The Gospel of Matthew recounts the flight into Egypt of the Family of Nazareth due to Herod's persecution, who, in order to eliminate Jesus, had all the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area killed.

This unique family was rejected from the moment it was formed, a model of perseverance in the face of trials.

Francis, God's jester, after Grace had made him a new creature, preferred the family given to him by the Father of mercies to his natural family.

In fact, without hesitation, in front of the bishop of Assisi and all those present, he stripped himself naked as a sign of abandonment, adding:

"Until now I have called you my father on earth; from now on I can say with complete confidence: Our Father, who art in heaven, because in Him I have placed all my treasures and all my trust and hope" (FF 1043).

This was an eloquent response to the old world that left him languishing in its pleasures, preferring to enjoy the sweetness he breathed at home in Nazareth.

Francis is in tune with the Holy Family: both in his personal life and in the community that developed around him.

In fact, he nourished himself with poverty and simplicity, growing in age, wisdom and grace before God and his beloved brothers.

He was submissive to every brother and sowed everywhere that extraordinary infused wisdom that came to him from above, pure and yielding.

Mary accompanied him everywhere.

He clung to her in every important event, so much so that he called her the Advocate of the Order, she who had made our brother the Lord of Majesty.

But no less so, Clare was part of the unique, silent Family of God - so fully that she received the gift (now ill and no longer able to go to church) of participating sensitively in the Christmas Liturgy.

The Father of Mercy and the entire Nazareth Family were with her.

The Sources inform us:

"At that hour of Christmas (1252), when the world rejoiced with the angels for the newborn Child, all the women went to Matins at the place of prayer, leaving the Mother alone, burdened by her infirmity.

And, having begun to think of the little Jesus and to grieve greatly that she could not participate in the singing of his praises, she sighed and said to him:

'Lord God, here I am, left here alone for you!'.

And suddenly, the wonderful concert taking place in the church of St Francis began to resound in her ears.

She heard the friars singing psalms in jubilation, followed the harmonies of the singers, and even perceived the sound of the instruments.

The place was not close enough to allow human perception of those sounds: either that solemn celebration was made divinely sonorous enough to reach her, or her hearing was strengthened beyond all human possibility.

Indeed, surpassing this miracle of hearing, she was even worthy of seeing the Lord's crib.

When her daughters came to her in the morning, Blessed Clare said:

'Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not leave me alone when you abandoned me!

By the grace of Christ, I heard all the ceremonies that were celebrated last night in the church of St Francis" (FF 3212).

In the communities of Francis and Clare of Assisi, the spirit of the Family of Nazareth, experienced in suffering but also a place of genuine virtue, was alive and well. Clare, like another Mary, meditated in her heart on the mysteries of the Son of God, well understanding the apprehensions and dangers of flight. She herself, leaving the old world that pursued her, had known hardship and tribulation.

All these experiences helped her, on her journey as a Poor Woman, to relive the events of the family of Nazareth in depth.

«Now after Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 'Rise, take the Child and his Mother, and go to the land of Israel'» (Mt 2:19-20a)

Holy Family of Nazareth (year A)  (Mt 2:13-15, 19-23)

In the context of Christmas, to remember St John the Apostle is to put contemplation of the Mystery first. He who, like a sack of myrrh on his breast, reclined his head on that of Christ and, because of the Love that animated him, arrived first at the tomb of his Friend.

«But the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first» (Jn 20:4).

Francis is the one who, out of the Love that inflamed him, was the first to run to the Crib; he was the first to see the signs and welcome them into his heart.

Without giving way to aleatory contemplation, the Poor Man of Assisi first, in Greccio, wanted to tangibly see the hardships, the hardships, the penury of the Lord from the very beginning of his human parable descending from Heaven.

The mysticism that informed him was the fruit of intimate union with Jesus, with the Child of Bethlehem.

The Sources remind us:

"Having by intimate prayer and frequent contemplation attained an extraordinary familiarity with God, he longed to know what of him and in him could be most pleasing to the eternal King" (FF 479).

Says Celano, his well-known biographer:

"He was not so much a praying man as he himself was transformed into living prayer" (FF 682).

Already... the same prayer, transferred into the spirit that had animated the living, palpitating representation of Greccio.

The Beauty that traverses the events narrated by the Sources gives us evidence of this:

"Above all solemnities, he celebrated the Christmas of the Child Jesus with ineffable solicitude and called the day on which God, made a little infant, had sucked at a human breast a feast of feasts [...].

This Name was as sweet to him as a honeycomb of honey in his mouth.

One day the friars were discussing together whether the obligation not to eat meat remained, since Christmas that year fell on a Friday.

Francis replied to Brother Morico:

"You sin, brother, in calling Friday the day on which the Child was born for us.

I want that on a day like this even the walls eat meat, and if this is not possible, at least be smeared with it'" (FF 787).

"He wanted the poor and beggars to be fed on this day by the rich, and oxen and donkeys to receive a larger ration of food and hay than usual.

"If I can speak to the emperor," he said, "I will beg him to issue a general edict, so that all those who are able, should scatter wheat and grain in the streets, so that on a day of such solemnity the birds and especially the larks may have plenty" (FF 788).

Love made Francis capable of going beyond the usual, and able to translate the novelty that crossed the boundaries of the already known.

Because Love arrives first, is in a hurry, brings with it sister solicitude and gives birth to the Unheard of.

«Now the two ran together, and the other disciple ran ahead sooner than Peter and came first to the tomb, and bending down he saw the linen cloths folded apart; yet he did not go in» (Jn 20:4-5)

Octave of Christmas, St. John ap. ev.  (Jn 20:2-8)