On this Ash Wednesday, the liturgy brings to our reflection three cornerstones of the Lenten season that is beginning.

The focus is on discreet charity, on prayer in hiddenness, on fasting from sin combined with bodily fasting, attested by a joyful countenance.

The Poor Man of Assisi, after his initial conversion, never ceased meditating on Jesus' forty days in the desert, before his public life, and constantly thought of the Passover of the Lamb sacrificed for our redemption.

Francis lived his entire existence according to a penitential style, never allowing form to dominate over substance; implementing the Word in a wise human and spiritual balance, synonymous with inner stature.

He was hard on himself, but tender and compassionate with the brothers who exceeded in debilitating fasts.

In the Sources we read:

"Francis reproached his brothers who were too hard on themselves, and who reached exhaustion by dint of vigils, fasts, prayers and corporal penances.

Some in fact, in order to repress the ardour of their senses, inflicted torments on themselves so cruel that they seemed to be driven by suicide.

The man of God forbade such excesses, admonishing those brothers lovingly and calling them to common sense, healing their wounds with the medicine of wise instructions" (FF 1470).

He continually brought Christ's Passion to mind and called for mortification.

"If he was at table with people of the world and they offered him food to his taste, he would barely taste it, making some excuse so that they would not notice that he was depriving himself of it out of penance.

And eating with the brothers, he often put ashes on the food, saying, to disguise his abstinence: 'Sister ashes is chaste!

But also, out of love for the brothers, he knew how to make himself one with their needs and weaknesses.

"Although, then, with all his strength he encouraged the brothers to an austere life, he did not like that intransigent severity that does not cover the heart of piety and is not seasoned with the salt of discretion.

One friar, due to excessive fasting, could not sleep at all one night, tormented as he was by hunger. Realising the pitiful shepherd that his sheep was in danger, he called the friar over, put some bread in front of him and, to prevent him from blushing, he began to eat first, while gently inviting the other to eat" (FF 1095).

So the brother banished his shame and contentedly took food.

Francis' vigilance and condescension had prevented the friar's body from being harmed, giving him cause for great edification.

In the morning, explaining the incident to his sons, he said to them:

"To you brothers, let not food but charity be an example" (FF 1095).

The Minim was animated by a strong contemplative sense.

Celano, in the Second Life, informs us:

"He was not so much a praying man as he himself was transformed into living prayer" (FF 681).

He was always looking for secluded spaces where he could be united with Christ.

"And if he suddenly felt visited by the Lord, so as not to be without a cell, he made himself a small one with his cloak.

And if at times he was without it, he would cover his face with his sleeve, so as not to reveal the hidden manna" (FF 681).

«When you pray, enter into your chamber, and shut your door [Is 26:20; 2 Kings 4:33] pray to your Father, who [is] in secret» (Mt 6:6)

That conversion, which began for the Poverello when he stopped worshipping himself (as the Sources say), lasted for the whole of his life, fading in the three directions described and suggested by the Gospel.

"But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who looks in secret will [render] it to you" (Mt 6:3-4)

Ash Wednesday (Mt 6:1-6.16-18)

The Minim of Assisi, in order to follow Jesus and live his Gospel, renounced everything (literally) after his conversion to be free to follow in his Lord's footsteps.

He understood that earthly goods are a stumbling block to the evangelical freedom of 'becoming one' with the Master.

Hence we read in the Sources:

"On the advice of the bishop of the town, a very pious man, who did not think it right to use ill-gotten money for sacred purposes, the man of God returned to his father the sum, which he wanted to spend on the restoration of the church. And in front of many who had gathered and were listening:

"From now on," he exclaimed, "I will be able to say freely: Our Father, who art in heaven, not Father Peter of Bernardone. Behold, I will not only return him the money, but I will also return him all my garments. Thus, I will go naked to meet the Lord'.

O noble soul of a man, to whom Christ alone suffices!" (FF 597).

When the first companions began to arrive, who wanted to live like him, Francis "taught, having learned it by revelation, that the first step in holy religion consists in fulfilling that word of the Gospel: if you want to be perfect, go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor.

So he admitted to the Order only those who had renounced property and kept absolutely nothing for themselves.

So he did, in homage to the word of the Gospel, but also to avoid the scandal of private purses' (FF 1121).

«Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, who does not receive a hundredfold now, in this time, in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, together with persecutions, and in the age to come, the life of the LORD» (Mk 10:29-30)

In the light of the Gospel, at the time:

"Several men of culture and famous men of letters, both of the laity and the clergy, renouncing the allurements of pleasures, sin and worldly greed, entered the Order in their turn, committing themselves to follow, each according to the particular grace received from God, the poverty and the example of Christ and His servant Francis" (FF 1487- legend of the three companions).

In the section of the Sources: "Chronicles and other testimonies" we find out about the brothers:

"They then strove so diligently to renew in themselves the religion, poverty and humility of the early Church, drawing with thirst and ardour of spirit from the pure waters that flow from the spring of the Gospel [...] renouncing all possessions, denying themselves and, taking up their cross, naked they follow the naked Christ.

Like Joseph, they lay down their cloak*; like the Samaritan woman, their amphora, and they run free and light, before the Face of the Lord, never looking back. 'Forgetting past things, they always lean forward [...]' (FF 2218).

Holy love is content with the fruit of prayer and it is its characteristic to disregard earthly gifts, thinking only of serving the Word in the brothers, with freedom of spirit.

*Jacobus of Vitry captured, in particular, the apostolic commitment of the Friars Minor.

Tuesday 8th wk. in O.T.  (Mk 10:28-31)

Francis of Assisi was in love with Our Lady Poverty; he married her and esteemed her because she was chosen by the Son of God, who had nowhere to lay his head.

He was so evangelically attracted to her that he took pity when he met creatures poorer than himself.

The Sources recount:

"It happened to him, during a journey, to meet a poor man. Seeing her nakedness, he was saddened in his heart and said to his companion in a voice of lamentation 

"The misery of this man has brought us great shame; for we, as our only wealth, have chosen poverty: and behold, it shines more brightly in him than in us" (FF 1126).

And he advised Bernard, a citizen of Assisi, who later became his companion in the following of Christ, to leave his possessions, considered a false feud.

But to be sure, 'when morning came, they entered a church and, having prayed devoutly, opened the book of the Gospel, willing to carry out the first advice offered them.

They opened the book, and Christ manifested his advice in these words: 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell all you possess and give to the poor. They repeated the gesture, and the passage came up: "Take nothing for the journey". A third time again, and they read: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself".

Without delay Bernard carried out everything and did not omit a single iota. Many others, in a short time, freed themselves from the mordacious cares of the world and, under the guidance of Francis, returned to the infinite good in the true homeland.

But it would take too long to say how each one achieved the prize of the divine call" (FF 601).

Clare herself had requested and obtained from Pope Gregory IX the Privilege of Poverty (17 September 1228) in written form.

This document assured the Poor Sisters of St. Damien the right to live without any property in this world, following in the footsteps of the One who, for our sake, became poor and the Way, the Truth and the Life.

In the same Rule, concerning those who wanted to enter the monastery to follow Christ, Clare says:

"And if she is fit, let the word of the holy Gospel be spoken to her: let her go and sell all her possessions and endeavour to distribute them to the poor. If this cannot be done, good will suffices' (FF 2757).

And in her first letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague, her spiritual daughter, she wrote:

"O blessed poverty! To those who love you and embrace you procure 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).

«One thing you lack: go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me» (Mk 10:21)

Monday 8th wk. in O.T.  (Mk 10:17-27)

Francis of Assisi was a bitter enemy of judgement.

The phrase from the Gospel that underlines this evil was indelibly written in his memory.

«Why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye but the beam in your own eye do you not see?» (Lk 6:41).

He was careful not to forget that every tree is recognised by its fruit.

The legend of the three companions in the Sources relates:

"He insisted that the brothers judge no one, and look not with contempt on those who live in luxury and dress with exaggerated refinement and pomp, for God is our Lord and theirs, and he has the power to call them to himself and to make them righteous [...].

This is our vocation: to heal the wounds, to bind up the broken, to call the lost.

Many, who seem to us members of the devil, may one day become disciples of Christ" (FF 1469).

In the Legenda Perugina we find an enlightening episode concerning the tree that is characterised by the fruit it produces.

A young friar came to Francis yearning for the Psalter.

The friar warned him of the vanity of having the breviary afterwards, mounting up like a prelate and asking his brother to bring him the breviary.

A few months later, the friar returned to the Poverello to speak to him again about the psalter.

Francis said to him:

"Go and do as your minister tells you" (FF1628).

At those words the young man began to return the way he had come.

But the saint began to reflect on what he had said and "suddenly he cried out after him:

"Wait for me, brother, wait for me!".

He went up to him and said:

"Come back with me, brother, and show me the place where I told you to do, concerning the psalter, what the minister will tell you".

When they arrived at that place, Francis bowed down before the friar and getting down on his knees said:

"My fault, brother, my fault! Whoever wants to be a 'minor' must have only the cassock, the rope and the breeches, as the Rule says, and in addition footwear, for those who are constrained by obvious necessity or illness".

To all the brothers who came to consult him on the subject, he gave the same answer. And he would say:

"As much a man knows, as much he does; and as much a religious is a good preacher, as much he himself acts".

As if to say: the good tree is known by the fruit it produces" (FF 1628).

Clare of Assisi was also, in the Spoleto valley, a tree of good fruit, as the same papal bull Clara Claris Praeclara emphasises, extolling its qualitative stature.

"This was the tall tree, reaching towards the heavens, with expanded branches, which in the field of the Church produced sweet fruits of religion, and in whose pleasant and pleasant shade many followers flocked from all sides, and still flock to enjoy its fruits" (FF 3294).

«For every tree is known by its own fruit» (Lk 6:44)

8th Sunday in O.T.(C)  (Lk 6,39-45)

Francis called himself 'simplex et idiot'. The transparency and simplicity of the little ones was for him the key to the Kingdom of heaven.

As Jesus says in the Gospel, he was convinced that only those who become children in their mentality can understand the dynamics of the Kingdom, which calls for the acceptance of the pure in heart, of those who live the Word without prejudice of any kind and with trust in God.

In the Franciscan Sources, the dimension of littleness and simplicity is transversal and prominent as many passages attest.

"The Saint personally practised with special care and loved in others holy simplicity, daughter of Grace, true sister of wisdom, mother of justice.

Not that he approved of every kind of simplicity, but the one that, content with its God, despises everything else.

And that which puts its glory in the fear of the Lord, and which knows neither how to say nor do evil.

The simplicity that examines itself and condemns no one in its judgement, that does not desire any office for itself, but considers it due and attributes it to the best [...].

It is the simplicity that in all divine laws leaves the tortuousness of words, ornaments and tinsel, as well as ostentations and curiosities to those who wish to lose themselves, and who seek not the rind but the marrow, not the shell but the kernel, not many things but the much, the supreme and stable Good" (FF 775).

This simplicity, sister of true Wisdom, is the characteristic of the little ones, of the least, of children who welcome the Kingdom of God that knocks at the door of their hearts.

The littleness of Francis, the frame of his evangelical life, is moving.

"He had no blush to ask the small things of those smaller than himself; he, a true minor, who had learned from the Supreme Master the great things.

He used to seek with singular zeal the way and the manner of serving God more perfectly, as it pleases Him best.

This was his supreme philosophy, this was his supreme desire as long as he lived: to ask the wise and the simple, the perfect and the imperfect, the young and the old, what was the way in which he could most virtuously reach the summit of perfection" (FF 1205 - Major Legend).

Francis loved with a child's heart and so he taught his brothers and the poor Dames of San Damiano, virtuous sisters on the journey of faith, among whom Clare stood out for her humility and transparency.

This young woman bore witness to light; she was a morning star in becoming a child in the service of God, in the footsteps of Christ, following the example of the blessed Father Francis, a true lover and imitator of Him.

Saturday 7th wk. in O.T.  (Mk 10:13-16)

In today's Gospel passage, to the Pharisees who tried to catch him at fault, regarding the repudiation of his own woman, Jesus responds by pointing out the hardness of their hearts.

It was because of this that Moses had to draw up the act of repudiation; but in creation, in the beginning, perfect communion was experienced, in true harmony.

Francis, having made a choice of total dedication to God - and following his example, so did Clare - saw marriage as the place where the Gospel sanctifies, bearing witness to beautiful unity, embodying his own original calling.

In the Sources we find an emblematic episode:

"A devout noblewoman went to the Saint to tell him of her sorrow and ask for a remedy: she had a very bad husband, who made her suffer by hindering her in the service of Christ" (FF 1193).

The woman asked Francis to pray for him, that God would touch his heart.

The saint listened to her and then answered: "Go in peace and be assured that in a short time you will have from your man the consolation you desire.

And he added: 'You will tell him from God and from me that now is the time for mercy; then, for justice'" (FF 1193).

The woman went home and reported those words to her husband. The Holy Spirit descended upon him and made him a new, meek man.

He said: "Madam, let us serve the Lord and save our souls" (FF 1193).

They led a holy and industrious life, returning to God on the same day.

This couple lived according to the divine will, making the project of the origins their own, in its specific calling.

They preferred to dwell in love, as the Lord had intended, in that «But from the beginning of creation...» (Mk 10:6).

Two creatures dwelling in a qualified and qualifying project, a work of art of the Eternal, to which Francis, with his prophetic spirit, paid attention in order to renew and give vigour to withered limbs, imprinting piety in hardened hearts.

«Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote this rule for you» (Mk 10:5).

Friday, 7th wk. in O.T.  (Mk 10,1-12)

"And whoever scandalises one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea" (Mk 9:42).

Thus Jesus pronounces in today's Gospel: woe to those who cause scandals.

Francis and Clare feared them greatly, even though they were people who had salt in themselves.

There are several passages that accurately inform us in specifics.

In the Major Legend:

"[...] those who violated the holy Religion by wicked works incurred its condemnation and its dreadful curse:

"From you, O Lord most holy, and from all the heavenly curia, and from me also, your little one, be cursed those who, by their bad example, disrupt and destroy all that, through the holy brothers of this Order, you have built and do not cease to build".

Often, thinking of the scandal given to the little ones, he felt an immense sadness, to the point of believing that he would have died of grief, if the divine goodness had not sustained him with its comfort" (FF1139).

And in the Second Life of Celano:

"The goodest brothers," he said, "are confounded by the works of the evil brothers, and even though they personally have not sinned, they are judged by the example of the wicked.

For this very reason they pierce me like a sharp sword and run it through my bowels all day long."

It was for this reason above all that he shrank from the company of the brothers, lest he should happen to hear something unpleasant about one or the other that would renew his sorrow" (FF 741).

Clare, then, in the Rule, addressed to the sisters, says:

"Let them not dare to bring back to the monastery the gossip of the world. And of what is said or done inside, they are bound not to report anything outside the monastery that might cause scandal [...]" (FF 2805).

And again:

"I admonish then, and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the sisters beware of all pride, vainglory, envy, avarice, care and solicitude of this world, of detraction and murmuring, of discord and division" (FF 2809).

And she added:

"On the contrary, let them always be solicitous to preserve reciprocally the unity of mutual charity, which is the bond of perfection" (FF 2810).

«Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another» (Mk 9:50).

Thursday 7th wk. in O.T. (Mk 9,41-50)

Jesus advises his disciples not to consider anyone an enemy, even more so when acting in his Name.

Francis always thought and acted in the name of the Lord. Everything was done starting from Him.

The Sources are shot through with acting 'in the name of the Lord'.

We read:

"When he had chosen the group he intended to take with him, Francis said to those brothers:

"In the name of the Lord, go two by two through the streets, with dignity [...]" (FF 1636).

But he also performed healings in the name of the Lord Jesus wherever he was.

The Sources attest:

"The man of God Francis had accustomed himself to seek not his own interest, but above all what he saw necessary for the salvation of his neighbour" (FF 444).

In fact, passing through the diocese of Narni, at Sangemini he was hosted, with three brothers, by a man of great virtue, whose wife was possessed by a demon.

This pious person turned devoutly to the Saint, begging him to heal her.

Francis consented since it was a matter of the glory of God and the good of many.

Calling his brothers he said to them:

"Let us pray to the Lord, brothers, for this woman, that she may be freed from the yoke of the devil, to the praise of God. Let us be one on each side, lest the evil one deceive us and escape us" (FF 441).

After praying, with the virtue of the Holy Spirit, he approached the ossessa, who was in convulsions and screaming.

The saint said: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, by obedience I command you, O demon, to leave this creature and dare not torment it any more!"

He had scarcely uttered those words, that the devil departed very quickly with great uproar and fury, so much so that the holy father, by the sudden recovery of the woman and the prompt obedience of the enemy, thought he had deluded himself, and hastened away from him with blushes, this working of Divine Providence, to prevent him from falling into pride" (FF 441).

The friend of God cast out demons in the Name of the Lord Jesus!

Francis and his brothers worked in unity with God, with an exemplary life and entrusted to the Spirit of the Lord and his holy operation.

Wednesday, 7th wk. in O.T. (Mk 9:38-40)

Today's Gospel recounts Jesus' second proclamation of his death and resurrection, combined with the ability to know how to welcome the advancing Kingdom through the little ones.

He advises that the more one wants to be 'first', the more one must be a servant.

Small in stature, but truly endowed with that littleness that makes children in the heart, in his life Francis was minor in interiority

and knew how to recognise the bearers of the Gospel.

He was always concerned to welcome those who in their simplicity came to him in the name of Jesus.

The authority of the Sources informs us:

"Often thinking of the scandal given to the little ones, he felt an immense sadness, to the point of believing that he would have died of grief, if the divine goodness had not sustained him with its comfort" (FF 1139).

Francis himself described himself as "I, small and simple, inexperienced in speaking, have received the grace of prayer more than that of preaching [...]".

Again: "Nothing else did he possess, the Poor Man of Christ, but two pennies that he could bestow with liberal charity: his body and soul" (FF 1167).

And to his brothers he taught and recommended littleness in every happy or sad affair:

"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).

The same simplicity of children with which he loved to receive the Word of God, he transferred it between the lines of life.

This episode helps us to understand the childlike heart he had received from God.

"At St. Mary of the Portiuncula they brought the man of God a sheep as a gift, which he accepted with gratitude, because he loved the innocence and simplicity that, by its nature, the sheep shows.

The man of God admonished the sheep to praise God and not to annoy the brothers at all. The sheep, in turn, as if feeling the pity of the man of God, put his teachings into practice with great care.

When she heard the friars singing in the choir, she would also enter the church and, without the need of a teacher, she would bend her knees, uttering tender bleats before the altar of the Virgin, Mother of the Lamb, as if impatient to greet her" (FF 1148).

By becoming a child at heart, Francis welcomed in simplicity the Kingdom that was coming to him, attesting in his concrete life the infancy of the Spirit that informed him.

«Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but him who sent me» (Mk 9:37)

Tuesday, 7th wk. in O.T.  (Mk 9,30-37)