The man who often described himself as «simplex et idiota» had in fact understood well what it meant to live the Holy Gospel consistently and without going against his conscience.

Intense prayer and Grace, which never abandoned him, made him a faithful and wise listener, who built his inner home on the solid Rock of Christ.

The Sources, teachers of practical life, enlighten us in this regard:

"His highest aspiration, his dominant desire, his firmest will was to observe the Holy Gospel perfectly and always and to imitate faithfully, with all vigilance, with all commitment, with all the enthusiasm of his soul and heart, the doctrine and examples of our Lord Jesus Christ" (FF 466 - First Life - Celano).

Again:

"Two years before he gave up his spirit to God, after many and varied labours, divine Providence drew him aside and led him to a lofty mountain called Monte della Verna...

Here he began, as was his custom, to fast...

He rose to those heights not as an importunate scrutineer of majesty... but as a faithful and prudent servant, intent on seeking the will of God, to which he ardently desired to conform in everything" (FF 223 - Major Legend).

And he always recommended to his friars:

"Keep his precepts in the depths of your hearts and fulfil his counsels perfectly" (FF 216 - Letter to the whole Order).

Francis, in fact, a true lover and imitator of Christ, knew that «Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven» (Mt 7:21).

Thursday, 1st wk. in Advent  (Mt 7:21,24-27)

Jesus had told His disciples that, bound to Him like the branch to the vine, they would do greater things than those hitherto wrought by His Person.

Francis is one of those disciples through whom God was able to perform wonders.

Indeed, invested by the Spirit, we read in the Sources thus:

"A citizen of Fano named Buonuomo was a paralytic and leper. Taken by his parents to the church of Blessed Francis, he was cured of both diseases.

But a young man from San Severino, named Atto, who had his body all covered with leprosy, was also cured by the merits of the Saint, after having made a vow and visited his tomb" (FF 1312).

The crowd gathered around was healed.

Multiple healings took place through the work of his Servant.

But all this had a secret: Francis' unspeakable faith in the efficacy of the Word that transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. 

Francis rested on such certainties.

The Sources offer us splendid passages where all the beauty of the Poverello's heartfelt love for the Eucharist appears: Bread of Life to be distributed to men.

"Behold, every day he humbles himself, as when from the royal seat he descended into the womb of the Virgin; every day he himself comes to us in humble appearance; every day he descends from the bosom of the Father onto the altar in the hands of the priest. And as to the holy apostles he showed himself in the true flesh, so also now he shows himself to us in the consecrated bread" (FF 144 - Admonitions).

And again:

"We know that there can be no body if it is not first sanctified by the word.

For nothing do we bodily possess and see in this world of the Most High Himself except the body and blood, the names and words by which we were created and redeemed 'from death to life'" (FF 207 - Letter to all clerics).

Yes, Bread of Life that feeds to satiety those who believe in Him who gave Himself entirely to us.

«I have compassion on the crowd, for [it is] three days that they remain with me and have nothing to eat, and I will not dismiss them fasting lest they fail in life» (Mt 15:32)

Wednesday 1st wk. in Advent  (Mt 15:29-37)

«[...] He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to babes'» (Lk 10:21).

Jesus is the only one who can truly call the Lord of heaven and earth Father, but into this familiarity he introduces everyone.

Clare, seedling of the blessed Father Francis, with her special character of simplicity and littleness had achieved, by Grace, such a great familiarity with the Lord that she moved in total harmony with Him.

Consulting the Sources, in the Legend we read of the degree of intimate union of the Saint with the divine Bridegroom.

"How much strength and support she received in the furnace of ardent prayer, how sweet the divine goodness was to her in that fruition, is testified to by proven evidence.

For when she returned in the joy of holy prayer, she brought back from the fire of the Lord's altar burning words, such as inflamed the hearts of the sisters.

They noted with admiration that a certain sweetness radiated from her face and that her face seemed brighter than usual" (FF 3199).

In a letter to Ermentrude of Bruges* he recommends:

"Always be attentive and vigilant in prayer. Bring to its consummation the good you have begun, and fulfil the mystery you have embraced in holy poverty and sincere humility' (FF 2916).

Such was Clare, a simple and small creature, capable of rejoicing in every gift received, in every tiny reality that spoke to her of the Eternal.

"She welcomed with great joy the fragments of alms, the pieces of bread that the beggars brought back and, almost sad for the whole loaves, she was happy instead for those little pieces" (FF 3188).

A woman conformed to Christ in everything, she considered herself a nothing before God.

In her Testament she exhorted meekness and humility of heart, as a loving Mother:

"I still pray to her who will be in the government of the sisters, that she may endeavour to preside over the others more by virtue and holiness of life than by dignity, so that, animated by her example, the sisters may lend obedience to her, not so much because of the office she occupies, but out of love.

Let her also be provident and discreet towards her sisters, like a good mother towards her daughters [...].

Let her still be so affable and accessible to all that the sisters can confidently manifest their needs to her and have recourse to her at all times with confidence [...]" (FF 2848).

Meekness and humility: the stature of little ones, to whom the Mysteries of the Kingdom are revealed, finding consolation in loving with the sentiments of Christ.

*Ermentrude of Bruges: to her we owe the spread of the Order of the Poor Clares in Flanders.

Tuesday 1st wk. in Advent  (Lk 10,21-24)