Francis of Assisi, the Knower and the Least of God, always had clear in his conscience the importance and necessity of the contemplative life, tempered by work that keeps idleness at bay and conforms to Christ. He demanded this for himself and for his brothers. He went so far as to say that serving his brothers was worth more than any stay in the hermitages, where he himself loved to go when he could.

We read in his writings: "And I worked with my own hands, and I want to work; and I firmly want all the other brothers to work as befits honesty. Those who do not know, let them learn, not for the greed of receiving the reward of work, but to set an example and keep idleness at bay" (FF 119).

Furthermore: "We are convinced that [...] those who live differently in hermitages have been reproached a great deal. Many, in fact, transform the place of contemplation into idleness and the hermit's way of life, instituted to allow souls perfection, reduces it to a place of pleasure [...] Certainly this reproach is not for everyone. We know that there are saints [...] who follow excellent laws in the hermitage" (FF 765).

Even among the friars there was discussion about whether to live in contemplation or action, in fact in the Major Legend it is written:

"While, firm in their holy purpose, they faced the Spoletana valley, they began to discuss whether they should spend their lives among the people or dwell in solitary places. 

But Francis, the servant of Christ, not trusting in his own experience or that of his own, entrusted himself to prayer, to insistently seek what the disposition of the divine will was on this point.

He was thus enlightened with an answer from Heaven and understood that he had been sent by the Lord for this purpose: to win souls for Christ [...] And so he chose to live for all, rather than for himself alone, spurred on by the example of the One who deigned to die, He alone, for all men" (FF1066).

But love for prayer and listening to the Word always accompanied his actions and those of his brothers.

"The tireless dedication to prayer [...] had brought the man of God to such clarity of spirit that [...] he scrutinised the depths of the Scriptures with a clear and acute intellect. He read 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" (FF1187).

Transformed into prayer, without failing in service:

Francis had a special predilection for the Word of God, and in him, without failing in the services to be rendered to his neighbour, he always gave priority to listening to what the Lord asked or taught, fixing it well in his mind.

He had chosen the good part that no one could take away from him. 

Indeed, the Sources instruct us in this regard:

"He spent all his time in holy recollection in order to imprint Wisdom in his heart; he feared to turn back if he did not always make progress.

And if at times there were urgent visits from seculars or other matters, he would cut them off rather than finish them, to take refuge again in contemplation [...].

He was always looking for a secluded place, where he could unite himself not only with his spirit, but with his individual limbs to his God" (FF 681).

"Often without moving his lips, he would meditate for a long time within himself and, concentrating the external powers within, he would lift himself up with his spirit to heaven. In this way he directed his whole mind and affection to the one thing he asked of God: he was not so much a praying man as he himself was transformed into a living prayer" (FF 682).

He had understood the essence of the Gospel.

When he was infirm and full of pain, to a friar who had learned from Francis to take refuge in the Scriptures and who now invited him to have them read to him for relief, the Saint replied:

"It is good to read the testimonies of Scripture, and it is good to seek in them the Lord our God. But, as for me, I have already taken so much from the Scriptures as to be more than sufficient for my meditation and reflection. I need no more, Son: I know Christ poor and crucified' (FF 692).

Jesus, to the one who asks: «And who is my neighbour?» (Lk 10:29) answers by telling a story.

When faced with someone lying on the ground, one should not pass by, but rather come to his aid, take care of him, because every person who is beaten is one's neighbour, whoever he may be.

The Poverello, who had received mercy from the Lord, had learned the lesson well enough to apply it "sine glossa", literally towards everyone, starting with the most needy and marginalised of his time.

The Poor Man's encounter with lepers constitutes a fundamental page in his growth in the Spirit.

It was a crossroads that profoundly modified him and changed the coordinates of his interior life.

For those unfortunate people he feels compassion and "passion", willing to help them in any way he can, because he is the Suffering Servant.

We read in his wonderful Testament

«The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance in this way: when I was in sin, it seemed to me too bitter to see lepers; and the Lord himself led me among them and I used Mercy with them.

And as I turned away from them, what seemed bitter to me was changed to sweetness of soul and body» (FF 110).

Thus "the Saint goes among the lepers and lives with them, to serve them in every need for the love of God. He washes their decaying bodies and heals their virulent sores [...].

For the sight of lepers, as he attests, was at first so unbearable to him, that as soon as he saw their shelter two miles away, he plugged his nose with his hands.

But here is what happened: at the time when he had already begun, by the Grace and virtue of the Most High, to have holy and wholesome thoughts, while he was still living in the world, one day a leper stood before him: he did violence to himself, approached him and kissed him.

From that moment he decided to despise himself more and more, until through the mercy of the Redeemer he obtained full victory" (FF 348).

And Francis healed many lepers:

"In the city of Fano, a young man named Bonomo, considered by all the doctors to be a leper and a paralytic, as soon as he was offered very devoutly by his parents to Blessed Francis, was freed from leprosy and paralysis and regained full health" (FF 564).

The care he lavished on lepers, as the Good Samaritan of the Gospel, was transformed, by the gift of the Lord, into power and efficacy in healing diseases of body and spirit.

He had visceral compassion for these souls abandoned to themselves and lived the Gospel of the derelict and marginalised to the letter, loving with extraordinary fondness the Lazarus of his time and beyond.

«Go, do likewise» (Lk 10:37)

Monday, 27th wk. in O.T.  (Lk 10,25-37)

On this twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Liturgy focuses on the passage from Luke in which the apostles ask Jesus:

«Increase our Faith!» (Lk 17:5).

Looking through the Sources, we come across a passage from Celano, taken from the Second Life, in which Francis is called to strengthen his faith in God at a particular moment in his journey.

"At a certain moment in his life, the Father suffered a violent temptation of spirit, certainly for the benefit of his crown.

For this reason, he was distressed and full of suffering, mortifying and chastising his body, praying and weeping in the most painful way.

This struggle lasted several years. One day, while praying in Santa Maria della Porziuncola, he heard a voice in his spirit:

'Francis, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain to move, and it will move'.

'Lord,' replied the Saint, 'what is the mountain that I would like to move?'.

And the voice replied again:

"The mountain is your temptation."

"O Lord," replied the saint in tears, "let it be done to me as you have said."

Immediately, all temptation disappeared, and he felt free and completely serene in the depths of his heart (FF 702).

This is what happens when we open ourselves to Grace! It transforms everything, strengthening the inner man.

Chiara was also a teacher of faith for her Damianite sisterhood.

In fact, she addresses Ermentrude of Bruges in a letter:

"Remain, therefore, my dearest, faithful until death to Him to whom you have bound yourself forever. And you will certainly be crowned by Him with the crown of life. The time of toil here below is short, but the reward is eternal...

Bear adversity willingly, and let pride not swell your heart in prosperous times; the former call you back to your faith, the latter require it" (FF 2914).

Sunday 27th in O.T. year C  (Lk 17:5-10)

Today is the Feast of the one who gave meaning and roots to Franciscanism. The Gospel chosen is that of Jesus turning to the Father to thank Him for revealing the Mysteries of the Kingdom to the little ones. And he, Francis, is the Little One, the meek par excellence.

In the Sources, the littleness of this Giant of the Gospel is summed up thus:

"Another time he confessed to his companions:

"Among other graces, the Most High has bestowed on me this: I would obey the novice who entered the Order today, if he were my guardian, as if he were the first and oldest of the brothers.

Indeed, the subject must not consider in the prelate the man, but He for whose sake he submits to a man".

He also said:

"There would not be a prelate in the whole world, feared by his subjects and brothers as much as the Lord would have me feared by my brothers, should I wish it.

But the Most High has given me this grace: to know how to adapt myself to everyone, as if I were the smallest friar in the Order".

We have seen with our own eyes repeatedly, we who have lived with Francis, the truth of this statement of his.

On several occasions, when certain brothers did not assist him in his needs, or some word was addressed to him that produced agitation, the Saint immediately withdrew to pray.

And when he returned, he did not want to remember the insult, saying: 'That friar neglected me!', or: 'He said this word to me'.

And the closer he came to death, the more concerned he was to live and die in all the perfection of humility and poverty' (FF 1663).

He was humble and meek not only with superiors but also with peers and inferiors, content to be admonished and corrected by them.

One day, crossing a farmer's field on a donkey, because he was weak, the latter pointed out to him that he was in life really what they said about him:

'Look,' said the farmer, 'be as good as everyone says you are, because many people trust you. That is why I exhort you never to behave differently from what is hoped'.

At these words, Francis got down from the donkey and, prostrating himself before the peasant, he kissed his feet several times, humbly thanking him that he had deigned to admonish him [...].

He thought himself vile before God and men' (FF 726).

And in the Salutation to the Virtues, written by him, we read:

"Holy humility/ confounds pride/ and all men that are in the world/ and likewise all things that are in the world" (FF 258).

«I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to the little ones» (Mt 11:25)

S. Francis of Assisi, saint patron of Italy  (Mt 11:25-30)

In today's Gospel, Jesus rebukes the cities that, despite having received wonderful benefits, had not converted. It echoes:

«Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!» (Lk 10:13).

The present Judgement looms on the horizon.

Jesus emphasises their failure to listen and their contempt for his messengers: it is as if they were doing all this directly to him.

Francis of Assisi was deeply grateful to God for having drawn him from the courteous and distracted life of the world to the service of the Gospel.

But like every authentic prophet, Francis also encountered the contempt of men on his journey of faith.

However, as a true disciple of Christ who loves to conform to the Lord even in this, he did not cease to proclaim conversion and penance to all, spreading the Word of God everywhere and even preaching to the birds:

"It is said that Francis, travelling with his companions through towns and villages, came to a town to preach the Word of God. But as soon as he began his speech, the citizens of the place, observing him in that strange manner of dress, drove him out of the town as a madman.

Then Francis, going out into the countryside and standing on the public road, observed in a field a large number of birds of different species, intent on pecking.

He turned to them and called them to come to him, as if he were speaking to men; and immediately, at his call, such a multitude of birds of every kind gathered around him that it was said that never had so many been seen in those parts" (FF 2307).

Those who listen to the prophets of God listen to God himself, and those who do not listen to them reject God himself.

But Francis did not stop at the contempt of men, because he knew that the disciple is not greater than his Master, and he taught this to his friars.

In fact, the Sources still attest to this.

Francis maintained that if, after the convocation of the chapter assembly, he were called to preach the Word of God and immediately afterwards rejected, he should still be content.

'I rise and preach according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I finish the sermon.

Let us suppose that then, after thinking about it, they conclude by saying to me:

'We do not want you to reign over us, because you cannot speak, you are too simple, we are ashamed to have such an uneducated and incapable person as our leader. From now on, do not presume to call yourself our prelate!'. And so saying, they drive me away, reviling me.

Well, I could not consider myself a true friar minor if I did not remain equally serene when they revile me and ignominiously drive me away [...] as when they honour me [...] provided that their advantage is the same [...] for here there is certain gain for the soul" (FF 1639).

«Nevertheless, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Simon in the judgement than for you» (Lk 10:14)

Friday, 26th wk. in Ordinary Time  (Lk 10:13-16)

Before the disciples arguing about who was the greatest among them, Jesus educates them by placing a child before their eyes. This is the measure of their greatness.

So: acceptance and littleness are the credentials for the Kingdom.

Small in stature, but truly endowed with that littleness that makes one a child at heart.

Francis was always concerned not to scandalise the little ones that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel.

The authority of the Sources informs us:

"Often thinking of the scandal given to the little ones, he felt an immense sadness, to the point of believing that he would have died of grief, if the divine goodness had not sustained him with its comfort" (FF 1139).

Francis himself described himself as "I, small and simple, inexperienced in speaking, have received the grace of prayer more than that of preaching [...].

In prayer we speak to God, we listen to him, and we remain in the midst of the angels" (FF 1204).

Again: "Nothing else did he possess, the Poor Man of Christ, but two pennies that he could bestow with liberal charity: his body and soul" (FF 1167).

And to his brothers he taught and recommended littleness in every happy or sad affair:

"Scarcity itself was for them abundance and superabundance, while, according to the advice of the Wise One, they took pleasure not in greatness, but in the smallest things" (FF 1075).

Oh what great love he had for the Angels!

The Franciscan Sources tell us that "to the angelic spirits, who burn with a marvellous fire, which inflames the souls of the elect and makes them penetrate into God, he was united by an unbreakable bond of love [...].

For blessed Michael the Archangel, since he has the task of presenting souls to God, he nurtured special devotion and love, dictated by his fervent zeal for the salvation of souls" (FF 1166).

«Beware of despising a single one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven ceaselessly see the face of the Father in heaven» (Mt 18:10)

Holy Guardian Angels, 2 October

In these verses from chapter nine, the Gospel of Luke highlights the conditions necessary to follow Jesus and His bare, poor and wandering life.

«Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head» (Lk 9:58).

Francis, a true lover and imitator of Him, followed in His footsteps, living his life of faith in poverty and precariousness, because he understood clearly that following Him in His call meant abandoning everything else.

The Sources recount that the Minims, in their Letter to the whole Order, expressed themselves thus:

"Brother Francis, a man of little account and frailty, your little servant, wishes you health in Him who redeemed us and washed us in His most precious blood.

Hearing his name, adore him with fear and reverence, prostrate on the ground: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High is his name, blessed for ever and ever" (FF 215).

The Poverello always presented Jesus as the One who had nowhere to settle; in fact, the Son of God showed the precarious nature of his life in every circumstance.

Enamoured with poverty, Francis addressed his friars with the words of Luke 9:58:

"[Thus] he taught the friars to build poor little houses [...] to live in them not as their own homes, but as in the homes of others, as pilgrims and strangers.

He said that the code of pilgrims is this:

'Gather under the roof of others, feel thirst for your homeland, pass away in peace'" (FF1120).

And since he repeated that those who do his works are children of God, the Poor Man of Assisi distinguished himself as a child, and in the Spirit he performed many healings.

"People of all ages and both sexes ran to see and listen to this new man, given by heaven to the world.

He travelled through various regions, fervently proclaiming the Gospel, and the Lord cooperated, confirming the Word with the miracles that accompanied him.

In fact, in the name of the Lord, Francis, preacher of the truth, cast out demons, healed the sick, and, even more amazingly, with the power of his words, he softened and moved the stubborn to repentance and, at the same time, restored health to bodies and hearts" (FF 1212).

Clare herself, in her Letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague, takes up the theme of the precarious dimension of Christ and therefore of discipleship.

"O blessed poverty! To those who love and embrace you, you procure eternal riches...

O pious poverty! The Lord Jesus Christ, in whose power were and are heaven and earth, since a mere nod of his word was enough and all things were created, deigned to embrace you in preference to all other things. For he said:

Foxes have their dens, birds of the sky have their nests, but the Son of Man, that is, Christ, has nowhere to lay his head, and when he laid it on his chest, it was to breathe his last" (FF 2864 - First Letter).

In their radical following of Christ, the two champions of poverty had acquired the freedom to be influenced by nothing but Christ.

Wednesday, 26th wk. in Ordinary Time  (Lk 9:57-62)

Luke presents Jesus proceeding firmly and courageously towards Jerusalem.

For this reason a village of Samaritans did not want to receive him.

The disciples intend to react to the inhospitality shown, but Jesus takes them back, understanding the mission he was fulfilling.

The open window of the Sources tells us interesting things about this.

In his writings, Francis taught his brothers to persevere with patience when they were not accepted, going elsewhere, for love of Christ who suffered the same things.

The Sources - specifically the Regola non bollata (1221) - says:

"And let all the brothers, wherever they are, remember that they have given themselves and abandoned their bodies to our Lord Jesus Christ.

And for his love they must expose themselves to enemies both visible and invisible, for the Lord says:

'He who loses his soul for my sake will save it for eternal life'" (FF 45).

And again in Admonitions:

"Let us look closely, brothers and sisters, at the good shepherd who, in order to save his sheep, endured the passion of the cross.

The Lord's sheep followed him in tribulation and persecution, in ignominy and hunger, in infirmity and temptation and other such things; and they received from the Lord eternal life in return" (FF 155).

On the other hand, Francis, to Brother Leo himself, will teach that when we are not received, remaining in patience, we are in perfect joy:

"And I always stand at the door and say, 'For God's sake receive me for this night.'

And he replies: 'I will not. Go to the place of the Cruciferous and ask there."

"Well, if I have been patient and have not been disturbed, I say to you that here is true joy and here is true virtue and salvation of the soul" ( FF 278).

Jesus, in fact, goes further, where he encounters rejection, rebuking his own who find it hard to accept non-acceptance.

Francis follows it as Providence.

«He hardened his Face to depart towards Jerusalem. And he sent angels before his face» (Lk 9:51b-52)

Tuesday 26th wk. in O.T. (Lk 9,51-56)

The passage from the Gospel of John introduces us to the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels entrusted with special missions among men.

Jesus refers to them in his conversation with Nathanael about his divinity:

«You will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man» (Jn 1:51b).

Francis of Assisi had a special devotion to the Angels, so much so that he chose the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, a place of singular graces, as his small portion to live in.

The Sources, testimony to the life of the Poverello and all the friars, inform us.

"He venerated the Angels with the greatest affection, who are with us on the battlefield and walk with us in the shadow of death.

'We must venerate,' he said, 'these companions who follow us everywhere and likewise invoke them as guardians'.

He taught that we must not offend their gaze, nor dare to do in their presence what we would not do in front of men.

And precisely because psalms are sung in choir before the Angels, he wanted everyone who could to gather in the oratory* and sing psalms there with devotion.

He often repeated that Blessed Michael should be honoured in a more solemn manner because he has the task of presenting souls to God.

Therefore, in honour of St. Michael, between the feast of the Assumption and his own feast day, he fasted with the utmost devotion for forty days. And he said:

"Everyone should offer God a tribute of praise or some other special gift in honour of such a glorious prince" (FF 785).

And, regarding the Porziuncola:

"There he often enjoyed the visit of Angels, as the name of the church itself seemed to indicate, called since ancient times Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Therefore, he chose it as his residence because of his veneration for the Angels and his special love for the Mother of Christ.

The Saint loved this place more than any other place in the world. Here, in fact, he experienced the humility of his beginnings; here he progressed in virtue; here he happily reached his goal.

At the time of his death, he recommended this place to the friars as the place most dear to the Virgin" (FF 1048).

We can believe him, because Francis was an «Israelite in whom there is no deceit».

• Oratory = a place reserved for the prayer of religious or the choir of the church.