«Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?» (Jn 20:15).

Mary of Magdala wept for her Lord near the tomb. Lost and grieving, she grieved not knowing where he was, until Jesus made himself present.

Clare too, in the enclosure of San Damiano, wept while praying for her Christ, uniting herself to his Passion, while awaiting the Resurrection.

In the Legend we read:

"She had now fixed in the Light the burning gaze of inner desire and, having transcended the sphere of human vicissitudes, she opened wide the field of her spirit to the rain of Grace.

[...] Very often, prostrate in prayer with her face to the ground, she bathed the ground with tears and brushed it with kisses: so that she seemed always to have her Jesus in her arms, whose feet she bathed with tears, on whom she pressed kisses" (FF 3197).

Clare inwardly sought the Lord, even for those who did not desire Him.

She was careful not to hold back Christ who was ascending to the Father, living the announcement of the Resurrection with a face of light, testifying to the present vision of Him to the brothers and sisters who approached her.

He lived the perennial earthly Exodus in view of the Promised Land, which he already savoured in small doses.

Francis, for his part, jester of the Resurrection, mourned the Passion of Love, corroborated by existential rebirth.

Again, in St Bonaventure's Major Legend:

"To those who saw him, he seemed a man from another world: one who, his mind and face always turned to heaven, strove to draw all upwards" (FF 1072).

Just as Mary of Magdala made the transition from outside (near the tomb) to inside her own soul - to recognise the Risen Jesus.

So Francis, after living on the outside, among cheerful Assisian brigades, had encountered the "Rabbuni" within his heart.  Recognising and deciphering the Master of his life, in prayer before the Crucifix of San Damiano.

There finding God, he found himself again; in the midst of weeping and perfect joy.

Jesus also asked him the question: «Why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?» (Jn 20:15).

The Damianite Crucifix became the place of his resurrection, where the tears of a missed life, spent in solace, gave way to the Calling by name, in view of a personal and communitarian regeneration.

At Saint Damian, when a divine Voice came to him from the Crucifix inviting him to change his life, the Poor Man uttered this prayer

"Rapture, I pray thee, O Lord,

the burning and sweet power of your love

my mind from all things that are under heaven,

that I might die for love of thy love,

As thou hast deigned to die

for love of my love" (FF 277).

Octave of Easter Tuesday  (Jn 20:11-18)

«Having left the tomb early with fear and great joy, the women ran to make the announcement to his disciples» (Mt 28:8).

The Angel Monday liturgy portrays the joy of the women who are entrusted with the annunciation to their brothers to go to Galilee: there they would see him!

Francis and Clare of Assisi lived Easter every day, and every morning was a favourable opportunity to witness that the Cross had blossomed into the almond tree of the Resurrection.

Every moment was the right time to praise the Crucified and Risen Lord, and to invite all creatures to praise him, for the Two Poor Men belonged to the world of the small and simple.

Francis wasted no opportunity to announce the Good News.

He, Jesus' beloved disciple, and Clare, 'the other Mary', had been at the tomb. They had found the rolled stone and by their existence narrated the regeneration they had experienced.

The joy of Easter was inscribed in their hearts and the Sources help us to understand it well.

"As Francis went about towns and castles, he began to preach everywhere with greater commitment and confidence, not resorting to persuasive reasoning based on human wisdom, but relying on the doctrine and virtue of the Holy Spirit, confidently proclaiming the kingdom of God.

He was an evangeliser of the truth, made strong by apostolic authority. He did not resort to flattery, he scorned fine talk.

What he proposed to others in his exhortations was first and foremost his own personal conviction; thus he was able to proclaim the truth sincerely" (FF 1463).

Indeed, the only Truth to be proclaimed was and is Christ risen from the dead, the Hope of Glory!

He always urged his brothers to celebrate Easter, faithful to the poverty of Christ:

"Even on major feasts, when there was an opportunity, he used to go for alms. Because, he said, in the poor of God the word of the prophet is fulfilled: man has eaten the bread of Angels.

The bread of the Angels is that which holy poverty gathers from door to door and which, asked for the love of God, for the love of God is bestowed, at the suggestion of the holy Angels" (FF 1129).

Contemplating the Beauty of God, which recalls the Easter Light of the Resurrection, in the Praises of God Most High, Francis expressed himself thus:

«You are holy, Lord, only God, who works wonderful things.

Thou art strong, Thou art great, Thou art most high,

Thou art King Almighty, Thou holy Father, King of heaven and earth.

You are triune and one, Lord God of gods.

You are the good, every good, the supreme good, the living and true Lord God [...]» (FF 261).

With humility and trust in the Lord, the dawn of the Resurrection inhabited every gesture of the Alter Christus and Clare, in every daily event.

Monday of the Easter Octave  (Mt 28:8-15)

«Now on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb in the morning, when it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb» (Jn 20:1).

The fourth Gospel tells of the empty tomb found by Mary Magdalene who runs to the disciples to testify what she has seen. Peter and John run to see the Truth: Jesus is not in a place of death.

Francis and Clare were the disciples of the Resurrection, for their standard of living here below was that of humble and regenerated children of the Risen One.

Even after their death, the bystanders saw lights and miracles, bearing witness to the Gospel.

Regarding the departure of Clare, the Legend expresses it thus:

"On the day following the feast of the blessed Lawrence, that most holy soul departed from mortal life, to be rewarded with eternal laurel; and, the temple of the flesh having been disposed of, her spirit passed blessedly into heaven.

Blessed is this exodus from the valley of misery, which was for her entrance into the blessed life!

Now, in exchange for penury of food, they rejoice at the banquet of the citizens of heaven; now in exchange for humble ashes, blessed in the kingdom of heaven, they are made resplendent by the stole of eternal glory" (FF 3254).

Again the Sources:

"Therefore Clare, while she was alive, shone by the light of her merits: and now, that she is sunk in endless clarity, no less does she still shine, by the marvellous light of miracles, to the ends of the earth" (FF 3262).

Indeed, as the Papal Bull attests:

"After his death [...] there was brought to his sepulchre a sick man with a fallen sickness, who could not walk by himself because of the contraction of one leg: and, there before him, his leg resounded thunderously, and he was healed of both his infirmities" (FF 3309).

She ran to the tomb... and encountered life!

Clare, having entered into glory, sowed with Christ resurrection.

And Francis' own departure spread that joy that only the Lord can give.

"The friars and sons, who had flocked to the transit of the father, together with all the people, dedicated that night, in which the most high confessor of Christ had died, to the divine praises: those did not seem to be the funeral rites of the dead, but vigils of angels.

When morning came, the crowds, with tree branches and a great number of torches, among hymns and canticles escorted the sacred body into the city of Assisi.

They also passed by the church of San Damiano, where then dwelt with her virgins that noble Clare, who is now glorious in heaven.

There they paused a little while [...] Finally, with great rejoicing, they arrived in the city and buried the precious treasure with all reverence in the church of St George, because it was there that he had learned the letters as a child and there that he had preached for the first time. There, therefore, he rightly found, in the end, the first place of his rest" (FF 1250).

And again:

"The venerable father passed from this world's wreckage in the year 1226 of the Lord's incarnation, on the 4th of October, the evening of a Saturday, and was buried on the following Sunday.

The blessed man, as soon as he was taken up to enjoy the light of God's countenance, began to shine by great and numerous miracles" (FF 1251).

Now that he reigned with the crucified and risen Christ, to whom he had been perfectly conformed, he left traces of Light on earth, in His footsteps.

The tomb was empty! Divine energy and Life prevailed. Alleluja!

Easter «Resurrection of the Lord»  (Jn 20:1-9)

Holy Saturday, a day of silent waiting, was for Francis and Clare an occasion of special unity with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who lived all the mysteries of redemption with Him.

Like Francis, Clare participated "in symbiosis" with Christ in his Passion.

In contemplation she was given to experience the Paschal Mystery of the Bridegroom, knowing the depth of His martyrdom.

Motionless and beside herself since Holy Thursday, she arrived at Holy Saturday with an unspeakable 'Christ-like unity'.

We read in the Sources valuable passages in this regard:

"Then coming the night after Friday, the devout daughter lit a candle and with a nod, not words, reminded her Mother of the command of St Francis.

In fact, the Saint had ordered her not to let a single day pass without food.

And as she stood before her, Clare, as if returning from another place, uttered these words:

"What need is there of the candle? Is it not day?".

"Mother," she replies, "the day has passed and another night has returned.

And to her Clare said:

"Blessed be this sleep, dearest daughter; for, after having so longed for it, it has been given to me as a gift.

But beware of telling anyone about this sleep as long as I live in this body'" (FF 3217).

At the moment of her farewell, as 'Altera-Maria' she lived with her heart always at the foot of the cross and in faith, amidst the tears of her desolate daughters.

And turning to her soul she said:

"Go, safe," he says to her, "for you have a good escort on the journey. Go, for He who created you, has sanctified you, and always looking upon you as a mother his son, has loved you with tender love".

"And you, Lord," she added, "be blessed, who created me".

Asked by one of the sisters to whom she was speaking, she replied:

"I speak to my blessed soul "*.

And now that glorious escort was not far off.

Turning in fact to a daughter, he asks her:

"Do you see the King of glory, whom I see, O daughter?

Clare was now close to passing from this world to the Father, when one of her daughters, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rested, saw, with the eyes of the body, this beatifying vision:

"Pierced indeed by the dart of deep sorrow, she turns her gaze towards the door of the house: and behold, a host of virgins in white robes enters, and all have garlands of gold on their heads.

One more resplendent than the others advances among them, from whose crown, which appears at the top like a pierced thurible, radiates such splendour that the darkness of the night within the walls of the house is turned into daylight.

She approaches the little bed where the Bride of the Son lies and, bending over her with tender love, gives her a most sweet embrace.

The virgins spread out a pallium of marvellous beauty and, all serving in competition, clothed Clare's body and adorned her thalamus" (FF 3253).

The Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, She who had lived with the poor woman on Holy Saturday, had come to take her to her glorious, crucified and risen Son.

A dawning full of expectation, and pregnant - in the power of the Spirit.

«Do not be afraid, you; for I know that you seek Jesus, the crucified. He is not here [...]» (Mt 28:5-6a).

«Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?» (Mk 16:3).

«The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again» (Lk 24:7).

* It is the night between the Friday and Saturday before Clare's death, that is, the night between 8 and 9 August 1253.

Holy Saturday - Easter Vigil (Mt 28,1-10); (Mk 16,1-7); (Lk 24,1-12).

The Passion of the Lord narrated by the evangelist John, brings to our attention the arrest and betrayal of the Son of God, his being brought before the high priests Annas and Caiaphas.

The latter uttered that crude expression:

«It is fitting that one man should die for the people» (Jn 18:14).

He is then led to Pilate's praetorium where he is handed over to the chief priests and guards to be crucified.

Drama of Love of our God for the man He loves!

Francis spent Good Friday uniting himself to the Lord's Passion, identifying with it.

Fasting, consistent with what Jesus says in the Gospel [when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast] was certainly observed on that day by all the brothers and sisters of San Damiano.

In the Regola non bollata (1221), Francis expresses himself thus:

"The holy Lent, on the other hand, which begins on the Epiphany and lasts uninterruptedly for forty days, that which the Lord consecrated with his holy fast, those who voluntarily fast it may be blessed by the Lord, and those who do not want to may not be obliged. But the other, until the Lord's Resurrection, let them fast.

At other times they should not be obliged to fast, except on Fridays" (FF 84).

So too Clare and her sisters were faithful to the fast, especially the Mother:

"As long as he was in health, in fact, he fasted on bread and water during the Great Lent and the Lent of Saint Martin the bishop, enjoying only on Sundays a little wine, if he had any [...]" (FF 3194).

The sisters, concerned for her health, deplored with tears those daily deaths to which she subjected herself, until Francis ordered her not to let a day pass without eating at least an ounce and a half of bread.

The union with the Passion of Christ was lived first of all interiorly, but the body also mourned for the Spouse betrayed, vilified and killed for the salvation of many.

Francis mourned the Lord's Passion, filling the woods with tears and groans, while Clare, in the monastery, took part in Christ's martyrdom with her whole self in continuous prayer.

In the Vita seconda of Celano, regarding the last moments of the Poverello's life, the following is reported:

"He spent the few days remaining to him in a hymn of praise, inviting his beloved companions* to praise Christ with him. He then, as he was able, burst into this psalm:

"With my voice I cried out to the Lord, with my voice I asked the Lord for help".

She also invited all creatures to the praise of God, and with certain verses, which she had once composed, she exhorted them to divine love. Even death, terrible and hateful to all, exhorted praise, and going to her joyfully, invited her to be his guest:

'Welcome, my sister death!' " (FF 809).

And again:

"She then turned to the doctor*: 'Take courage, Brother Doctor, tell me that death is imminent: for me it will be the door of life!'

And to the brothers:

"When you see me reduced to the extreme, lay me down naked on the earth, as you saw me the day before yesterday, and after I am dead, let me lie like this for as long as it takes me to comfortably walk a mile".

Finally his hour came, and all the mysteries of Christ having been fulfilled in him, he happily flew away to God" (FF 810).

Clare, in love with her Lord and a little plant of the Seraphic Father, also spent Holy Thursday and the whole of Friday among the wounds of Christ:

"All that night and for the whole of the following day she remained as if absorbed, so out of herself that, with her eyes absent, always fixed on a single vision, she seemed to be nailed to Christ and completely insensible.

Return to her several times a familiar daughter, to see if by chance she desires anything, and always find her motionless in the same position' (FF 3217).

Love for Christ crucified was for Clare and Francis the source of every reason for living, of every gesture made in the sign of the cross, which blossomed on Easter morning.

* Brother Angelo and Brother Leo.

* The doctor: Bongiovanni, a native of Arezzo according to various sources, or perhaps of Assisi, son of Marangone Cristiano.

Good Friday «Passion of the Lord» (Jn 18:1-19:42)

«Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end» (Jn 13:1).

The washing of the feet done by Jesus to his own was a school of life for Francis. He understood the profound meaning of that gesture to the full, reproducing it on his journey.

The Poor Man of Assisi all his life washed the feet of his brothers and the neighbour he met, always ready to serve and help anyone in need.

Francis not only loved the Eucharist, but he himself lived in a Eucharistic manner, making his body and blood bread for his brothers and sisters and caring for them.

Scanning the Sources we realise how much emphasis and Eucharistic solicitude covered his days.

How ardour and evangelical penetration ran through his bare existence as a friar, who always returned to God and his brothers what he had freely received.

Francis' last days also clearly set out his gaze towards the Lord's Supper.

We read in the Sources:

"While the brothers were shedding bitter tears and lamenting in despair, he had bread brought, blessed it, broke it and gave each one a piece to eat.

He also wanted the book of the Gospels and asked that the Gospel according to John be read to him, from the passage that begins:

«Before the feast of Easter», etc.

He recalled at that moment the Most Holy Supper, which the Lord had celebrated with his disciples for the last time, and he did all this precisely in venerable memory of that supper and to show how much tenderness of love he bore the brothers" (FF 808).

Clare too had great devotion to the Holy Supper of the Lord, living the paschal mystery in unity with her Bridegroom.

"The day of the Most Holy Supper had once come, in which the Lord loved his own to the end.

Towards evening, as the agony of Christ approached, Clare shut herself, sad and afflicted, in the secret of her cell. And accompanying the Lord in prayer, her sad soul to the point of death became imbued with the anguished sadness of Him, and her memory, little by little, became fully filled with the capture and all the mockery: so that she fell back on the bed" (FF 3217).

And the Sources record his intense love for the Eucharist saying:

"When she was about to receive the Body of the Lord, she first shed hot tears and, approaching then with trembling, feared Him who is hidden in the Sacrament no less than the Sovereign of heaven and earth" (FF 3210).

Francis and Clare made the Eucharist the place of learning in the art of living.

Holy Thursday «Lord's Supper»  (Jn 13:1-15)

«What you want to give me and I will give it to you» (Mt 26:15). So Judas.

Money [thirty silver coins was the price for a slave] counted more than betraying Christ!

Francis gave to the poor what he had; for the rest he felt abhorred, knowing what it often produces.

He wrote several Rules, and experimented with them before laying down the final one.

In one of them he expresses his rejection of money thus:

"Let us be careful, we who have left everything, not to lose the kingdom of heaven for so little. And if we happen to find money, let us pay no more attention to it than to the dust" (FF 1439).

In fact, he transmitted his passion for poverty to the brothers, reminding them that money lends itself well to betrayal.

Once Francis was travelling with one of his companions in Apulia. 'Near Bari, on the road, they found a large bag.

His companion, seeing it swollen and seemingly full of money, invited him to collect it and distribute it to the poor.

But the Poverello refused, seeing in it a deception of the devil: to give alms to others' money, after having stolen it secretly.

Since the friar occasionally returned to the subject, harassing the man of God, the saint agreed to return to the place, but not to do what the friar claimed, but to reveal the devilish deception.

The Sources tell us:

"He returned, in the company of the friar and a young man, whom he met on the road, near the holster [bag] and commanded them to pick it up from the ground.

The friar began, in astonishment, to tremble, because the diabolic prodigy was already present.

Nevertheless he cast out hesitation, making himself strong with the command of holy obedience, and stretched out his hand towards the purse.

And lo and behold: a large snake jumps out, which immediately disappears along with the bag.

'Thus was the deceit of the devil revealed and the fraudulent cunning of the enemy discovered.

'Money,' the Saint then said to his companion, 'for the servants of God, is nothing else, O brother, but a demon and a poisonous serpent' " (FF 1124).

Francis often exhorted his friars not to betray Our Lady Poverty by handing her over for a few coins.

Holy Wednesday  (Mt 26:14-25)

Jesus' agitation over the imminent betrayal-delivery of Judas had caused questioning, pain and sadness in the disciple He loved and in all His intimates.

Francis (like John) was indeed 'the one Jesus loved', as he lived with his head reclining on the heart of Christ, feeling all the pulsations and twitches of his being handed over to his tormentors.

The morsel dipped and given to Judas Iscariot had caused Francis to place himself before the Cross, contemplating it.

Looking at it, he loved to call himself "a new madman", referring to St Paul, to the madness of the Cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:18-25).

The Poverello's madness consisted in wanting to live according to the Gospel, as Christ had outlined it.

According to some accounts he used to repeat: 'Love is not loved'. This was the cry that resounded in his heart and on his lips.

"Once he went alone near the church of Santa Maria della

Portiuncula, weeping and lamenting in a loud voice.

A pious man, hearing this, assumed that he was suffering from some illness or sorrow and, moved by compassion, asked him why he was weeping so.

Francis said:

"I weep for the passion of my Lord. For love of him I should not be ashamed to go moaning aloud for all the world".

Then the devout man also joined in Francis' lamentations.

Often, on rising from prayer, his eyes seemed to be full of blood, so reddened were they from weeping.

And he did not confine himself to tears, but, in memory of the sufferings of Christ, abstained from eating and drinking" (FF 1413).

In the soul of Francis, that morsel dipped and given to Judas was enough to abstain from all food, such was the pain and bitterness in Christ, delivered from human gain.

Clare of Assisi, who also understood the Passion of Jesus, continually meditated on the mysteries of the Cross.

"The Crucified beloved returns the lover, and she who is so inflamed with love for the mystery of the Cross, is by virtue of the Cross made luminous by signs and miracles.

For when he traced the sign of the life-giving Cross on the sick, he prodigiously removed sickness from them" (FF 3218).

«Having dipped the morsel therefore, he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot» (Jn 13:26)

Holy Tuesday  (Jn 13:21-33.36-38)