Today's Gospel emphasises the authoritativeness of Jesus in responding to the arrogant pretension of the Pharisees who asked with what authority he did the works he performed, astounding them.

In Francis, this eloquent trait stems from his genuine holiness, rooted in humility and silencing all insubordination among the brothers and the common people.

The humility of the Minim in the Assisian community made one reflect and silence any hidden or overt pretensions.

In the Sources there are interesting passages in this regard:

"Since his conversion, Francis, with the help of the Lord, founded himself and his house, that is, the Order, as a wise architect, on solid rock, that is, on the highest humility and poverty of the Son of God, and called it the Order of Friars Minor. Above the highest humility. For this reason, in the early days, when the brothers began to multiply, he wanted them to live in lazarettos to serve lepers [...]" (FF 1658).

And again: "In order to preserve a greater humility, a few years after his conversion, in a Chapter celebrated at the Portiuncula, he resigned the office of prelate, saying in the presence of all the brothers present:

"From now on I am dead for you. But here is brother Pietro Cattanio, whom I and all of you will obey'" (FF 1661).

He once said to the Minister General:

"I want you to entrust the care of me to one of my companions. I will obey him as I obey you: for by the good example and virtue of obedience I want you to remain with me always, in life and in death".

And in the Rule of St Clare (1253):

"And just as at the beginning of her conversion, together with her sisters, she promised obedience to blessed Francis, so she promises to keep it inviolably to her successors" (Bull of Pope Innocent IV, 2752).

With what authority did Francis, in the footsteps of his Master, do these things!

"By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?" (Mt 21:23)

Monday 3rd wk. in Advent (Mt 21:23-27)

In listening to what the Baptist said to the crowds, it almost seems as if the Poor Man of Assisi ended up following him to the letter.

John exhorted: "He who has two tunics let him give to him who has none" (Lk 3:11).

Francis, renewed in heart by the baptism of fire he received, in his day played ahead - and still offers us a solid evangelical paradigm to refer to.

Like the Precursor, he placed Poverty at the top, of the heart and of things.

In the Sources we read: 'He went to visit, with religious devotion, the tomb of the Apostle Peter.

It was on this occasion that, seeing the great multitude of beggars before the doors of that church, 

moved by a gentle compassion and, at the same time, allured by a love of poverty, he gave his clothes to the neediest of them 

and covered himself with his rags, he spent the whole day among the poor, with unusual joy of spirit" (Sources 1037).

Chiara echoed him: 

"O blessed poverty! To those who love you and embrace you bring eternal riches.

O holy poverty! To those who possess and desire you, God promises the kingdom of heaven, and infallibly offers eternal glory and blessed life.

O pious poverty! Thee the Lord Jesus Christ [...] deigned to embrace in preference to all else" (FF 2864 - Letter First to Agnes of Prague)

"Loving him, you are chaste; touching him, you become more pure; welcoming him into you, you are a virgin; 

his power is stronger, his bounty higher, his appearance more beautiful, his love more gentle, and every grace finer.Already you are clasped by his embraces, whom your bosom has adorned with precious stones, and in your ears he has placed priceless pearls, 

and hath clothed you with springy and coruscating gems, and hath crowned you with a crown of gold expressed with the sign of holiness.

Therefore, dearest sister, or rather lady extraordinarily worthy of all veneration, because you are the bride and mother and sister of my Lord Jesus Christ, 

most splendidly adorned with the banner of inviolable virginity and of most holy poverty, be strengthened in the holy service, begun with ardent desire, of the poor Crucified One, who for us all bore the passion of the cross, snatching us from the power of the prince of darkness, in whom by the transgression of the first kinsman we were bound, and reconciling us with God the Father Almighty.

In listening to what the Baptist said to the crowds, it almost seems as if the Poor Man of Assisi defines himself to follow the Gospel to the letter.

John, a witness to the Light, to those who asked him who he was replied:

"I the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Straighten the way of the Lord" (John 1:23).

In a world seeking to have, to appear, to possess and to dominate, the Poor of Assisi testify to the honesty of living according to God, returning every perfect gift to Him!

"What then shall we do?" (Luke 3:10)

3rd Sunday in Advent (C)  (Lk 3:10-18)

The few lines of today's Gospel are dedicated to the new work of the unrecognised like Jesus, who prepare the ways of the Lord.

Undoubtedly Francis of Assisi, at that time, extendable to our days, brought a remarkable breath of evangelical novelty.

Jesus himself had asked him: Renew my Church which is in ruins!

With his simplicity and humility, united with Lady Poverty, he had revolutionised civil and religious life with the parameters of the Gospel, like Elijah redivivus.

We read in the Sources passages that emphasise this physiognomy and development:

"Like the morning star, appearing in the midst of the clouds, with the brightest rays of his life and doctrine he drew to the light those who lay in the shadow of death.

As a rainbow shining among the bright clouds, bearing within himself the sign of the covenant with the Lord, he proclaimed to men the Gospel of Peace and salvation.

An Angel of true Peace, he too, in imitation of the Precursor, was predestined by God to prepare the way in the desert of the highest poverty and to preach penance by example and word.

Precipitated at first by the gifts of heavenly Grace [...] he rose, then, by the merits of an ever victorious virtue; he was also filled with a prophetic spirit [...].

He was filled with the ardent love of the seraphim, until, having become similar to the angelic hierarchies, he was taken up to heaven by a chariot of fire.

It is thus rationally demonstrated that he was sent among us with the spirit and power of Elijah [...]" (FF 1021 - Major Legend).

"Certainly, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I say to you, Elijah has already come and they have not recognised him" (Mt 17:11-12).

Saturday 2nd wk. Advent (Mt 17:10-13)

Jesus likened the generation he was dealing with to capricious children who judge badly whatever one does.

Francis was a disciple and prophet of Christ who bore concrete witness to God's wise work in him.

The Sources, teachers of Franciscan life at the service of the Word, offer countless episodes that encapsulate a synthesis of the Gospel.

In fact, after the Poor Man changed his life, the Wisdom that comes from above flooded him:

"In the midst of the despondency, into which the doctrine of the Gospel had fallen, not in particular but in general, because of the customs of those who taught it, the Providence of God sent this man into the world, that, like the apostles, he might be a witness to the truth, before all men. And truly he showed clearly, by word and example, how foolish earthly wisdom was, and in short, under the guidance of Christ, he led men, through the foolishness of preaching, to true divine wisdom.

In the face of the decadence of a society that, poor in values, mistook authentic prophets and Christ himself for "gluttons" or "drunkards", Francis is the 'sign of the times' that disproves every bogus idea about Jesus and his following.

St Bonaventure says in his Major Legend:

"He appeared to the friars, transfigured on a chariot of fire and as he made himself present, in the figure of a cross to the capitulars of Arles [...].

This marvellous appearance of his physical person in various places indicated [...] how his spirit was in perfect communion with the Light of eternal Wisdom, that Wisdom which is nobler than all motion and penetrates everywhere by its purity, communicates itself to holy souls and forms the friends of God and the prophets [...].

In fact, the exalted Doctor is inclined to reveal his mysteries to the simple and little ones, as we saw first in David [...] then in Peter [...] and finally in Francis, the poor man of Christ" (FF 1202).

Francis, the merchant, by selling and giving everything for the Lord Jesus, buys the Pearl of the evangelical life, now free from existential whims fruit of immaturity.

"Yet Wisdom has been recognised as righteous by her works" (Mt 11:19).

Friday, 2nd wk. in Advent (Mt 11:16-19)

Jesus points out to the onlookers who John the Baptist is and how in the Kingdom of God the least is greater than he.

Indeed, Holy Scripture reveals how Wisdom from on high forms friends of God and prophets.

Since the Kingdom of heaven (the Community, the Church) suffers violence, Francis advised his brothers not to strike back blow after blow.

He advised the poverty of Christ, the poverty that possesses nothing and makes itself last in all circumstances.

"The brothers should not appropriate anything [...] and as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, they should go for alms with confidence [...] This is the sublimity of the highest poverty, that which has constituted you, my dearest brothers, heirs and kings of the kingdom of heaven [...] this be your share of the inheritance, that which leads to the land of the living" (FF 90 - Regola bollata 1223).

Being minimal and in the last place - never scapricciarsi e vol volere prevaricare - was in Francis the most evident component of the friar minor, the richness of being minimal for the Kingdom.

In fact, he recommended his sons to respect and consider even the thoughts of the least in the community, because, he said, the Lord often speaks and reveals himself to the little ones, to those who apparently have no voice.

And since he well remembered that in heaven the smallest is greater than John the Baptist, he highly valued minority: a golden figure for the Kingdom.

In the Sources: "In different parts of the world it happened to them to be covered with insults, as despicable and unknown persons; but the love of the Gospel had made them so patient, that they themselves went to seek out the places where they knew they would be persecuted and avoided those where their holiness was known and they would find, therefore, honours and sympathy. 

Scarcity itself was for them abundance and superabundance, while, according to the advice of the Wise Man, they took pleasure not in greatness but in the smallest things" (FF 1075).

"Verily I say unto you, there hath not arisen among the born of women one greater than John the Baptist, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Now from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent ones take it away" (Mt 11:11-12).

Thursday 2nd wk. in Advent (Mt 11:11-15)

Jesus calls His own to meekness and humility of heart as a place of refreshment from all toil, learning from Him.

Regarding the meekness of God, in the writings of the Poor Man of Assisi (Praises of God Most High) we find this wonderful expression

"You are humility [...] You are beauty. You are meekness' (FF 261).

Francis, Alter Christus, was indeed a meek man and everything that reminded him of the meekness of Jesus he looked upon and revered with great respect and scruple.

Thomas of Celano himself, one of his main biographers, describes Francis thus:

"How beautiful, stupendous and glorious he was in his innocence, in the simplicity of his words [...] Of mild character, of a calm disposition, affable in speech, cautious in admonition" (FF 464).

For his eye ailment, in front of the surgeon who red-hot iron to cauterize the diseased part, Francis thus addressed "friar focu":

"The Father, to comfort the body already shaken by terror, thus speaks to the fire:

"Brother Fire, of enviable beauty among all creatures, the Most High has created you vigorous, beautiful and useful. Be propitious to me in this hour, be gracious! For long have I loved thee in the Lord. I pray to the great Lord, who created you, to temper your heat now so that I can bear it, if you burn me with gentleness'.

Having finished his prayer, he draws a sign of the cross on the fire and then waits intrepidly. The saint offers himself ready and smiling to the iron.

The friars present, horrified and trembling, departed. Back they were, after the operation, Francis addressed them:

"Pusillanimous and of little courage, why have you fled? Verily I say unto you, I felt neither the ardour of fire nor any pain of the flesh".

And addressed to the physician:

"If the flesh is not well cauterized, it will burn again".

To the amazement of the latter who, turning to the brothers, said: "I tell you, brothers, that today I have seen wondrous things" (FF 752).

And Clare, in her Testament, recommends to the sisters, first and foremost to those who preside over the community, the attitude and style of the Gospel:

"Let her still be so affable and within the reach of all, that the sisters may confidently manifest their needs to her and have recourse to her at every hour with confidence, as they think best, for themselves or for the benefit of the sisters" (FF 2848).

These two Giants of the Gospel were nourished by humility and meekness, finding in them their defence.

"Learn from me, who am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your lives" (Mt 11:29).

Wednesday 2nd wk. in Advent (Mt 11:28-30)

Who knows how many times Francis, the Herald of the Great King, in reading the episode of the lost sheep, will have dwelt on that "What do you think?" (Mt 18:12). As if to say: "Would you do it?". 

Francis must certainly have asked himself this disarming question, to which his entire eloquent existence was answered "Yes, without any doubt".

For just one sheep of his flock he would certainly have left the others safe in search of the lost one.

"Let us look closely, brothers all, at the good Shepherd who, in order to save his sheep, endured the passion of the cross" (FF 155 - Admonitions).

He, who used to call Brother Leo 'God's sheep', would have faced any adversity to find it, and for this he sought martyrdom even at the Sultan of Egypt to win it for Christ.

Rich in tenderness and mercy is an episode that highlights Francis' shepherd heart. 

We find in the Sources:

"Once crossing the March of Ancona, after preaching in the same city, and heading towards Osimo, in the company of Brother Paul, whom he had elected minister to all the brothers of that province, he met a shepherd in the countryside, who was grazing his flock of rams and goats.

In the midst of the flock was a single sheep, quietly and humbly grazing on the grass.

As soon as he saw it, Francis stopped, and as if he had had a grip on his heart, full of compassion he said to his brother:

"Do you see that lonely and meek sheep among the goats? Our Lord Jesus Christ, surrounded and hunted down by the Pharisees and Synodites, must have looked just like that humble creature.

Therefore I beseech thee, my son, for love of Him, be thou also full of compassion, let us buy her and take her away from these goats and goatherds" (FF 456).

"What is it to you? Would you do it?" (Mt 18:12).

Tuesday 2nd wk. in Advent (Mt 18:12-14)

Jesus wants the total healing of man and an authentic faith: a companion on the way.

By divine revelation, Francis, as a good connoisseur of the Word, emphasises all this in the events narrated by the Sources, bringing out the Redeemer's work of salvation.

In the meantime, it is worth recalling what his biographer Celano expresses in the Vita prima and which, in relation to the Gospel passage considered, provides a significant framework for understanding the fact itself.

Celano speaks of the Seraphim's wings in connection with the Poverello.

We read:

"If [...] after the example of blessed Francis we preserve purity of intention and rectitude of action in every good work, so as to turn [our wings] to God, committing ourselves untiringly to follow His will in all things [...] The second pair of wings symbolises the twofold precept of charity towards our neighbour: to comfort the soul with the Word of God and to help the body with material means.

They hardly ever join together, because very rarely can a single person attend to the two tasks [communal help, then].

Their feathers represent the different works to perform the function of counselling and helping one's neighbour.

The two wings must cover the body whenever it, denuded because of sin, is again clothed with innocence through repentance and confession.

Their feathers represent all the good affections and desires aroused in the soul by the execration of faults and the desire for justice" (FF 520).

This condition was realised in the blessed Father Francis, who never detached himself from his labours and sufferings, living crucified.

He too, at first paralysed in soul and healed in sins forgiven by Christ, testified by his life of faith and penance that God heals the body but even more so the shrunken interiority of man, and that in the advice and succour given to his neighbour lies the concreteness of working faith.

To the Poor Man of Assisi, to whom Christ had said 'Francis get up, take up your bed and walk. Your sins are forgiven you', through the Mercy that bears witness to the divinity of the Son, Francis himself became an instrument of healing for many.

"In the territory of Narni there lived a young boy with such a deformed tibia that he could not move except by leaning on two crutches. He was poor and lived on alms, since he had been ill for many years and did not even know his father and mother. Through the merits of our most blessed father Francis he regained full health, and walked freely, without a stick, praising and blessing God and his faithful Servant" (FF 545).

"Seeing their faith, he said: Man, your sins are forgiven you. Get up and return to your home" (Lk 5:20.24).

Monday, 2nd wk. in Advent (Lk 5:17-26)