In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus points out the different reception and assimilation of the Word of God, and consequently the different fruit, depending on the suitability of the soil.
The new Evangelist of the latter time, Francis, was in love with the Word of God and listened to it constantly, so much so that it was imprinted in his memory.
It was good soil that produced one hundred per cent.
The Sources inform us:
"Irradiated by the splendours of the eternal Light, he scrutinised the depths of the Scriptures with a clear and acute intellect. His intellect, pure from all stain, penetrated the secret of the mysteries [...].
He read from time to time the sacred books and kept tenaciously imprinted in his memory what he had once assimilated: for he continually ruminated with affectionate devotion what he had listened to with an attentive mind" (FF 1188).
"With equal care and devotion he committed himself to the other teachings he had heard.
For he had never been a deaf hearer of the Gospel, but, entrusting everything he heard to a commendable memory, he sought with all diligence to carry it out to the letter' (FF 357).
As Celano calls him, in the Vita prima - "river of Paradise" - Francis, "the new evangelist of this last age spread the waters of the Gospel with loving care throughout the whole world, and by his works he pointed out the way and the true doctrine of the Son of God" (FF 475).
In the Regola non bollata (1221):
"Let us therefore hold fast to the words, life, doctrine and Holy Gospel of Him who deigned to pray for us to the Father" (FF 62).
And "let us beware of being the ground along the road, or the stony ground, or the ground overrun with thorns, according to what the Lord says in the Gospel:
"The seed is the Word of God [...] the seed entrusted to the good soil, are those who, hearing the word with good, indeed excellent dispositions, understand it and keep it and bear fruit with perseverance"" (FF 58).
The Poverello was, for his time, a concrete and fruitful incarnation of the Gospel.
"Others [grains] then fell on the good earth and bore fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty" (Mt 13:8).
Wednesday of the 16th wk. in O.T. (Mt 13,1-9)
