The Lucan passage considered in this feria of Advent is the announcement of the angel Gabriel to the priest Zechariah who was officiating in the temple: despite the advanced age of both spouses, they were to have a son named John.

But his lack of faith rendered him mute until the day of the fulfilment of that event, which also redeemed his wife Elizabeth from the infamy of the time for her barrenness.

As a new John, Francis was given to the world to announce salvation, to bring glad tidings to all.

His mother, Mona Pica, of marked interiority and openness to the new, immediately sensed that her son would be great before the Lord.

In the Franciscan Sources, his birth is presented as a new beginning of Christlikeness, spread through the folds of life.

In them we read: "The servant and friend of the Most High, Francis, was given this name by divine Providence, so that by his originality and novelty the fame of his mission might spread more easily throughout the world. His mother had called him John, when he was reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, and from a son of wrath had become a son of grace*.

A mirror of righteousness, that woman presented in her conduct, as it were, a visible sign of his virtue. In fact, she was made to share, as a privilege, a certain resemblance to the ancient Saint Elizabeth, both by the name she bestowed on her son and also by her prophetic spirit.

When neighbours expressed their admiration for Francis' generosity of spirit and moral integrity, she would repeat, almost divinely inspired:

«What do you think he will become, this son of mine? Know that by his merits he will become a son of God».

[...] Therefore, the name of John is appropriate to the mission he then carried out, that of Francis to his fame, which soon spread everywhere after his full conversion to God.

Above the feast of any other saint, he held that of John the Baptist to be most solemn, whose distinguished name had imprinted in his soul a sign of arcane power.

Among those born of women there arose none greater than this, and none more perfect than this among the founders of religious orders" (FF 583).

Francis put all his enthusiasm into understanding and realising the suggestions of the new Grace: to announce the perfection of the Gospel, preaching penance to all, with simplicity.

And since for the Poverello the voice of the smallest had the same weight as the voice of the great, indeed it is privileged, in the Spirit, because of that priority given to the smallest by the Gospel, the Lord took him at his word for his making himself the least in everything and among everyone.

"Often the Lord manifests what is best to the least" (Reg. c. IV. 18).

«And many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord» (Lk 1:14b-15a)

* Francis was baptised in the church of Santa Maria del Vescovado. The baptistery was later moved to the cathedral of San Rufino, where it still stands today.

Feria proper on December 19  (Lk 1:5-25)

The birth of Jesus narrated in Matthew's Gospel highlights not only Isaiah's prophecy but also Joseph's obedience to God's plan.

«Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife with you [...]» (Mt 1:20).

As the little work in the Sources tells us: "Sacrum Commercium", Francis, a righteous and fearful man, married Our Lady Poverty, with a mutual exchange of gifts and promises, with a commitment of love and fidelity summed up by one word: "Covenant".

We read:

"Thus enamoured of your beauty, the Son of the Most High Father to you alone was closely united in the world and knew you for proof most faithful in all things.

Even before He came to earth from the splendour of His homeland, Thou didst prepare for Him a worthy habitation, a throne on which to sit, and a throne in which to rest, namely, the most poor Virgin, from whom He was born to shine upon this world.

To him as soon as he was born with solicitude you ran to meet him, so that he might find in you, and not in softness, a place that would be pleasing to him.

He was laid, says the evangelist, in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.

In the same way, never parting from him, you always accompanied him, so that throughout his life, when he appeared on earth and lived among men, while the foxes had their dens and the birds of heaven their nests, he had nowhere to lay his head.

And later when he, who had once opened the mouth of the prophets, opened his mouth to teach, he first wanted to praise you, he first exalted you with the words: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (FF 1977).

This is echoed by Clare of Assisi, who in one of her letters to her spiritual daughter, writes:

"If, therefore, such and so great a Lord, coming down in the Virgin's womb, wanted to appear in the world as a despicable, needy and poor man, so that men - who were very poor and destitute, hungry because of the excessive scarcity of heavenly nourishment - might become rich in Him by possessing the heavenly realms, exult and enjoy greatly, filled with enormous joy and spiritual gladness" (FF 2865).

Weekday Liturgy, 18 December  (Mt 1:18-24)

In its universal dimension, Francis never even mentally created categories of people who were deserving or not deserving of salvation - for which Christ gave Himself on behalf of all.

Even unworthy names appear in the genealogy of Jesus, from a human point of view, attesting to the intermingling of Christ with our history, who came to redeem the 'deserving' and the undeserving, to become One with us, except for sin.

Francis, who thought it worthy to leave the habit who stripped his brother of his good name, actually strips himself of everything, of his own noble origin (the son of a rich merchant without too many scruples, and of Madonna Pica, a Frenchwoman from beyond the Alps, with a noble heart).

He reinserts himself into common history, breaking out of the enclosures in which people wanted to enclose him, and calling 'Father' He who is in heaven.

He makes all human history his own, and puts himself back, in poverty, in the following of Christ.

Francis departing from the social and commercial greed of his natural father, helped by the rectitude of his mother, Monna Pica, becomes an instrument of God, 

He is the son of a genealogy without beginning or end, no longer limited to those social strata animated by profit, to which the carnal bond wanted to bind him.

And in his spiritual family tree we will find people of all ranks who, converted to Christ, will make Francis' descendants more numerous than the stars or the sands of the sea.

From his mother he had inherited a tender and far-sighted heart, sensitive to the divine. 

"A mirror of righteousness, that woman presented in her conduct, so to speak, a visible sign of her virtue [...].

She bore, as a privilege, a certain resemblance to the ancient Elizabeth, both in the name she bestowed on her son and also in her prophetic spirit.

When neighbours expressed their admiration for Francis' generosity of spirit and moral integrity, she would repeat, almost divinely inspired:

«What do you think he will become, this son of mine? Know, that by his merits he will become a son of God» (FF 583).

And the Sources continue:

"Therefore the name of John is appropriate to the mission he carried out, that of Francis to his fame [...].

Among those born of women there arose none greater than this, and none more perfect than this among the founders of religious orders" (FF 583).

Weekday Liturgy, 17 December  (Mt 1,1-17)