In the Gospel of this first Sunday of Advent, the underlying theme is that of being ready for the unpredictable Coming of the Lord, watching and waiting.

Francis of Assisi lived his entire life, beginning with his conversion, in a continuous act of vigilance for the arrival of the Beloved.

In the fraternity, he always sought to encourage his brothers in this direction.

In the Perugian Legend, we read:

"If the servant of God provides wisely for his body with good grace and as far as possible, and brother body shows himself to be lazy, negligent and sleepy in prayer, in vigils and in other good works of the spirit, then he must chastise him like a rebellious and indolent beast, which wants to eat, yes, but refuses to work and carry the load" (FF 1652).

His sons, who looked to the life that the Poverello led with great rigour, followed him.

"They afflicted their bodies not only with fasting, but with many vigils, suffering cold and nakedness and working with their hands.

Very often, in order not to remain idle, they went to help the poor people in the fields, sometimes receiving bread from them for the love of God. With these and other virtues, they sanctified themselves and the place of the Porziuncola. Other brothers who came later behaved in the same way for a long time, albeit with less austerity" (FF 1553).

At that time, the type of asceticism and spirituality practised was expressed in a rigorous way of life, but Francis always seasoned it with the salt of wisdom regarding his community.

Clare herself, a woman enclosed in the secret of God, lived in San Damiano "as a pilgrim and stranger in this world" (Reg. c. VIII,1), in a vigil abandoned to her Spouse, whom she awaited with diligent living.

Hers was an opening to a Presence that intoxicates the poor and humble heart with joy, in a prayer that is love 'in the secret of the Father'.

Chiara's life was lived in joyful penance and expectation, following the Gospel, in extreme poverty and Christian fraternity.

Like Francis, she became a trusted and prudent servant, placed at the head by the Lord to give food at the proper time (cf. Mt 24:45).

«Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming» (Mt 24:42)

First advent Sunday A  (Mt 24:37-44)

The Gospel of the day insists: «be on your guard» and «stay awake, praying».

The Poor Man of Assisi, like the women of St Damian's, lived their existential parable in constant vigil and prayer, careful not to fall into lukewarmness.

In the Franciscan Sources there are episodes that eloquently underline these Gospel coordinates.

In Francis' Letters we find exhortations to the friars never to neglect prayer, the breath of the soul:

"Let us raise our praise and prayers to Him day and night, saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, for we must pray always without ceasing" (FF 188).

But there is a striking episode involving the Poverello:

"The Saint once came with his companion to a church far from the town.

Wishing to pray alone, he told his companion [...] Left alone, he addressed long and very devout prayers to God, and at the end he looked around to see where he could lay his head down to sleep.

But immediately troubled in spirit, he began to feel oppressed by fear and tedium and to tremble all over. He clearly felt that the devil was directing his attacks against him [...] He immediately got up and went outside, made the sign of the cross, and exclaimed:

'By Almighty God, I command you, demons, to pour out upon my body all that is in your power.

I will gladly endure it, for I have no worse enemy than my own body: thus you will do justice to my adversary and inflict punishment on him in my stead."

Those who had gathered to terrify his soul, encountering a spirit more ready than ever, even if in weak flesh, immediately fled in confusion and shame" (FF 707).

And St. Clare, in San Damiano, together with the sisters whom the Lord had given her, lived always attentive and vigilant in prayer:

"She used to wake the young girls for Matins, gently rousing them with gestures, and inviting them to praise God.

Often, while they were still asleep, she would light the lamps; often she herself would ring the bell.

There was no place in her monastery for lukewarmness, no place for sloth where laziness was shaken by a pungent impulse to pray and serve the Lord" (FF 3200).

Therefore: «be awake, praying»  (Lk 21:36)

Saturday 34th week in Ordinary Time  (Lk 21:34-36)

Jesus invites all to discern the signs inherent in nature, to give criterion to the last ones. When the fig tree buds, the season of fruit is near.

Thus Francis, a true lover and imitator of Him, reads in his own life and that of his brothers the offshoots of the Kingdom of God that is approaching, before events that speak the language of the Creator Himself.

In the Sources we find passages that indicate the signs of the growth of every believer, like the tree that sprouts and produces fruit:

"We are spouses, when the faithful soul is united to our Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of the Holy Spirit.

We are his brothers, when we do the will of the Father who is in heaven.

We are mothers, when we bear him in our heart and body through divine love and pure and sincere conscience, we generate him through holy works, which must shine out to others as an example" (FF 168/2. Letter to the Faithful).

Well, «when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is at hand»!

Francis also reads in his illness and death the approaching Kingdom of God.

He raises his head and thus addresses his own:

"Then the Saint lifted up his hands to Heaven, glorifying his Christ, because he could go to Him without hindrance of any kind.

But to show that in everything he was a perfect imitator of Christ his God, he loved to the end his brothers and sons whom he had loved from the beginning [...].

Then, while all the brothers were around him, he stretched out his right hand over them and placed it on the head of each one, beginning with his vicar:

"Farewell," he said, "all you my sons, live in the fear of the Lord and keep yourselves in it always!

And since the hour of trial and tribulation draws near, blessed are those who persevere in what they have undertaken!

For I hasten to God and commend you all to his grace'.

And he also blessed all the brothers, wherever they were in the world, and those who would come after them until the end of the ages" (FF 806).

«When they have already sprouted, behold, by yourselves you know that summer is already near» (Lk 21:31)

Friday, 34th wk. in O.T.  (Lk 21,29-33)

Today's Gospel tells of the ultimate signs foretold by Christ.

Francis, who had experience of signs, lived his earthly pilgrimage uninterruptedly directed towards the manifestation of Christ and thus working for the good of his brothers and sisters.

Everything would crumble and in the end a single banner would continue to fly: the Cross of Christ, the ultimate sign and victory of the Risen One.

In the light of all this, Francis seemed to contrast the signs that would be manifested in the moon, the sun, the stars, the anxiety of peoples in anguish... with the one sign around which Christian existence revolves: the Cross through which the world has been redeemed.

In the Sources, then, we find passages that explain and support what has been said.

"And we give you thanks, because your Son himself will return in the glory of his majesty to consign the reprobate, who did not do penance and did not know you, to eternal fire, and to say to all those who knew you and adored you and served you in penance: Come blessed by my Father, enter into possession of the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world [...]" (FF 65).

And so Francis, the Minim "chose to live for all, rather than for himself alone, spurred on by the example of Him who deigned to die, He alone, for all men" (FF 1066).

And all this together with his brothers "concerned to refresh themselves more with the bread of tears than with the bread of abundance" (FF 1067).

Yes, there will be many signs in the universe at the full manifestation of Christ, but only one will stand undisturbed: his redemptive and transforming Holy Cross.

To his brothers, therefore, he taught:

"When you pray, say: Our Father, and: We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches that are in the whole world, and we bless you, because through your holy cross you have redeemed the world" (FF 1068).

«And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and on earth anguish of nations in bewilderment by the roaring of the sea and the waves» (Lk 21:25)

Thursday, 34th wk. in O.T.  (Lk 21,20-28)

Today's Gospel passage speaks of persecution and hatred towards the witnesses of Jesus.

The Poor Man of Assisi, having known Christ, well knew that following in His footsteps would also entail insults and persecution, starting with his family.

In fact, the people of Assisi and his father, a shrewd merchant, could not bear his radical change, and thought him mad.

But Francis, Herald of Christ, did not let himself be intimidated, guided by divine Wisdom, which suggests to those who welcome it every response appropriate to the moment.

The Franciscan Sources, a place of special evangelical training, narrate:

"One day, inflamed with enthusiasm, the Saint left the cave and set out towards Assisi, lively, quick-witted and joyful.

Armed with confidence in Christ and inflamed with heavenly love, he reproached himself for cowardice and vain trepidation, and boldly decided to expose himself to the hands and blows of his persecutors.

At the first sight of him, those who knew him as he was before, began to insult him, shouting that he was a madman and a fool, throwing mud and stones at him.

Seeing him so changed, exhausted by penances, they attributed his change to exhaustion and dementia.

But the Knight of Christ passed through that storm without paying any attention to it, not allowing himself to be struck and agitated by the insults, giving thanks to God instead.

News of what was happening spread through the squares and streets of the city, until it came to the ears of his father.

Hearing how they were mistreating him, he immediately went out to get him, intending not to free him but to end it.

Out of his mind, he pounced on him like a wolf on a sheep, and staring at him with grim eyes and a face contracted in fury, he seized him and dragged him home.

There he locked him up in a dark cubbyhole for several days, doing everything, with words and blows, to bring him back to worldly vanity" (FF 1417).

But "Francis did not let himself be moved neither by words, nor by chains, nor by beatings. He endured everything with patience, indeed becoming more agile and stronger in following his ideal" (FF 1418).

«Now before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you by delivering you to synagogues and prisons» (Lk 21:12).

«And you will be hated by all because of my name» (Lk 21:17).

Wednesday 34th wk in O.T.  (Lk 21,12-19)

In today's Gospel, while some were thinking of the beautiful stones of the temple, Jesus announces that nothing would remain of what they admired.

Francis and Clare of Assisi, with different paths, lived with the final horizon of life always before them.

By divine revelation and by unquestioned intuition they understood that the glitter of this world would be the first detractors of souls.

They knew that of all they saw, nothing would remain at the end of days.

And every day, from the first light of dawn, this thought guided them in the work of witnessing.

The Sources, a bottomless vein of the Gospel events experienced by these Giants of the Gospel, proclaim beginning with the Canticle of Brother Sun

"Be praised, my Lord, for sister our death of the body/ from which no man can escape/ woe to those who die in mortal sins;/ blessed are those who find in your most holy will,/ for the second death will do them no harm" (FF 263).

Nevertheless, Clare reminded her sisters of the ultimate goal of life:

"Blessed, however, are those to whom it is granted to walk this way and persevere in it to the end" (FF 2850).

Again in one of her letters to Agnes of Bohemia, she recalls:

"How many times do kings and queens of this world deceive themselves in this regard!

Even if they raise their pride up to heaven and almost touch the clouds with their heads, in the end they will be dissolved into nothingness, like rubbish' (FF 2894).

They always threw their hearts over the hurdle, trusting in God.

As Jesus announces in the Gospel: «These things you observe, there will come days when no stone will be left upon stone, which will not be destroyed» (Lk 21:6)

Tuesday 34th wk. in O.T.  (Lk 21:5-11)

In today's Gospel Jesus emphasises the extent of a poor widow's gift: "her whole life" (Lk 21:4b).

A man of thought like Fr Claudel said: "What is life for if not to be given?".

Francis of Assisi, who shared his birth on his mother's side [Mona Pica, a refined woman of France] had made the total gift of himself to God and his brothers and sisters the evangelical meaning of his life.

He had embedded it in a verb very dear to him: 'give back' - give back to God what he had lavishly bestowed upon him.

And the 'poor in spirit' understand this better than anyone else.

In the Sources we read:

"To those who wanted to enter the Order, the Saint taught to repudiate the world first, offering to God first the external goods, then to make the interior gift of oneself.

He did not admit to the Order except those who had divested themselves of all possessions, holding nothing absolutely, both for the word of the holy Gospel and so that personal peculence would not be a scandal' (FF 667).

And again:

"In poverty they found great joy: they did not covet riches, indeed they despised every ephemeral good, coveted by the lovers of this world.

Above all they were against money, trampling it underfoot like the dust of the road: Francis had taught them that money was worth no more than donkey dung.

They were happy in the Lord, always having nothing within themselves or among them that could in any way upset them.

The more they were separated from the world, the more they held fast to God. They advanced in the way of the cross and in the paths of righteousness" (FF 1454).

They had well understood what the Gospel means when it proclaims the Blessedness of those who give all of themselves for Christ and in Christ.

«Truly I tell you, this widow, so poor, has given more than all» (Lk 21:3)

Monday, 34th wk. in O.T.  (Lk 21:1-4)

The Gospel passage from Luke presents Christ's kingship on the cross, mocked and insulted, even by one of the two thieves crucified with him.

The other, however, humbly asks Jesus to remember him, and the Lord, in the exercise of his authentic kingship, assures him of Paradise.

Francis considered himself "the herald of the Great King".

When attacked by brigands who asked him who he was, he replied fearlessly: "I am the herald of the Great King; does that interest you?" (FF 346).

And when he had to sit at the sumptuous tables of great people, Francis repeated:

"The Lord is pleased with poverty, especially that which consists in becoming voluntary beggars for Christ.

And I do not want to exchange this royal dignity that the Lord has assumed for us, making himself poor to enrich us with his poverty and making the truly poor in spirit heirs and kings of the Kingdom of Heaven, for the fiefdom of false riches granted to you for a moment" (FF 1127).

And when he set up the first nativity scene in Greccio, Francis stood before the manger filled with pity:

"He preached to the people about the birth of the poor King, and in naming him, he called him, out of tenderness of love, the 'child of Bethlehem'" (FF 1186).

And Clare echoes him in the Legend, saying:

"If, in fact, the King of kings gives himself to those who love him ardently, what can there be that he will not grant, if it is fitting, to those who pray to him with devotion?" (FF 3208).

In the Praises of God Most High we read:

“You are Holy, Lord, the only God, who works wonders.

You are strong, You are great, You are Most High, You are almighty King, You, Holy Father, King of Heaven and earth […]” (FF 261).

«Now the soldiers also mocked him as they came up and offered him vinegar, saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!'» (Lk 23:36-37)

Christ the King (year C)  (Lk 23:35-43)