Today's Gospel tells of the ultimate signs foretold by Christ.
Francis, who had experience of signs, lived his earthly pilgrimage uninterruptedly directed towards the manifestation of Christ and thus working for the good of his brothers and sisters.
Everything would crumble and in the end a single banner would continue to fly: the Cross of Christ, the ultimate sign and victory of the Risen One.
In the light of all this, Francis seemed to contrast the signs that would be manifested in the moon, the sun, the stars, the anxiety of peoples in anguish... with the one sign around which Christian existence revolves: the Cross through which the world has been redeemed.
In the Sources, then, we find passages that explain and support what has been said.
"And we give you thanks, because your Son himself will return in the glory of his majesty to consign the reprobate, who did not do penance and did not know you, to eternal fire, and to say to all those who knew you and adored you and served you in penance: Come blessed by my Father, enter into possession of the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world [...]" (FF 65).
And so Francis, the Minim "chose to live for all, rather than for himself alone, spurred on by the example of Him who deigned to die, He alone, for all men" (FF 1066).
And all this together with his brothers "concerned to refresh themselves more with the bread of tears than with the bread of abundance" (FF 1067).
Yes, there will be many signs in the universe at the full manifestation of Christ, but only one will stand undisturbed: his redemptive and transforming Holy Cross.
To his brothers, therefore, he taught:
"When you pray, say: Our Father, and: We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches that are in the whole world, and we bless you, because through your holy cross you have redeemed the world" (FF 1068).
«And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and on earth anguish of nations in bewilderment by the roaring of the sea and the waves» (Lk 21:25)
Thursday, 34th wk. in O.T. (Lk 21,20-28)
