For the Poor Man of Assisi, loving God with all his heart and mind and strength, as well as his neighbour, was something that made him wince all over.

The Sources, a sublime concatenation of astonishing events, give us evidence of this.

We read, in fact:

"Once when he was travelling through a region preaching, it happened that two French friars approached him, drawing deep consolation from him.

At the moment of parting, they asked him, driven by devotion, for his cassock for the love of God. And Francis, as soon as he had heard God's love invoked, took off his habit, and remained naked for a few hours.

For it was his custom, when it was said to him: 'For the love of God, give me the cassock or the rope' or whatever he wore, to give it immediately out of reverence for that Lord who is called Charity.

But it displeased him so much, and he used to reproach the brothers when he heard them mention the love of God for every trifle.

He said: "So sublime is the love of God, that only rarely and in cases of great necessity must it be named, and always with great veneration" (FF 1603).

"The indomitable fire of love for the good Jesus erupted in him with flames and flames of charity so strong that the many waters could not extinguish them" (FF 1224).

But her first seedling, Clare, was also entirely dedicated to the love of Christ, as we can see from her writings.

In her Blessing we read:

"Always be lovers of God and of the souls of yourselves and of all your sisters, and always be solicitous to observe what you have promised the Lord" (FF 2857).

In a Letter to Ermentrude of Bruges, a spiritual sister, she says:

"Remain, therefore, O dearest one, faithful until death to Him to whom you are bound for ever. And surely you will be crowned by Him with the crown of life' (FF 2914).

And to Agnes of Prague: "Contemplate again His unspeakable delights, riches and eternal honours, and cry out with all the ardour of your desire and love: Draw me to you, O heavenly Bridegroom! We will run after you, attracted by the sweetness of your perfume" (FF 2906).

Yes, loving God and our brothers is worth more than many holocausts!

Francis always had at heart the salvation of souls and what Jesus had done to give eternal life to all.

In the Sources we find what he says to his brothers:

"The Only-Begotten of God, Infinite Wisdom, for the salvation of souls came down from the bosom of the Father, renewed the world by his example, speaking to men the Word of salvation, and gave his blood as a price to redeem them, a washing to purify them, a drink to fortify them, absolutely nothing reserving for himself, but everything generously dispensing for our salvation" (FF 1204).

And Francis was used by the Lord to bring the dead back to life several times:

"In the village of Monte Marano, near Benevento, a woman particularly devoted to St Francis had died.

In the evening the clerics came for the funeral [...] when suddenly, in the sight of everyone, the woman got up on her bed and called one of the priests present [...] and said to him:

'Father, I want to confess: listen to my sin. When I died, I was to be thrown into a horrible prison because I had not confessed the sin I am about to tell you. But St Francis prayed for me, whom during my life I always served with devotion, and so I was granted to return now to the body, to confess that sin and merit eternal life. After I have confessed it I will hasten to the promised peace'.

Trembling, he confessed to the priest [...] and, having received absolution, he lay down in peace on his bed and fell asleep happily in the Lord' (FF 1263).

In the Fioretti, then, it is told of a friar, Giovanni della Verna, who celebrating Mass on the Day of the Dead saw many liberated souls ascend to heaven:

"In that Mass, divinely raising the body of Christ and offering it to God the Father and begging him that for love of his blessed Son Jesus Christ, who was hanging on the cross to buy back souls, it would please him to free [...] the souls of the dead created and bought back by him; immediately he saw almost infinite souls [...] ascending into heaven through the merits of Christ's passion, which is offered every day for the living and the dead in that most sacred host" (FF 1892).

"Now this is the will of Him who sent me: that whatever He has given me, I should not lose of it, but raise it up at the last day" (Jn 6:39).

Comm. of all the Faithful Departed (Jn 6:37-40)

In the Beatitudes Jesus proclaims God's love for every man, especially for the poor, the object of his predilection.

Francis looked upon the Beatitudes as the portrait of Christ who lived them to the full and followed them as a lover of Him.

He had great veneration not only for the Virgin Mary, but also for all the saints.

In fact, among his writings there is an antiphon recited every hour:

"Holy Virgin Mary, there is none like thee, born in the world, among women, daughter and handmaid of the Most High and Supreme King the heavenly Father, mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ, spouse of the Holy Spirit; pray for us with Saint Michael the Archangel and with all the powers of heaven and with all the saints, to thy most holy beloved Son, Lord and Master. Glory be to the Father. As it was." (FF 281).

The Sources underline that "the saints and their memory were for him like burning coals of fire, which revived in him the deifying fire" (FF 1167).

In the Admonitions of Francis:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

There are many who persistently apply themselves to prayers and occupations, do many abstinences and corporal mortifications, but for a single word that seems an insult to their person, or for something that is taken away from them, scandalised, they quickly become irritated.

These are not poor in spirit, for he who is truly poor in spirit hates himself and loves those who strike them in the cheek" (FF 163).

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

"True peacemakers are those who in all the hardships they endure in this world, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, keep peace in soul and body" (FF 164).

And in the same Canticle of Brother Sun, when he was now very ill, he added the famous verse of forgiveness

"Be praised, my Lord/ for those who forgive for love of you/ and endure infirmity and tribulation./

Blessed are those who are in peace,/ for by you, Most High, they shall be crowned" (FF 1593).

Nevertheless, Clare of Assisi, in her wonderful Blessing to the sisters, turns her gaze to the whole assembly of saints in heaven and on earth:

"I pray to our Lord Jesus Christ through his mercy and through the Intercession of his most holy Mother Mary, of the blessed Archangel Michael and all the holy Angels of God, [of our blessed Father Francis] and of all the saints and holy women of God, that the same heavenly Father may bestow upon you and confirm this most holy blessing in heaven and on earth: on earth, multiplying you, by his Grace and virtues, among his servants in his Church militant; in heaven, exalting and glorifying you in his Church triumphant among his saints and holy ones" (FF 2855).

Clear beauty of a communion lived in the round with the saints who still walk on earth and with those who wave their palms before the throne of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.

"Blessed are the poor [because of Love], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3).

All Saints (Mt 5:1-12a)

In this Gospel passage from Luke, in which the end of Jesus and the fulfilment of His work is foretold, we witness Him weeping over Jerusalem, the proverbial city that stoned and killed the prophets.

Looking in the Sources we report a particular episode of the Poor Man.

One night Francis had a dream that almost recalled Jesus' lament over Jerusalem.

Christ had wept over the holy city, which was responsible for the killing of prophets (and for stoning those sent to it) whose price would be a house left deserted.

Unity betrayed and vilified would have generated squalor and abandonment.

The saint therefore "saw a small and black hen, similar to a domestic dove, with legs and feet covered in feathers.

She had many chicks, which, no matter how much they circled around her, could not all gather under her wings.

When she awoke, the man of God resumed his thoughts and personally explained the vision.

"The hen," he commented, "is me, small in stature and dark in complexion, and I must unite to the innocence of life a simplicity of a dove: a virtue, which the rarer it is in the world, the more swiftly it rises to heaven.

The chicks are the friars, grown in numbers and grace, whom the strength of Francis is unable to protect from the disturbance of men and the attacks of malignant tongues'" (FF 610).

This is why the Minim placed the Order under the protection of the Church, since for him following Christ meant walking in the footsteps of the Bride of the Lord.

The Poverello had special solicitude for his brothers, striving to keep them in the bond of unity, for which Christ became the sacrificial Lamb, sacrificed for the salvation of all the people.

Indeed, in the Letter to the Faithful, he expresses himself thus:

"The will of his Father was this, that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave us and was born for us, should offer himself, through his own blood, as a sacrifice and victim on the altar of the cross, not for himself, since through him all things were created, but in atonement for our sins, leaving us the example so that we might follow in his footsteps" (FF 184).

In love with Christ in everything, even in the infirmities that afflicted him Francis wanted to follow the Lord's poverty and example.

"So vivid was his love for the salvation of souls, and his thirst to win them to God, that, no longer having the strength to walk, he went about the country riding a donkey.

Often the brethren, with gentle insistence, invited him to restore his infirm and too weak body a little, with medical care, but he, who had his spirit continually turned to heaven, declined the invitation each time, since he only wished to be untied from his body to be with Christ" (FF 490).

Thus he used his "brother donkey", borrowed for the journey to La Verna and his return through Borgo San Sepolcro, united in the meekness they shared.

Thursday 30th wk. in O.T. (Lk 13,31-35)

Jesus invites us to strive to enter through the narrow door, knowing that works speak for themselves and that the last will be first.

These themes are assiduously present in the Franciscan Sources.

After his conversion, the Son of Peter Bernardone places great emphasis on the "strive to enter through the narrow gate" recommended by Jesus.

Indeed, in what we call the "Writings of Francis" [mostly dictated to some friar who became his secretary] his firm adherence to the Gospel emerges clearly.

In the Regola non bollata (1221) we read among the exhortations addressed to his brothers:

"And let them strive to enter through the narrow gate, for the Lord says: Narrow is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life; and there are few who find it" (FF 37).

And well aware of the evangelical requirement of humility and minority, this is how he responded to his own regarding who should be considered a true friar minor:

"Take a dead body," he said, "and put it wherever you like. And you will see that if you move it, it will not object: if you drop it, it will not protest.

If you put it on a chair, it will not look up, but down.

If you put a purple robe on him, he will look doubly pale.

This is the true obedient one: he who does not judge why they move him; he does not care where he is assigned; he does not insist on being transferred; elected to an office, he maintains his usual humility; the more he is honoured, the more he considers himself unworthy' (FF 1107).

And Clare was no less!

In the Testament left to the sisters:

"But because narrow is the way and the path, and narrow is the gate by which one sets out and enters into life, few are those who tread it and enter it; and if there are those who walk in it for a little while, very few persevere in it.

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

And in the Legend:

"From then on, she no longer refused any servile duties, to the point that, for the most part, it was she who poured water on her sisters' hands, stood to assist them while they sat and served them at table while they ate" (FF 3180).

Already, those who in life have been considered last or made least for the sake of the Gospel will be first in the Kingdom of God!

"And behold, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last" (Lk 13:30).

Wednesday, 30th wk. in O.T. (Lk 13:22-30)

The two parables illustrated in the passage from Luke highlight the characteristics of the Kingdom of God: hiddenness and littleness, capable of making the Good News leaven.

Francis understood that Jesus in the Gospel calls us to become men and women capable of making the Word reign in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Concealment is the main theme of today's Gospel, and the two Poor Men of Assisi had understood that the greatness of God is to contain in the small and insignificant the irrepressible that is God himself.

In the Sources there are descriptions that highlight all this.

For example, in the Papal Bull of canonisation of St Clare we read:

'Indeed, this light kept itself enclosed in the hiddenness of cloistered life, and outside it radiated luminous gleams [...].

It kept itself within: and spread out.

Clare, indeed, hid herself: but her life was known to all.

Clare kept silent: but her fame cried out.

She kept herself hidden in her cell: yet in the cities they preached about her" (FF 3284).

"This was the tall tree, reaching towards the heavens, with its branches spread out [...] and in whose pleasant and pleasant shade many followers flocked from all sides, and still flock to enjoy its fruit" (FF 3294).

Francis himself shunned the company of men when he could, finding refuge in hermitages, knowing full well that in solitude and burial the seed sown produces copious shoots.

The Sources inform us:

"While Francis, shunning as was his habit from the sight and company of men was in a hermitage, a falcon who had his nest there made a solemn pact of friendship with him" (FF 754).

In reality, the Kingdom of Heaven lurks where the apparent smallness shines, giving flavour to everything.

"To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman having taken hid in three bushels of flour, until all was leavened" (Lk 13:20-21).

Tuesday, 30th wk. in O.T. (Lk 13:18-21)

Today's Gospel presents us with Jesus praying all night long before calling his disciples to himself.

The relationship with the Father anticipates every important choice in the life of Christ.

Francis, following Jesus' example, spent entire nights praying in solitary places and before making important decisions.

In the Second Life of his biographer Celano we read:

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

Wishing to pray all alone, he warned his companion:

"Brother, I would like to stay here alone tonight. You go to the hospital* and return to me in good time in the morning".

Left all alone, he addressed long and devout prayers to God [...]" (FF 707).

This intense relationship with God meant that in a short time, stimulated by his testimony, many disciples came to him ready to live the Gospel in the same way.

"During this time four other worthy and virtuous men joined them and became disciples of Francis.

Thus the interest in the movement and the fame of the man of God grew more and more among the people.

And truly at that time Francis and his companions felt an immense joy and inexplicable joy when any of the faithful, whoever they were and whatever their condition, rich, poor, noble, common, despicable, honoured [...] guided by the Spirit of God came to take the habit of their holy religion [...]" (FF 371).

His holiness was so evident that everyone was happy to be able to touch his poor cassock and receive benefits from it.

In fact, all those who were sick or possessed were healed when approached by the Poor Man.

For example, "in Città di Castello a woman was possessed by an evil and furious spirit: as soon as the Saint had commanded her to do so out of obedience, the demon fled, full of indignation, leaving the poor obsessed woman free in soul and body" (FF 1219).

The humble disciple of Jesus had become, by Grace, "Alter Christus".

"He went out to the mountain to pray and spent the night in prayer to God" (Lk 6:12).

- FF 707= the friar who accompanied him was Brother Pacifico.

- The Church at which they stopped to pray was San Pietro in Bovara, near the Fonti del Clitunno.

- The hospital to which Francis directed his companion was a leper colony a few kilometres from the church.

Saints Simon and Judas (Lk 6:12-19)

Francis of Assisi was always very sensitive to the theme of faith giving light to inner blindness.

He himself suffered greatly from his eye disease, and it is not for nothing that the Canticle of the Creatures is a masterpiece of that time of suffering.

"Often, rising from prayer, his eyes seemed to be full of blood, so reddened were they by dint of weeping" (FF 1413).

He always had such a predilection for those who were blind and yearned to see again.

There are episodes from the Sources that recount this reality.

"A woman [...] inhabitant of Narni, stricken with blindness, regained the gift of sight through the sign of the cross that Blessed Francis traced over her eyes (FF 438).

Moreover, "the son of a nobleman, born blind, received, through the merits of St. Francis, the much-desired sight and, in memory of the event, received the name Illuminato.

Grateful for the benefit received, at the proper age he entered the Order of St. Francis and made great progress in the light of Grace and virtue, showing that he was a son of true light" (FF 1304).

The Poor Assisian, in the footsteps of Christ, healed many who believed or nurtured greater faith in God because they were healed in heart.

In the Sources we read:

"In the convent of the Friars Minor in Naples there was a friar, named Robert, who had been blind for many years.

At a certain point a fleshy growth formed over his eyes, which prevented him from moving and lifting his eyelids.

One day many foreign friars gathered in that convent, heading to different parts of the world.

Well, our blessed father Francis, a mirror of holy obedience, as if to incite them to the journey with the novelty of a miracle, wished to heal that friar, in their presence, in the following way.

This friar Robert was deathly ill, so much so that by this time his soul had been commended to him; when behold, the blessed Father appeared to him, in company with three friars, models of all holiness: saint Anthony, friar Augustine, and friar James of Assisi, who now, after death, accompanied him thoughtfully, just as they had followed him perfectly during life.

Taking a knife, St. Francis cut away his superfluous flesh, restoring his sight and snatching him from the jaws of death; then he said to him:

"O son Robert, the grace I have given you is a sign for the brothers who set out for distant peoples: it is a sign that I will precede and guide them on their journey. Let them depart with joy and fulfill with a ready mind the obedience they have received!" (FF 1299).

The Canticle written by St. Francis [Canticle of Brother Sun] is a hymn to life and light at the time when he had lost his sight and was healed in his heart.

Francis, after his conversion, came to see again and became a light for all, a beacon in the night of time.

Christ restored sight through him.

"And Jesus said to him: Go, your faith has saved you" (Mark 10:52).

30th Sunday in O.T.  B  (Mk 10:46-52)