would certainly have left the others safe in search of the lost one.

"Let us look closely, brothers all, at the good Shepherd who, in order to save his sheep, endured the passion of the cross" (FF 155 - Admonitions).

He, who used to call Brother Leo 'God's sheep', would have faced any adversity to find it, and for this he sought martyrdom even at the Sultan of Egypt to win it for Christ.

Rich in tenderness and mercy is an episode that highlights Francis' shepherd heart. 

We find in the Sources:

"Once crossing the March of Ancona, after preaching in the same city, and heading towards Osimo, in the company of Brother Paul, whom he had elected minister to all the brothers of that province, he met a shepherd in the countryside, who was grazing his flock of rams and goats.

In the midst of the flock was a single sheep, quietly and humbly grazing on the grass.

As soon as he saw it, Francis stopped, and as if he had had a grip on his heart, full of compassion he said to his brother:

"Do you see that lonely and meek sheep among the goats? Our Lord Jesus Christ, surrounded and hunted down by the Pharisees and Sanhedrists, must have looked just like that humble creature.

Therefore I beseech thee, my son, for love of Him, be thou also full of compassion, let us buy her and take her away from these goats and goatherds" (FF 456).

«What is it to you? Would you do it?»  (Mt 18:12)

Jesus announces his death and resurrection to his own. He teaches his own humility and minority by paying the temple tax.

The first biographer of St Francis, Thomas of Celano, in the Vita Seconda, narrates the meeting that took place between Dominic and Francis at the home of Cardinal Ugolino, later Pope Gregory IX, probably between the end of 1219 and the beginning of 1221.

The Cardinal himself was deeply moved by hearing the dialogue between 

two saints, who spoke of God with such gentleness and humility, servants of God in an original way, both living the Paschal mystery.

"They found themselves together in Rome, in the house of Cardinal d'Ostia who was later Supreme Pontiff, the shining lights of the world St Francis and St Dominic.

Hearing them speak so sweetly to each other about the Lord, at the end the bishop said:

"In the early Church the pastors were poor and people of charity, without greed. Why,' he asked, 'among your brothers those who stand out for doctrine and good example, do you not make them bishops and prelates?'

A contest arose between the two saints, not to precede each other in reply, but because one proposed the honour to the other and even wanted to force him to speak first. They actually outdid each other in the veneration they nurtured for each other.

In the end, humility won out in Francis, because he did not step forward, and it also won out in Dominic, because he humbly obeyed and answered first.

So Dominic said to the bishop:

"Lord, my brothers, if they understand this, are already placed in high rank, and as far as I am concerned I will not allow them to obtain any other dignity".

After this brief and convinced reply, Francis bowed to the bishop and said in turn:

"Lord, my brothers have been called Minors precisely for this reason, so that they will not presume to become majors.

The very name teaches them to remain lowly and to follow in the footsteps of Christ's humility, so that in the end they may be raised above others in the presence of the saints.

If you want them to bear fruit in the Church of God,' he continued, 'keep them and preserve them in the state of their vocation, and bring them down even against their will.

For this, Father, I beseech you: that they may not be as proud as they are poor and may not show themselves arrogant towards others, do not in any way allow them to obtain offices'.

These were the answers of the Saints' (FF 732).

Wisdom and humility following Christ, free children of the Kingdom.

«Now when they were gathered together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again - And they were greatly grieved» (Mt 17:22)

Monday of the 19th wk. in O.T.   (Mt 17,22-27)

Jesus urges his little flock not to fear anything, because the Father has given the Kingdom to the little ones.

He encourages them to give alms, not to accumulate treasures on earth, which are soon consumed, but in God, because they are eternal.

In the life of the Poverello, we find these themes several times.

Francis grieved at having to leave his flock exposed to danger and ravenous wolves after him, but in his heart he was also certain that God would protect them and make them grow.

Through Grace, they would become heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. Faith told him this!

In the Sources, then, the prerogative of not accumulating is commonplace, since Francis, throughout his life, thought only of giving back what he had received, starting with his father, to whom he even 'returned' his clothes, following 'naked' the path of poverty, his desired wealth.

The Little Brother had his mind and heart turned to God and sought only the Kingdom of Heaven, in simplicity and purity of heart.

Testimony of this is given to us in one of the passages of the Franciscan Sources.

We read: "These visits to the lepers increased his goodness. Leading one of his companions, whom he had loved very much, to a remote place, he told him that he had discovered a great and precious treasure.

The man was overjoyed and gladly joined Francis when he was invited.

He often led him to a cave near Assisi; he would enter alone, leaving his friend outside, impatient to get hold of the treasure [...]

Animated by a new and extraordinary spirit, he prayed secretly to the Father [...]

He suffered unspeakable pain and anguish within himself, because he could not be at peace until he had fulfilled his vocation" (FF 1409).

On his way, in the middle of winter, in Celano, the Poverello gave his cloak to an old woman.

He said to her, "Go, make yourself a dress, for you are in great need" (FF 673).

And Clare, in her letters to her spiritual daughter, Agnes of Bohemia, attested:

"You who have preferred poverty to temporal riches, and have entrusted your treasures to heaven rather than to the earth, where they are not corroded by rust, consumed by moths, uncovered or stolen by thieves, you will receive an abundant reward in heaven [...]" (FF 2866).

The theme of sharing wealth, of 'not holding on to' and «giving back» to God and to one's brothers and sisters, was very dear to Francis of Assisi and was one of the guiding principles of his journey of faith.

In the Sources we read:

"Once, while returning from Siena, he met a poor man. It so happened that Francis, because of illness, was wearing a cloak over his habit.

Looking with merciful eyes at the misery of that man, he said to his companion:

'We must give this cloak back to this poor man, for it is his. We have only borrowed it until we found someone poorer than ourselves'.

His companion, however, considering the state in which the merciful father found himself, refused outright: he had no right to forget himself in order to provide for another.

But the saint said:

"I believe that the Great Almoner will accuse me of theft if I do not give what I am wearing to those who are more in need" (FF 1143).

«Sell your possessions and give alms; make yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail» (Lk 12:33)

Sunday 19th in O.T. year C  (Lk 12:32-48)

Lamps: Clare, Francis, the Mother of God and Thérèse.

Edhit Stein, of Jewish origin, in religion Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, went to meet Christ as a victim of the Shoah, always keeping her East before her eyes: Jesus!

Like her, St Clare was a wise and vigilant virgin who renewed the Church with her life, fertilised by the ever new power of God's Spirit.

A virgin who went to meet her Bridegroom by spending, day after day, her life for others, without sparing.

In the Sources we read:

"She used, for Matins, to anticipate the young girls; waking them noiselessly with nods, she would invite them to the praises of God.

Often, while they were all still asleep, she would light the lamps; often she would ring the bell herself, with her own hands.

There was no place in her monastery for lukewarmness, there was no place for sloth there where laziness was shaken by a stinging impulse to pray and serve the Lord" (FF 3200).

At the beginning of the Legend of St Clare, we find an enlightening passage:

"Therefore merciful God aroused the venerable virgin Clare and in her made women shine a very bright lamp: and you blessed Father [...] have placed this lamp on the candelabrum, that it may give light to all who are in the house" (FF 3151).

"Let the women imitate Clare, the imprint of the Mother of God, the new guide of women" (FF 3153).

Throughout her brief existence, Clare was a wise virgin diligently awaiting her Bridegroom, making "Clare by name and clear by virtue" (FF 3154) shine as the new woman of the Spoletana valley.

In fact, she was so loving towards her daughters and sisters that 'very often in the cold of the night by her own hand she covered them while they slept and wanted those whom she saw incapable of observing common austerity to be content with a less severe regime.

If some were troubled by temptation, if some, as can happen, were seized with sadness, he would call them aside and console them by weeping.

Sometimes he prostrated himself at the feet of the afflicted to relieve the violence of the pain with motherly caresses" (FF 3233).

Francis himself, recounts his biographer Celano, had "respect for the lamps, lamps and candles, and did not want to extinguish their splendour with his own hand, symbol of the eternal Light" (FF 750).

He had understood, by revelation of the Crucifix of San Damiano, the task assigned to him: to repair the Church of Christ, purchased with his Blood, and now in ruins.

Hence his solicitous gesture of having an oil lamp placed before that image, a solicitous and immediate response of the Poverello to become a concrete witness of an existence-expected in transparency for Christ: for the One who had deigned to call him to live for Him and of Him.

«Behold the Bridegroom! Come out to meet [Him]!» (Mt 25:6)

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Patron Saint of Europe  (Mt 25:1-13)

In today's passage from Matthew, the conditions for following Jesus are summarised in three verbs and therefore in three movements: renounce, take up the cross, follow Christ.

Jesus emphasises that life will not come to us from worldly gain, but from the loss of every advantage and esteem for the sake of the Gospel.

At the beginning of the Earlier Rule (1221), Francis writes that the friars desired to live following the example of the Lord Jesus.

He emphasises various expressions of the Gospel, highlighting the importance of denying oneself and taking up the cross.

The pious father often gathered his sons around him and spoke at length about the Kingdom of God, "about contempt for the world, about the need to deny one's own will" (FF 1058), teaching them:

"Go [...] proclaim peace to men; preach penance for the remission of sins. Be patient in tribulations, vigilant in prayer [...]" (FF 1058).

Leaving oneself behind to embrace the call in all its fullness, willing to lose one's life in order to find it in the Incarnate Word, was the leitmotif of their daily lives.

A passage from the Sources, taken from the Leggenda maggiore, is illuminating:

"While he was praying one day, isolated from the world and completely absorbed in God, in the excess of his fervour, Christ Jesus appeared to him, as if crucified.

At the sight of him, his soul melted. The memory of Christ's passion was so deeply imprinted in the depths of his heart that from that moment on, whenever the crucifixion of Christ came to mind, he could hardly restrain himself, even outwardly, from tears and sighs, as he himself confided later, when he was approaching death.

The man of God understood that, through this vision, God was addressing to him that maxim of the Gospel:

«If you want to come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me» (FF 1035).

And again, in the Second Life, Celano emphasises:

"Francis was already dead to this world, but Christ lived in him. The delights of the world were a cross for him, because he carried the Cross of Christ rooted in his heart" (FF 800).

But Chiara, the first little plant of the blessed father, always strove to deny herself, spurring her own soul and that of her sisters with assiduous meditation on the Passion of Christ.

"In order to nourish her soul unceasingly with the ineffable joys of the Crucified One, she meditated very frequently on the prayer of the five wounds of the Lord.

She learned the Office of the Cross, as composed by St. Francis, the lover of the cross, and she used to recite it with equal love" (FF 3216).

In her beautiful letter to Ermentrude of Bruges*, Clare expresses herself thus:

"Lift up your eyes to heaven, O dearest one, for it is an invitation to us, and take up the cross and follow Christ who goes before us. For after many and various tribulations, it is He who will bring us into his glory.

Love God with all your heart, and Jesus, his Son crucified for us sinners, and never let the memory of him fall from your mind.

Meditate without tiring on the mystery of the cross and the sorrows of the Mother standing at the foot of the cross" (FF 2915).

Chiara, following the example of Francis, lived the Word of the Gospel enclosed in San Damiano, for love of her Spouse, rejecting all worldly desires.

She was always aware that the Spouse, upon his return, would reward each person according to his or her actions, according to his or her life.

During her lifetime, she chose to live in seclusion for the One she loved and by whom she felt loved.

The penitential and renouncing dimension is no longer so harsh and disconcerting when it is Charity that makes the beauty of the spousal and regenerative experience she made, by Grace, as well as that of many of her sisters, transpire from the walls.

* Ermentrude was responsible for spreading the Order of St. Clare in Flanders.

Friday of the 18th wk. in O.T.  (Mt 16:24-28)

Jesus asks his disciples:

«But who do you say that I am?» (Mt 16:15).

Who Jesus was for Francis is evident e.g. in his writings, especially in the Praises of God Most High, where he expresses himself thus:

"You are Holy, Lord, only God, who works wonderful things.

Thou art Most High... Thou art King Almighty... Thou art triune and one, Lord God of gods. You are good, all good, the highest good, the living and true Lord God... You are our eternal life, great and admirable Lord, almighty God, merciful Saviour.

And he inculcated the same in his brothers, living the Gospel of charity and concord:

"Truly on this solid foundation they built, splendidly, the building of charity. And like living stones, gathered, as it were, from all parts of the world, they grew into a temple of the Holy Spirit" (FF 387).

And how could they have grown otherwise with a transparent guide like Francis? He who "exults with joy in all the works of the hands of the Lord, and through this joyful vision intuits the cause and the reason that enlivens them [...].

In beautiful things he recognises the highest Beauty, and from everything that is good for him a cry rises up: He who created us is infinitely good [...].

He has regard for the lamps, lamps and candles, and does not want to extinguish their splendour by his own hand, symbol of the eternal Light.

He walks with REVERENCE ON THE STONES, out of regard for him who is called STONE. And having to recite the verse that says 'On the rock you raised me up', he changes the words thus for greater respect: 'Under the feet of the STONE you raised me up'" (FF 750).

And close to death, Francis asks to return to St Mary of the Angels, where it all began. He had himself placed on the bare earth, as the cornerstone of the Seraphic Order:

"In the twentieth year of his conversion, he asked to be taken to St Mary of the Portiuncula, to render to God the spirit of life there where he had received the Spirit of grace.

When he was brought there, to show that, after the model of Christ-Truth, he had nothing in common with the world [...] he prostrated himself in fervour of spirit, all naked on the bare earth [...].

Thus lying on the earth, having laid down his sackcloth, he lifted his face to Heaven, according to his custom, totally intent on that heavenly Glory, while with his left hand he covered the wound on his right side, that it might not be seen.

And he said to the brothers: 'I have done my part: may Christ teach you yours'" (FF 1239).

Francis, at the conclusion of his life, reveals himself to be the stone upon which Christ builds his Church.

That Church that at the beginning of his journey the Poverello had "confused" with the repair of the church of San Damiano, in whose work the stones had had their weight and meaning.

"In fact, just as the three buildings were repaired (S. Damiano, the Porziuncola, the little church of S. Peter, not far from Assisi), under the guidance of this holy man the Church would be renewed in three ways: according to the form of life, according to the Rule and according to the doctrine of Christ proposed by him - and a threefold militia of the elect would celebrate its triumphs" (FF 1050).

Francis: Stone upon which Christ builds his ruined Church.

Thursday of the 18th wk. in O.T. (Mt 16 13-23)

The Gospel of Luke's account of the Transfiguration emphasises how Jesus' face «changed in appearance» in solitude on the mountain, in front of Peter, James, John and the dialogue about his imminent exodus with Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory.

The Poverello also experienced his transfiguration in his existential parable.

Francis had learned that the presence of the Holy Spirit is offered to those who invoke him with familiarity, especially when they find him far from the noise of worldly people.

The Sources recount that "the man of God, remaining all alone and in peace, filled the woods with groans, sprinkled the ground with tears, beat his breast and, as if he had found a more intimate sanctuary, conversed with his Lord [...]

There, too, the friars who were piously observing him heard him call out with cries and groans to the divine Goodness on behalf of sinners; they also heard him weep aloud over the Passion of the Lord, as if he had it before his eyes.

There, while praying at night, he was seen with his hands outstretched in the form of a cross, raised from the ground with his whole body and surrounded by a luminous cloud: an extraordinary light diffused around his body, which wonderfully testified to the light shining in his Spirit.

There, moreover, as certain proofs testify, the hidden mysteries of divine wisdom were revealed to him, which he did not divulge to others, except insofar as the charity of Christ compelled him and the good of his neighbour required it [...]

When he returned from his prayers, which transformed him almost into another man, he took the greatest care to behave in harmony with others, lest the wind of applause, because of what he let slip, should deprive him of his inner reward" (FF 1180 - Leggenda maggiore).

Francis guarded his transformation into "Alter Christus" with great discretion, almost living in the cloister of his heart.

In fact, the same sources attest:

"At first, when the true love of Christ had already transformed the lover into his own image, he began to hide and conceal the Treasure with such caution that even his closest friends did not discover it for a long time.

But divine Providence did not allow it to remain hidden forever and not come to the eyes of his loved ones [...]

One of his companions, seeing the stigmata on his feet, said to him, 'What is this, good brother?

'Mind your own business,' he replied" (FF 719 - Second Life of Celano) with the frankness and simplicity that distinguished him.

«And while he prayed, the appearance of his face changed, and his white robe became dazzling» (Lk 9:29)

Transfiguration of the Lord  (Lk 9:28b-36)

The Gospel passage proposed by Matthew presents Jesus who, after praying alone, approaches his disciples in the boat at the end of the night, walking on the water.

After crossing the lake, the people approach him to find healing for their bodies and souls.

The Poor Man of Assisi also sought a solitary relationship with the Father before encountering the crowd, who asked for healing in body and soul, perhaps by touching his rough tunic.

The crowd rushed devoutly because they wanted to 'be' with God.

Francis, servant of Christ, was a simple person but eager to 'dwell' with the Lord, to conform to his Gospel and to flourish and help his brothers grow in the way of fearless faith.

For this reason, as soon as he was free, he withdrew into solitude to pray for enlightenment and greater adherence to the divine plan, without fear.

The Sources portray Francis as "Alter Christus," in his image even in being alone "on the mountain" to penetrate the intimacy of the Father.

We read, in fact:

"Desiring to devote himself solely to God and to purify his spirit from the dust of the world, which might have contaminated him during his time with men, the blessed and venerable Father Francis withdrew one day to a place of recollection and silence [La Verna], abandoning the crowds who flocked to him every day to listen to him and see him.

He used to divide and allocate the time granted to him to acquire graces, as he saw fit, partly for the good of his neighbour and partly for solitary contemplation. He therefore took with him a few companions, among the most intimate and close to his life, to protect him from visits and disturbances from men and to be loving and faithful guardians of his peace.

He remained in that solitude for a certain period, and having attained an extraordinary familiarity with God through intimate prayer and frequent contemplation, he longed to know what in him and in him might be most pleasing to the eternal King" (FF 479).

He knew, in fact, that he would help develop the fearful faith of his disciples only through a trusting abandonment to God, who does not cause them to waver or drown in dangers.

In the face of adverse winds, the solidity of the existential "boat" in God's hands brings salvation.

«And dismissing the crowds, he went up the Mount by himself to pray» (Mt 14:23)

Tuesday of the 18th week in O.T. (Mt 14:22-36)