Enunciating the various woes addressed to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, Jesus emphasises how they left aside justice and the love of God. 

Francis was particularly sensitive to these human-divine realities. 

Indeed, there are extraordinary passages in the Sources to support this.

In the Regola non bollata (1221) the Poor Man expresses himself thus:

"The spirit of the flesh [...] is much concerned with possessing words, but little with putting them into practice, and seeks not the interior religiosity and holiness of the Spirit, but wants and desires to have a religiosity and holiness that appears outside to men.

It is of these that the Lord says: "Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward".

The Spirit of the Lord, on the other hand, desires the flesh to be mortified [...] and seeks humility and patience and the pure and simple peace of the Spirit; and always desires above all the divine fear and divine Wisdom and divine love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This holy love shines out in the daily life of Francis in countless episodes. 

Let us recount what happened at Celle di Cortona.

"Francis was wearing a new cloak, which the friars had procured just for him, when a poor man arrived, mourning the death of his wife and his family left in misery.

"I give you this cloak for the love of God," the Saint told him, "on the condition that you do not sell it to anyone unless they pay you handsomely for it.

The friars immediately ran to take the cloak and prevent it from being given away.

But the poor man, made bold by the Saint's gaze, set about defending it with hands and nails as his own.

In the end, the friars redeemed the cloak and the poor man left with the price he had received" (FF 675).

On the subject of justice Francis expressed himself thus:

"The Saint [...] loved holy simplicity in others, daughter of Grace, true sister of wisdom, mother of justice [...] It is the simplicity that in all divine laws leaves the tortuousness of words, ornaments and tinsel, as well as ostentations and curiosities to those who want to lose themselves, and seek not the bark but the marrow, not the shell but the kernel, not many things but the much, the supreme and stable Good" (FF 775).

And again, on his way to the Spoletana valley, he would discuss with his companions on how to observe the Rule: "on how to progress in all holiness and justice before God, on how to sanctify oneself and be an example to others" (FF 1065).

He was so inflamed by the love of God that his innermost being vibrated like a plectrum:

"To offer, in exchange for alms, the precious patrimony of the love of God - so he affirmed - is noble prodigality [...] since only the inappreciable price of divine love is capable of buying the kingdom of heaven. And much one must love the love of Him who loved us much' (FF 1161).

"But woe to you, Pharisees, because you pay the tithe of mint and rue and every herbage, and neglect the judgment and love of God" (Lk 11:42).

Wednesday, 28th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11:42-46)

Francis, a disciple of Jesus, kept away from his life the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the preoccupation with appearances on the outside without caring about the greed rooted in his heart. 

He, who had married Our Lady Poverty, was happy to give to his neighbour and for him all was world.

In this sense the Sources come to our aid, which admirably illustrate what dwelt within the Servant of God.

"Francis, the Poor Man of Christ, while on his way from Rieti to Siena for the cure of his eyes, was crossing the plain near Rocca Campiglia, in the company of a doctor fond of the Order.

And three poor women appeared along the road as the Saint passed by. They were so similar in stature, in age, in appearance, that you would have called them three copies modelled on a single mould.

When Francis was near, they, bowing their heads reverently, addressed this singular greeting to him:

"Welcome, Lady Poverty!"

The Saint was immediately filled with unspeakable joy, for there was no greeting more pleasing to him than the one they had addressed to him.

Thinking at first that the women were really poor, he turned to the doctor who accompanied him:

"Please, for the love of God, let me give something to those poor women.

The man was very quick to take out his bag and, leaping from the saddle, gave each one a few coins. 

They rode on a little further along the road they had taken, when all of a sudden, looking around, the friar and the doctor saw no shadow of women in the whole plain.

Greatly astonished, they added this fact to the wonders of the Lord, for evidently it could not have been women, those who had flown away more swiftly than birds" (FF 680). Further, we read:

"His charity extended with a brother's heart not only to men in need but also to animals [...].

He had, however, a special tenderness for lambs, because in Scripture Jesus Christ is often and rightly compared for his humility to the meek lamb' (FF 455).

Free from formalism, the Poor Man of Christ when he came across lambs that were being led to slaughter would buy them in order to save them.

He gave as alms what he had received in his heart from his God: compassion.

And Jesus' warning was not directed at them:

"Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and tray, but your inside is full of robbery and wickedness" (Lk 11:39).

This admonition concerns rather those who take glory from one another, neglecting that which pleases God: to give in alms what has been given to us.

For he who is pure everything is pure.

Tuesday 28th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11,37-41)

In today's passage to the crowds thronging in search of signs Jesus replies that only one sign will be given to them: that of the prophet Jonah.

Francis of Assisi was a man of God attentive to signs; but for him the sign of the signs through which God spoke to him was Jesus Crucified and Risen, He who three days and three nights remained in the tomb and rose again to give us true Life.

His profound adherence to the Cross was so evident that even the poor garment he wore was in the shape of a cross.

We read in the Sources:

"This herald of God, worthy to be loved by Christ, imitated by us [...] had from Heaven the mission to call men to weep, to lament [...] and to imprint with the sign of the penitential cross and with a cross-shaped garment, the Tau on the foreheads of those who groan and weep.

But he then confirms in it, with its incontestable truth, the testimony of that seal that made him like the living God, that is, like Christ Crucified.

A seal that was imprinted in his body not by the work of nature or the skill of an artificer, but rather by the marvellous power of the Spirit of the living God". (FF 1022).

That sign which one of his disciples converted by Francis and later became Brother Pacifico "saw with his own bodily eyes: Francis marked in the form of a cross by two swords, placed crosswise, very bright: one stretched from his head to his feet, the other, transversely, from one hand to the other, at the height of his breast.

The Crucifix and the Cross was for him the sign of Jonah who turned his life upside down at San Damiano:

"the image of Christ Crucified from the painting spoke to him, moving his lips" (FF 593).

"From that moment, the Compassion of the Crucified One became fixed in his holy soul and, as can be piously believed, the venerable Stigmata of the Passion, though not yet in the flesh, became deeply impressed in his heart" (FF 594).

"This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah" (Lk 11:29).

Monday, 28th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11,29-32)

After the Crucifix of San Damiano had spoken to him, inviting him to repair his house, which was falling into ruin (referring mainly to the Church made of living stones, rather than to the walls), Francis immediately set about selling what he had with him.

In fact, in the Major Legend of St. Bonaventure, we read: "He got up, therefore, making the sign of the cross, and taking some cloths with him, hastened to the city of Foligno to sell them.

He sold all that he had brought; he also got rid, fortunate merchant, of the horse, with which he had come, collecting the price.

Returning to Assisi, he devoutly entered the church he had been commissioned to restore.

He found a poor priest there [...] and offered him the money to repair the church and humbly requested that he allow him to live with him for some time.

The priest agreed that he should stay; but, for fear of his parents, he did not accept the money - and that true despiser of money - threw him out of a window, estimating him to be abject dust' (FF 1039).

But even his son-brothers, called to follow Him who alone is good, abandoned all possessions to follow the new way traced out by Francis following the Gospel.

"Bernard, a citizen of Assisi, humbly begged him to give him his advice: what to do to stop enjoying the goods of some lord and live according to God.

Francis told him that he must return them all to the master from whom he had received them and then added:

"If you want to prove with facts what you say, as soon as it is daylight, let us go into the church, take the book of the Gospel and ask Christ for advice". 

When morning comes, they enter a church and, having prayed devoutly, they open the book of the Gospel, willing to carry out the first advice offered to them.

They open the book, and Christ manifests his advice in these words:

"If you want to be perfect, go, sell all you possess and give to the poor".

Without delay Bernard did everything and did not omit a single iota" (FF 601).

Clare herself, in her first letter to Agnes of Bohemia, emphasises among other things:

"This exchange is truly magnificent and worthy of all praise: to refuse earthly goods in order to have those of Heaven, to deserve heavenly goods instead of earthly ones, to receive the hundredfold and to possess the blessed life for eternity" (FF 2868).

All that is impossible for men is possible with God!

28th Sunday, O.T.  B  (Mk 10:17-30)

In these few verses of today's Gospel is contained the true blessedness, enunciated by Jesus, of those who know how to listen and embody the Word of God in the folds of daily life.

Francis, who considered himself simple and idiotic, passionately loved the Word of God.

In fact, when he came across its letters on the ground, he would pick them up for due consideration.

The Sources attest to this, in the first letter [written by him] to the Keepers:

"Even the writings containing the names and words of the Lord, wherever they are found in inconvenient places, let them be collected and placed in a worthy place" (FF 242).

Clare herself, a little plant of the Seraphic Father, recalls in her Testament how much Francis loved and lived the Word, giving it as an example:

"The Son of God became our way; and this by word and example our blessed Father Francis, true lover and imitator of Him, showed and taught us" (FF 2824).

And to those who asked him if he was pleased that educated people should enter the Order, he replied:

"I have pleasure in it; provided, however, that following the example of Christ, of whom we read not so much that he studied as that he prayed, they do not neglect to dedicate themselves to prayer, and provided they study not so much to know how they should speak, as to put into practice the things they have learned, and, only when they have put them into practice, propose them to others.

I want my brothers to be disciples of the Gospel and to progress in the knowledge of the truth, so that at the same time they may grow in the purity of simplicity" (FF 1188).

"And the principal reason why he revered the ministers of the Word of God was this: that they revive the offspring of their dead brother, that is, they revive Christ, who was crucified for sinners, when they convert them, being their guide with pious solicitude and solicitous piety.

He affirmed that this office of piety is more pleasing than any sacrifice to the Father of mercies, especially if it is fulfilled with zeal dictated by perfect charity, so that one labours in it more by example than by word, more by the tears of prayer than by the loquacity of speeches" (FF 1135).

"For he had never been a deaf hearer of the Gospel, but, entrusting to a commendable memory all that he heard, he sought with all diligence to follow it to the letter" (FF 357).

"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and [keep] it" (v.28).

Saturday of the 27th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11,27-28)

Jesus testifies to the onlookers that He casts out demons not by Beelzebul but by the Finger of God, by the work of Him.

As Jesus did, so Francis had temptations and was greatly tried by the devil.

But the Finger of God, the Holy Spirit, won every battle in him, extending the Kingdom of heaven in hearts.

Like Francis, Clare too encountered such trials from which, by the Grace of God, she always emerged unscathed, because she was not divided, but totally united with Christ.

The Sources are eloquent bearers of great existential and spiritual truth. Let us look at what they tell us in this regard.

"In those places he had to fight hand to hand with the devil, who confronted him in order to frighten him not only with interior temptations, but also exteriorly with clashes and ruin.

But Francis, as a very strong soldier of Christ, knowing full well that his Lord could do everything everywhere, did not let himself be frightened at all, but repeated in his heart:

'You cannot, O evil one, unleash the weapons of your malice against me in these places any more than you would do to me if we were in the crowd'" (FF 446).

And a friar, who had long been harassed by the assaults of the devil and wept at the feet of Francis, was delivered by him:

"the Father felt pity for him and understood that he was tormented by malignant instigations:

"I command you, O demons," he exclaimed, "by the virtue of God, not to torment my brother any more from now on, as you have dared so far.

Immediately that gloomy darkness dissipated, the friar rose free and felt no more torment, as if he had always been free of it" (FF 697).

Clare was also attacked several times by the enemy.

"While she was once weeping, in the middle of the night, the angel of darkness appeared to her in the form of a black child, and thus admonished her: Do not weep so much, for you will go blind!

But, she answered him at once:

"He will not be blind who will see God", he turned away in confusion" (FF 3198).

And in the first letter to her spiritual daughter, Agnes of Bohemia, Clare expresses herself thus:

"The man covered with clothes cannot pretend to wrestle with an unclothed man, for he who offers a grasp to his adversary is sooner thrown to the ground" (FF 1867).

The servants of God, in their simplicity, have clear ideas, because they are guided by the Finger of God - and they do not give up the authentic Vocation.

"But if by the Finger of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come for you" (Lk 11:20).

Friday, 27th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11:15-26)

Chapter eleven of Luke goes on to show how confident and persevering prayer not only obtains what is asked, but more: the great gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the Sources, the example of Francis is magnificent.

Poor in the things of the world but rich in the Spirit of God, the Poverello considered the Lord as the Great Helmsman who gives abundantly to those who trust in Him.

In the Sources we find an indicative episode:

"The servant of God, who had become very ill, was brought back to Assisi from Nocera by an escort of ambassadors, whom the devout people of Assisi had sent.

The escorts, with the servant of God, arrived at a little poor village called Satriano.

As the hour and hunger made them feel the need for food, they went to look for it in the village. But finding nothing to buy, they returned empty-handed.

Then the Saint said to these men:

"If you have found nothing, it is because you have more faith in your flies than in God (by 'flies' he meant money).

But go back to the houses through which you passed and humbly ask for alms, offering as payment the love of God.

And do not think that this is a shameful and humiliating gesture: it is a wrong thought, because the Great Almsman, after sin, has made all goods available to the worthy and the unworthy, with most generous kindness'.

The knights put aside their blushes, spontaneously went begging and managed to buy with the love of God what they had not obtained with money.

Indeed, those poor people, moved and inspired by God, generously offered not only their belongings but also themselves.

And so it came to pass that Francis' poverty made up for the indigence that money could not alleviate" (FF 1130).

On the other hand, the Servant of the Lord throughout his life had always believed that God offers much more than we think, giving the Holy Spirit - the Sum of all good things.

In fact, in the Regola bollata (1223) Francis states that one must "desire above all things [...] to have the Spirit of the Lord and his Holy operation" (FF 104), which rests on those who live the Gospel faithfully.

The Poor Man of Christ, in fact, considered Him the Minister of the Order.

And He said:

"With God [...] there is no preference of persons and the Holy Spirit, the general minister of the Order, rests equally on the poor and the simple" (FF 779).

"How much more will the Father who is from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Lk 11:13b).

Thursday of the 27th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11,5-13)

After praying, Jesus receives a request from the disciples to teach them how to pray.

Thus he gives them the 'Our Father'.

If we look in the Franciscan Sources we realise how important prayer was for the little Poor Man.

Francis, the Herald of the Great King, was no longer so much a man who prayed as a creature made prayer.

And just as the disciples, when they saw Jesus praying, asked him to teach them to pray, so the friars who had the good fortune to see Francis immersed in prayer, asked him to teach them.

"When, then, the brothers asked him to teach them to pray, he said: When you pray, say:

"Our Father" and "We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches which are in the whole world, and we bless you, because through your holy cross you have redeemed the world" (FF 1068).

"Moreover, he taught them to praise God in all creatures and [...] to confess frankly the truth of the faith" (FF 1069).

And in his writings (specifically, the Paraphrase of the "Our Father"):

"O most holy Our Father: creator, redeemer, consoler and our Saviour. Who art in heaven: in the angels and in the saints, enlightening them to knowledge, because thou, Lord, art light: enkindling them to love, because thou, Lord, art love; making thy dwelling in them and filling them with bliss, because thou, Lord, art the supreme good, eternal, from whom all good comes and without whom no good exists' (FF 266- 267).

He recommended to his brothers not to neglect prayer. Indeed:

"Above all else," he firmly asserted, "the religious must desire the grace of prayer" and he urged his brothers in every possible way to practise it zealously, convinced that no one makes progress in the service of God without it.

Walking and sitting, at home and away, working and resting, he was so intent on prayer that he seemed to have devoted every part of himself to it, not only his heart and body but also his activity and time" (FF 1176).

"When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come" (Lk 11:2).

Wednesday of the 27th wk in O.T. (Lk 11,1-4)