Jesus emphasises that those who do the Father’s will are his mother and his brothers.
In this way, he highlights the kinship created by living out the Word every day.
Brother Francis loved to do God’s will so deeply that he embraced it as his consolation.
He was happy when he saw, even amongst his brothers, full adherence to the divine will or, at the very least, repentance where an act had been somewhat reluctant.
The Sources, clear accounts of authentic experience, inform us and provide material for careful reflection.
“And they, receiving the precept of holy obedience with great joy and gladness, prostrated themselves before the blessed Father, who, embracing them with tenderness and devotion, said to each one:
«Place your trust in the Lord and He will take care of you».
He repeated this phrase every time he sent a friar to carry out an act of obedience” (FF 367).
The Poor Man of Assisi, even in the face of a great accumulation of evils and trials, bore witness to his incomparable adherence to the divine will, like another Job.
We read with deep emotion:
“But however excruciating his pains might be, he did not call his anguish ‘suffering’, but ‘sisters’.
(…) and although exhausted by his long and severe illness, he threw himself to the ground, his weakened bones jarring in the harsh fall.
Then he kissed the earth, saying:
«I thank you, Lord God, for all these pains of mine, and I beg you, O my Lord, to give me a hundred times more, if it pleases you.
I shall be most content if you afflict me and do not spare me pain, for to fulfil your will is, for me, a consolation beyond measure»” (FF 1239).
And when the time came for him to depart:
“Lying on the ground, having taken off his sackcloth, he raised his face to heaven, as was his custom, wholly absorbed in that heavenly glory, whilst with his left hand he covered the wound on his right side, so that it might not be seen.
And he said to the friars: «I have done my part; may Christ teach you yours»” (FF 1239).
Thus Francis, a true lover and imitator of Him, sees in his own life and in that of his friars the outgrowths of the Kingdom of God that is drawing near, in the face of events that speak the language of the Creator Himself.
In the Sources we find passages that point to the signs of the believer’s maturation:
«We are spouses when the faithful soul is united to our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are his brothers when we do the will of the Father who is in heaven.
We are mothers when we carry him in our hearts and bodies through divine love and a pure and sincere conscience; we bring him forth through holy works, which must shine forth to others as an example» (FF 168/2. Letter to the Faithful).
«For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother» (Mt 12:50)
Tuesday of the 16th wk. in Ordinary Time (Mt 12:46–50)
