The Risen Jesus returned to manifest Himself to His disciples on the Lake of Tiberias, inviting them to go fishing.

The disciples believed and immediately experienced the fruitfulness of gestures made in unity with Christ.

The beloved disciple, the one with the enlarged heart and sharp eyes, before the abundance of the catch, said: «It is the Lord!» (Jn 21:7).

In the time in which he lived, Francis truly revealed himself as "the lesser one" loved by Jesus.

With introspective capacity combined with Grace, he became a fruitful missionary, working wonders with the power of the Risen One, casting the net on the right side.

The Sources narrate a significant episode that occurred at a hermitage near Rieti (Fonte Colombo).

Visited by the doctor for the cure of his eyes, Francis asked his companions to take him to lunch and prepare something good for him.

"'Father,' replied the watchman, 'we tell you with blushes, we are ashamed to invite you, so poor are we at this time.

"Would you like me to repeat it to you?" insisted the saint.

The doctor was present and intervened: "I, dearest brothers, will esteem your penury a delight".

The friars in all haste arrange on the table what is in the pantry: a little bread, not much wine, and to make the meal more sumptuous, the kitchen sends some pulses.

But the Lord's table in the meantime moves to take pity on the servants' table.

There was a knock at the door and they ran to open it: there was a woman carrying a basket full of beautiful bread, fish and shrimp pies, and on top plenty of honey and grapes.

At such a sight, the poor diners sparkled with joy, and putting aside that misery for the next day, they ate of the delicious food.

The moved doctor exclaimed:

"Neither we seculars nor you friars really know the holiness of this man".

And they would certainly have been fully fed, but more than the food had satiated them the miracle.

Thus the loving eye of the Father never despises his own, rather he assists those most in need with most generous provision.

The poor man feeds at a richer table than the king's, as God surpasses man in generosity" (FF 629).

The beloved disciple believed and did things equal to the Master.

Francis, filled with the Spirit of the Risen One, recognised him in the events of life and repeated with deeds:

«It is the Lord!».

Truly, every day he testified to the Presence of the Risen One, who stood by his intimates, teaching them and performing wonders.

Friday between the octave of Easter  (Jn 21:1-14)

The Risen One, before ascending to the Father, appeared to the Eleven and the other disciples, making his great commission: to be witnesses of new life, preaching the Gospel to all peoples.

The Poor Man of Assisi, always absorbed in contemplation of the mysteries of Christ, understood that in the name of the crucified and risen Lord, conversion and the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all men.

His open mind enabled him to keenly scrutinise and penetrate the Scriptures, considering them of supreme importance.

Indeed, the Sources illustrate:

"The preacher," he said, "must first draw in the secret of prayer what he will then pour out in his speeches.

First he must warm himself inwardly, so as not to utter cold words outwardly'.

It is an office, he emphasised, worthy of reverence, and all must revere those who exercise it: 

They are the life of the body, the adversaries of demons, they are the lamp of the world [...].

He once had it written as a general rule:

"We must honour and venerate all theologians and those who dispense the word of God to us as those who administer spirit and life"" (FF 747).

And again the Greater Legend instructs:

"He sought the salvation of souls with passionate piety, with zeal and fervent jealousy and, therefore, he said that he felt himself filled with the sweetest perfumes and, so to speak, sprinkled with precious ointment, when he heard that his brothers scattered throughout the world, with the sweet perfume of their holiness, induced many to return to the right path.

On hearing such news, he exulted in the spirit and filled with enviable blessings those brothers who, by word and deed, led sinners to the love of Christ" (FF 1138).

The fulfilment of the Scriptures about Jesus becomes for Francis the entry of the Kerigma into his spiritual journey, with the consequent transformation of the Poverello into a Servant of the Word proclaimed with faith and witnessed by works.

The Easter of the crucified and risen Lord resulted in the tireless preaching of salvation at the price of his blood shed for all in remission of the sins of the whole world.

The Minim made his own the mission entrusted by Christ to the disciples, driven by the power of the Spirit, towards the Kingdom of God.

«Thus it is written, that Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that conversion for the remission of sins would be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Lk 24:46-47).

Easter Octave Thursday  (Lk 24:35-48)

The Risen Jesus came alongside the disciples of Emmaus who were conversing with Him about what had happened in Jerusalem. He put them to the test.

The body of Christ was now in a new, glorious condition while retaining its identity. To recognise Him required the faith and freedom of God's children.

For Francis, poverty and freedom of spirit combined with faith were the fundamental framework of his existential parable as a "minor".

Asking for alms, for example, even at Easter time, living the condition of a wayfarer on a journey, was for him an admirable exercise of the aforementioned values.

Leafing through the Sources, in the Major Legend, we read:

"Once, on the holy day of Easter, since he was in a hermitage very far from the town and there was no possibility of going begging, mindful of the One who on that same day appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, in the figure of a pilgrim, he asked for alms, as a pilgrim and poor man, from his own brothers.

As he received it, he taught them with holy discourses to continually celebrate the Passover of the Lord, passing through the desert of the world in poverty of spirit and as pilgrims and strangers and as true Jews.

For in begging alms he was not driven by the lust for gain, but by the freedom of the Spirit. God, the father of the poor, showed a special solicitude for him" (FF 1129).

And it was that inner freedom together with faith that became the door of recognition of the Risen Christ at the breaking of the bread, as at Emmaus.

Francis had three-dimensional eyes, enabling him to go beyond appearances, grasping the substance of the message before him.

Indeed, in the Admonitions, he expresses himself thus:

"Behold, every day he humbles himself, as when from the royal seat he descended into the Virgin's womb; every day he himself comes to us in humble appearance [...].

And as he showed himself to the holy apostles in the true flesh, so also now he shows himself to us in the consecrated bread.

And just as they with the eyes of their body saw only the flesh of him, but contemplating him with the eyes of the spirit, they believed that he was the same God, so we too, seeing the bread and wine with the eyes of the body, must see and firmly believe that this is his most holy body and blood, living and true" (FF 144).

The Poverello had acquired, by grace, the interior capacity to decipher the footsteps of the Lord in the ordinary of days, with true concreteness.

«And it came to pass that when he was set at table with them, he took bread, pronounced the blessing, and broke it, and gave it to them. Now their eyes were opened and they recognised him» (Lk 24:30-31)

Wednesday between the Easter octave  (Lk 24:13-35)

«Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?» (Jn 20:15).

Mary of Magdala wept for her Lord near the tomb. Lost and grieving, she grieved not knowing where he was, until Jesus made himself present.

Clare too, in the enclosure of San Damiano, wept while praying for her Christ, uniting herself to his Passion, while awaiting the Resurrection.

In the Legend we read:

"She had now fixed in the Light the burning gaze of inner desire and, having transcended the sphere of human vicissitudes, she opened wide the field of her spirit to the rain of Grace.

[...] Very often, prostrate in prayer with her face to the ground, she bathed the ground with tears and brushed it with kisses: so that she seemed always to have her Jesus in her arms, whose feet she bathed with tears, on whom she pressed kisses" (FF 3197).

Clare inwardly sought the Lord, even for those who did not desire Him.

She was careful not to hold back Christ who was ascending to the Father, living the announcement of the Resurrection with a face of light, testifying to the present vision of Him to the brothers and sisters who approached her.

He lived the perennial earthly Exodus in view of the Promised Land, which he already savoured in small doses.

Francis, for his part, jester of the Resurrection, mourned the Passion of Love, corroborated by existential rebirth.

Again, in St Bonaventure's Major Legend:

"To those who saw him, he seemed a man from another world: one who, his mind and face always turned to heaven, strove to draw all upwards" (FF 1072).

Just as Mary of Magdala made the transition from outside (near the tomb) to inside her own soul - to recognise the Risen Jesus.

So Francis, after living on the outside, among cheerful Assisian brigades, had encountered the "Rabbuni" within his heart.  Recognising and deciphering the Master of his life, in prayer before the Crucifix of San Damiano.

There finding God, he found himself again; in the midst of weeping and perfect joy.

Jesus also asked him the question: «Why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?» (Jn 20:15).

The Damianite Crucifix became the place of his resurrection, where the tears of a missed life, spent in solace, gave way to the Calling by name, in view of a personal and communitarian regeneration.

At Saint Damian, when a divine Voice came to him from the Crucifix inviting him to change his life, the Poor Man uttered this prayer

"Rapture, I pray thee, O Lord,

the burning and sweet power of your love

my mind from all things that are under heaven,

that I might die for love of thy love,

As thou hast deigned to die

for love of my love" (FF 277).

Octave of Easter Tuesday  (Jn 20:11-18)

«Having left the tomb early with fear and great joy, the women ran to make the announcement to his disciples» (Mt 28:8).

The Angel Monday liturgy portrays the joy of the women who are entrusted with the annunciation to their brothers to go to Galilee: there they would see him!

Francis and Clare of Assisi lived Easter every day, and every morning was a favourable opportunity to witness that the Cross had blossomed into the almond tree of the Resurrection.

Every moment was the right time to praise the Crucified and Risen Lord, and to invite all creatures to praise him, for the Two Poor Men belonged to the world of the small and simple.

Francis wasted no opportunity to announce the Good News.

He, Jesus' beloved disciple, and Clare, 'the other Mary', had been at the tomb. They had found the rolled stone and by their existence narrated the regeneration they had experienced.

The joy of Easter was inscribed in their hearts and the Sources help us to understand it well.

"As Francis went about towns and castles, he began to preach everywhere with greater commitment and confidence, not resorting to persuasive reasoning based on human wisdom, but relying on the doctrine and virtue of the Holy Spirit, confidently proclaiming the kingdom of God.

He was an evangeliser of the truth, made strong by apostolic authority. He did not resort to flattery, he scorned fine talk.

What he proposed to others in his exhortations was first and foremost his own personal conviction; thus he was able to proclaim the truth sincerely" (FF 1463).

Indeed, the only Truth to be proclaimed was and is Christ risen from the dead, the Hope of Glory!

He always urged his brothers to celebrate Easter, faithful to the poverty of Christ:

"Even on major feasts, when there was an opportunity, he used to go for alms. Because, he said, in the poor of God the word of the prophet is fulfilled: man has eaten the bread of Angels.

The bread of the Angels is that which holy poverty gathers from door to door and which, asked for the love of God, for the love of God is bestowed, at the suggestion of the holy Angels" (FF 1129).

Contemplating the Beauty of God, which recalls the Easter Light of the Resurrection, in the Praises of God Most High, Francis expressed himself thus:

«You are holy, Lord, only God, who works wonderful things.

Thou art strong, Thou art great, Thou art most high,

Thou art King Almighty, Thou holy Father, King of heaven and earth.

You are triune and one, Lord God of gods.

You are the good, every good, the supreme good, the living and true Lord God [...]» (FF 261).

With humility and trust in the Lord, the dawn of the Resurrection inhabited every gesture of the Alter Christus and Clare, in every daily event.

Monday of the Easter Octave  (Mt 28:8-15)

«Now on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb in the morning, when it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb» (Jn 20:1).

The fourth Gospel tells of the empty tomb found by Mary Magdalene who runs to the disciples to testify what she has seen. Peter and John run to see the Truth: Jesus is not in a place of death.

Francis and Clare were the disciples of the Resurrection, for their standard of living here below was that of humble and regenerated children of the Risen One.

Even after their death, the bystanders saw lights and miracles, bearing witness to the Gospel.

Regarding the departure of Clare, the Legend expresses it thus:

"On the day following the feast of the blessed Lawrence, that most holy soul departed from mortal life, to be rewarded with eternal laurel; and, the temple of the flesh having been disposed of, her spirit passed blessedly into heaven.

Blessed is this exodus from the valley of misery, which was for her entrance into the blessed life!

Now, in exchange for penury of food, they rejoice at the banquet of the citizens of heaven; now in exchange for humble ashes, blessed in the kingdom of heaven, they are made resplendent by the stole of eternal glory" (FF 3254).

Again the Sources:

"Therefore Clare, while she was alive, shone by the light of her merits: and now, that she is sunk in endless clarity, no less does she still shine, by the marvellous light of miracles, to the ends of the earth" (FF 3262).

Indeed, as the Papal Bull attests:

"After his death [...] there was brought to his sepulchre a sick man with a fallen sickness, who could not walk by himself because of the contraction of one leg: and, there before him, his leg resounded thunderously, and he was healed of both his infirmities" (FF 3309).

She ran to the tomb... and encountered life!

Clare, having entered into glory, sowed with Christ resurrection.

And Francis' own departure spread that joy that only the Lord can give.

"The friars and sons, who had flocked to the transit of the father, together with all the people, dedicated that night, in which the most high confessor of Christ had died, to the divine praises: those did not seem to be the funeral rites of the dead, but vigils of angels.

When morning came, the crowds, with tree branches and a great number of torches, among hymns and canticles escorted the sacred body into the city of Assisi.

They also passed by the church of San Damiano, where then dwelt with her virgins that noble Clare, who is now glorious in heaven.

There they paused a little while [...] Finally, with great rejoicing, they arrived in the city and buried the precious treasure with all reverence in the church of St George, because it was there that he had learned the letters as a child and there that he had preached for the first time. There, therefore, he rightly found, in the end, the first place of his rest" (FF 1250).

And again:

"The venerable father passed from this world's wreckage in the year 1226 of the Lord's incarnation, on the 4th of October, the evening of a Saturday, and was buried on the following Sunday.

The blessed man, as soon as he was taken up to enjoy the light of God's countenance, began to shine by great and numerous miracles" (FF 1251).

Now that he reigned with the crucified and risen Christ, to whom he had been perfectly conformed, he left traces of Light on earth, in His footsteps.

The tomb was empty! Divine energy and Life prevailed. Alleluja!

Easter «Resurrection of the Lord»  (Jn 20:1-9)

Holy Saturday, a day of silent waiting, was for Francis and Clare an occasion of special unity with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who lived all the mysteries of redemption with Him.

Like Francis, Clare participated "in symbiosis" with Christ in his Passion.

In contemplation she was given to experience the Paschal Mystery of the Bridegroom, knowing the depth of His martyrdom.

Motionless and beside herself since Holy Thursday, she arrived at Holy Saturday with an unspeakable 'Christ-like unity'.

We read in the Sources valuable passages in this regard:

"Then coming the night after Friday, the devout daughter lit a candle and with a nod, not words, reminded her Mother of the command of St Francis.

In fact, the Saint had ordered her not to let a single day pass without food.

And as she stood before her, Clare, as if returning from another place, uttered these words:

"What need is there of the candle? Is it not day?".

"Mother," she replies, "the day has passed and another night has returned.

And to her Clare said:

"Blessed be this sleep, dearest daughter; for, after having so longed for it, it has been given to me as a gift.

But beware of telling anyone about this sleep as long as I live in this body'" (FF 3217).

At the moment of her farewell, as 'Altera-Maria' she lived with her heart always at the foot of the cross and in faith, amidst the tears of her desolate daughters.

And turning to her soul she said:

"Go, safe," he says to her, "for you have a good escort on the journey. Go, for He who created you, has sanctified you, and always looking upon you as a mother his son, has loved you with tender love".

"And you, Lord," she added, "be blessed, who created me".

Asked by one of the sisters to whom she was speaking, she replied:

"I speak to my blessed soul "*.

And now that glorious escort was not far off.

Turning in fact to a daughter, he asks her:

"Do you see the King of glory, whom I see, O daughter?

Clare was now close to passing from this world to the Father, when one of her daughters, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rested, saw, with the eyes of the body, this beatifying vision:

"Pierced indeed by the dart of deep sorrow, she turns her gaze towards the door of the house: and behold, a host of virgins in white robes enters, and all have garlands of gold on their heads.

One more resplendent than the others advances among them, from whose crown, which appears at the top like a pierced thurible, radiates such splendour that the darkness of the night within the walls of the house is turned into daylight.

She approaches the little bed where the Bride of the Son lies and, bending over her with tender love, gives her a most sweet embrace.

The virgins spread out a pallium of marvellous beauty and, all serving in competition, clothed Clare's body and adorned her thalamus" (FF 3253).

The Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, She who had lived with the poor woman on Holy Saturday, had come to take her to her glorious, crucified and risen Son.

A dawning full of expectation, and pregnant - in the power of the Spirit.

«Do not be afraid, you; for I know that you seek Jesus, the crucified. He is not here [...]» (Mt 28:5-6a).

«Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?» (Mk 16:3).

«The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again» (Lk 24:7).

* It is the night between the Friday and Saturday before Clare's death, that is, the night between 8 and 9 August 1253.

Holy Saturday - Easter Vigil (Mt 28,1-10); (Mk 16,1-7); (Lk 24,1-12).

The Passion of the Lord narrated by the evangelist John, brings to our attention the arrest and betrayal of the Son of God, his being brought before the high priests Annas and Caiaphas.

The latter uttered that crude expression:

«It is fitting that one man should die for the people» (Jn 18:14).

He is then led to Pilate's praetorium where he is handed over to the chief priests and guards to be crucified.

Drama of Love of our God for the man He loves!

Francis spent Good Friday uniting himself to the Lord's Passion, identifying with it.

Fasting, consistent with what Jesus says in the Gospel [when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast] was certainly observed on that day by all the brothers and sisters of San Damiano.

In the Regola non bollata (1221), Francis expresses himself thus:

"The holy Lent, on the other hand, which begins on the Epiphany and lasts uninterruptedly for forty days, that which the Lord consecrated with his holy fast, those who voluntarily fast it may be blessed by the Lord, and those who do not want to may not be obliged. But the other, until the Lord's Resurrection, let them fast.

At other times they should not be obliged to fast, except on Fridays" (FF 84).

So too Clare and her sisters were faithful to the fast, especially the Mother:

"As long as he was in health, in fact, he fasted on bread and water during the Great Lent and the Lent of Saint Martin the bishop, enjoying only on Sundays a little wine, if he had any [...]" (FF 3194).

The sisters, concerned for her health, deplored with tears those daily deaths to which she subjected herself, until Francis ordered her not to let a day pass without eating at least an ounce and a half of bread.

The union with the Passion of Christ was lived first of all interiorly, but the body also mourned for the Spouse betrayed, vilified and killed for the salvation of many.

Francis mourned the Lord's Passion, filling the woods with tears and groans, while Clare, in the monastery, took part in Christ's martyrdom with her whole self in continuous prayer.

In the Vita seconda of Celano, regarding the last moments of the Poverello's life, the following is reported:

"He spent the few days remaining to him in a hymn of praise, inviting his beloved companions* to praise Christ with him. He then, as he was able, burst into this psalm:

"With my voice I cried out to the Lord, with my voice I asked the Lord for help".

She also invited all creatures to the praise of God, and with certain verses, which she had once composed, she exhorted them to divine love. Even death, terrible and hateful to all, exhorted praise, and going to her joyfully, invited her to be his guest:

'Welcome, my sister death!' " (FF 809).

And again:

"She then turned to the doctor*: 'Take courage, Brother Doctor, tell me that death is imminent: for me it will be the door of life!'

And to the brothers:

"When you see me reduced to the extreme, lay me down naked on the earth, as you saw me the day before yesterday, and after I am dead, let me lie like this for as long as it takes me to comfortably walk a mile".

Finally his hour came, and all the mysteries of Christ having been fulfilled in him, he happily flew away to God" (FF 810).

Clare, in love with her Lord and a little plant of the Seraphic Father, also spent Holy Thursday and the whole of Friday among the wounds of Christ:

"All that night and for the whole of the following day she remained as if absorbed, so out of herself that, with her eyes absent, always fixed on a single vision, she seemed to be nailed to Christ and completely insensible.

Return to her several times a familiar daughter, to see if by chance she desires anything, and always find her motionless in the same position' (FF 3217).

Love for Christ crucified was for Clare and Francis the source of every reason for living, of every gesture made in the sign of the cross, which blossomed on Easter morning.

* Brother Angelo and Brother Leo.

* The doctor: Bongiovanni, a native of Arezzo according to various sources, or perhaps of Assisi, son of Marangone Cristiano.

Good Friday «Passion of the Lord» (Jn 18:1-19:42)