Francis of Assisi had well understood the evangelical lesson of Jesus addressed to his own: whoever wants to be first will be servant of all.

The Poverello defined by Celano in the Second Life as "the servant and friend of the Most High" (FF 583) had asked Jesus to show him when he was truly his servant and the answer had been: "Recognise yourself as my servant truly, when you think, say, act holily" (FF 743).

And in the Letter to the Faithful he illustrates how the superior must be: "and he to whom obedience is entrusted and who is considered the greater, let him be as the lesser and servant of the other brothers" (FF 197).

And again Celano in the Vita prima informs us:

"It was in fact he who founded the Order of Friars Minor; and on what occasion he gave it such a name.

As those words were written in the Rule: "Let them be lesser", as soon as he heard them he exclaimed:

"I want this Fraternity to be called the Order of Friars Minor".

And truly they were "lesser"; "submissive to all" and sought the last place and offices to which some humiliation was attached, so as to lay the solid foundation of true humility, on which the spiritual edifice of all the virtues could be built" (FF 386).

Clare herself, who defined herself as a servant of Christ and the other Poor Clares, adhered deeply to the Gospel of minority.

In fact, the Sources say that "very often in the cold of the night by her own hand she covered them (her daughters) while they slept and wanted those whom she saw incapable of observing common austerity to be content with a less severe regime" (FF 3233).

Yes, at S. Damiano Chiara served... and in silence, defining herself in the fourth letter, addressed to her spiritual daughter Agnes of Bohemia "an unworthy servant of Christ and useless handmaiden of the Lord's servants who dwell in the monastery of S. Damiano in Assisi" (FF 2899).

29th Sunday in O.T.  B  (Mk 10,35-45)

In this Lucan Gospel passage, Jesus emphasises the Holy Spirit, who guides and enlightens in the most diverse and difficult situations.

S. Teresa of Avila, in one of her prayers, said:

"O Holy Spirit, grant that my soul may be wholly of God".

In the Franciscan Sources we see, then, the Poor Man of Assisi, a man of God, firmly believing in the Holy Spirit, who was considered the Minister General of the Order, as well as the One who inspired and spoke through the simple.

He was always listening to the Holy Spirit who was never to be offended and his holy operation that accompanies every good work.

"And since he made many revelations, which transcended the capacities of the human intellect, the brothers had to recognise that the Spirit of the Lord had rested in all its fullness upon his servant Francis: therefore the surest thing for them was to follow his doctrine and his life" (FF 1071).

He did not fear, for "The Spirit of the Lord, who had anointed and sent him, assisted his servant Francis wherever he went; Christ himself, the power and wisdom of God, assisted him [...].

It was, his word, like a burning fire, penetrating the depths of the heart" (FF 1210).

He believed so profoundly in the "instruction" and defence of the Spirit of God in every eventuality that he clearly testified to this in that marvellous prayer that concludes the letter to the whole Order:

"Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God, grant to us wretches to do, by the power of your love, what we know you want, and to always want what pleases you, so that, inwardly purified, inwardly enlightened and kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit we may follow in the footsteps of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and, with the help of your grace alone, come to you, O Most High, who in perfect Trinity and simple Unity live and reign glorious, Almighty God for ever and ever. Amen".

"And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven" (Lk 12:10).

Saturday, 28th wk. in O.T. (Lk 12:8-12)

Jesus urges the mission to which the disciples are called: in poverty, as lambs among wolves; preaching the Kingdom of God.

Francis knew how to address a special greeting of Peace to the people he met, by divine revelation.

And, like Jesus, he sent his brothers out two by two to announce the Good News of the Kingdom. 

The Sources specifically state.

"In each of his sermons, before communicating the Word of God to the people, he wished for peace, saying:

"May the Lord give you Peace!".

This Peace he always proclaimed with great devotion to men and women, to all those he met or who came to him.

In this way he obtained, by the grace of the Lord, to induce the enemies of Peace and of their own salvation, to become themselves children of Peace and desirous of eternal salvation" (FF 359).

And again, Francis took on the "mission of the apostles" in its entirety.

In fact, "the pious father gathered all his sons around him and spoke at length with them about the Kingdom of God, about the contempt of the world [...] and revealed his intention to send them to the four parts of the world" (FF 1058)

"Go," said the sweet Father to his children, "proclaim peace to men; preach penance for the remission of sins.

Be patient in tribulations, watchful in prayer, valiant in labours, modest in speech, grave in conduct, and grateful in benefactions.

And in recompense for all this, the eternal kingdom is prepared for you".

He then said to each one in particular:

"Entrust your fate to the Lord, and He will feed you".

He divided them two by two, in the form of a cross, sending them out into the world.

After assigning the other three parts to the other six, he himself went with a companion to a part of the world, knowing that he had been chosen as an example for others and that he had first to do and then to teach" (FF 1059).

And he often "redeemed the lambs that were led to the slaughter, in memory of that most meek Lamb, who was willing to be led to death to redeem sinners" (FF 1145).

"Go! Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves" (Lk 10:3).

St Luke, Evangelist (Lk 10:1-9)

Jesus' rebuke of the doctors of the Law recalls the persecution and killing reserved for the prophets sent by God.

The palm of martyrdom will speak for them, as will the responsibility of those who built their tombs, recalling that the blood shed will be called to account.

In the Sources we find passages that illustrate how Francis himself expressed himself regarding the persecution of his brethren:

"O brothers all, let us reflect carefully that the Lord says:

"Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you", since our Lord Jesus Christ, whose footsteps we must follow, called his betrayer a friend and offered himself willingly to his crucifiers" (FF 56).

And in the 21st chapter of the Regola non bollata we see that the Poor Man of Assisi also pronounces his "woe" concerning those who do works of darkness.

Indeed, we read:

"Woe to those who do not die in penance, / for they will be sons of the devil/ whose works they do" (FF 55).

It is aligned with the "woe to those who die in mortal sin" of the Canticle of Brother Sun (FF 263), testifying to those who do not enter and do not bring into the Kingdom of Heaven by their diabolical conduct.

Francis "artist and Master of evangelical life" as Celano defines him (1Cel 37) instead - like his friars - preferred to stay where there was suffering.

The Sources still attest:

"They loved patience so much that they preferred to be where there was persecution to be suffered than where, their holiness being known, they could enjoy the favours of the world.

Often insulted, vilified, beaten, stripped, tied up, imprisoned, they endured everything manfully, without seeking any defence; from their lips only a song of praise and thanksgiving came forth" (FF 390).

And Clare echoes him in her Testament:

"Blessed [...] are those to whom it is granted to walk in this way and to persevere in it to the end" (FF 2850).

Due to the fact that the persecutors will be asked to account for the blood of the prophets, the persecuted will not speak: the palm of martyrdom lived will say for them.

"I will send them prophets and apostles, and they will kill and persecute" (Lk 11:49).

Thursday, 28th wk. in O.T. (Lk 11:47-54)

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)