Jesus tells parables about the Kingdom of God, taking his cue from the elements of nature: seed, ear, mustard seed, and more.
With natural and real hooks he explains the physiognomy of the Kingdom.
Francis and Clare of Assisi were two grains of mustard seed that grew in humility and hiddenness and became such large trees that many creatures found shelter on their branches.
Specifically, the Papal Bull of canonisation 'Clara Claris praeclara' speaks of Clare as follows:
"This was the tall tree, reaching towards the heavens, with large branches, which in the field of the Church produced sweet fruit [...] and in whose pleasant and pleasant shade many followers flocked from all sides, and still flock to enjoy its fruits" (FF 3294).
The Kingdom of God finds development in these singular metaphors of which the Poor Man of Assisi and the recluse Clare are plastic and concrete testimonies.
But Francis too, like Jesus, spoke to his brothers in parables. The Sources attest to this in various passages.
When he wanted to make them understand the path that awaited them in order to welcome the Kingdom of God, he called to mind various parables, traversed in the fabric of the Gospel.
We recall one among many, with which he announced the Word that the Lord entrusted to him.
By presenting himself to the Pope, Jesus made him understand how he had to express himself.
"He, in fact, told the Pontiff as God had suggested it to him, the parable of a rich king who, with great joy, had married a beautiful and poor woman and had children who had the same appearance as the king, their father, and who, therefore, were brought up at the king's own table.
He then gave the interpretation of the parable, coming to this conclusion:
"There is no need to fear that the sons and heirs of the eternal King should starve; for they, in the likeness of Christ, were born of a poor mother, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, and were begotten, by virtue of the spirit of poverty, into a poor religion.
For if the King of heaven promises his imitators the eternal kingdom, how much more will he provide for them those things which he bestows without distinction upon the good and the bad".
The Vicar of Christ listened attentively to this parable and its interpretation and, filled with wonder, recognised without a shadow of doubt that, in this man, Christ had spoken.
But he also felt reassured by a vision he had at that time, in which the Spirit of God had shown him the mission to which Francis was destined.
In fact, as he recounted, in his dream he saw that the Lateran Basilica was about to ruin and that a poor, small, contemptible-looking man was supporting it, putting his shoulders under it, so that it would not fall.
"Truly," the Pontiff concluded, "this is the one who by his work and doctrine will uphold the Church of Christ" (FF1064).
"Counting on divine grace and papal authority, Francis, full of confidence, set out for the Spoleto valley, ready to practise and teach the Gospel" (FF 1065).
These parables are also a narrative of the coming of the Kingdom of God, its expansion in the mustard seed of Francis and Clare, and their incredible development.
«And he said: How shall we compare the Kingdom of God? Or in what parable shall we put it? As to a grain of mustard seed which when sown on the earth is smaller than all the seeds on earth» (Mk 4:30-31)
Friday, 3rd wk. in O.T. (Mk 4:26-34)
