For Francis and Clare of Assisi, humility of heart, interior and exterior poverty was the keystone of all the other beatitudes, the identikit of Jesus and of every disciple who wants to walk in his footsteps.

Enchanting is a passage from the 'Sacrum Commercium' (an allegorical operetta by an unknown author) contained in the Sources and which we quote here, regarding poverty.

"Thus, enamoured of thy beauty, the Son of the Most High Father to thee alone united himself closely in the world and knew thee by most faithful proof in all things.

Even before He came to earth from the splendour of His homeland, Thou didst prepare for Him a worthy habitation, a throne on which to sit, and a throne in which to rest, namely, the most poor Virgin, from whom He was born to shine upon this world.

To him as soon as he was born with solicitude you ran to meet him, so that he might find in you, and not in softness, a place that would be pleasing to him.

He was laid, says the evangelist, in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.

In the same way, never parting from him, you always accompanied him, so that throughout his life, when he appeared on earth and lived among men, while the foxes had their dens and the birds of the air their nests, he had nowhere to lay his head.

And later when he, who had once opened the mouth of the prophets, opened his mouth to teach, he first wanted to praise you, he first exalted you with the words: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (FF 1977).

Francis then, in his Admonitions, among other things exalts the pure heart, precisely the poor, when he says:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Truly pure in heart are those who disdain earthly things and seek heavenly things, and never cease to adore and see the Lord God, living and true, with a pure heart and soul" (FF 165).

Clare echoes him in her Testament:

"If we live according to the aforementioned form of life, we will leave others a noble example and, through a very short effort, we will earn the prize of eternal beatitude" (FF 2830).

«Blessed are the poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God»

6th Sunday in O.T. year C (Lk 6,17.20-26)

In the second distribution of the loaves and fishes, Mk highlights Jesus' compassion for the exhausted and hungry crowd, who follow him, to whom he gives food.

The Poor Man of Assisi had received as a gift a tender heart, with compassionate innards for every creature.

A wonderful passage from the Sources tells us:

"True piety, which, as the Apostle says, is useful for everything, had filled Francis' heart, penetrating it so intimately that it seemed to totally dominate the personality of that man of God.

Piety elevated him to God by means of devotion, transformed him into Christ by means of compassion, made him turn towards his neighbour by means of condescension and, reconciling him to all creatures, brought him back to the state of primitive innocence.

By it he felt great attraction towards creatures, but in a special way towards souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus; and, when he saw them polluted by the ugliness of sin, he pitied them with such tender compassion, that every day he bore them, like a mother, in Christ" (FF 1134).

It was the same compassion that flooded him and made him tremble before the Bread of the Word and the Eucharist.

We read:

"We know that there can be no body if it is not first sanctified by the word.

For we possess and see bodily nothing in this world of the Most High Himself except the body and blood, the names and words by which we were created and redeemed 'from death to life'" (FF 207).

And in the paraphrase of the Our Father:

"Our daily bread, your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, give us this day: in remembrance, understanding and reverence of the love he had for us and of all that for us he said, did and suffered" (FF 271).

Wondrous Tenderness!

«I have compassion on the crowd, for [it is] already three days that they remain with me and have nothing to eat, and if I dismiss them fasting at their house, they will fail in the way; and some of them have come from afar» (Mk 8:2-3)

Saturday 5th wk. in O.T. (Mk 8,1-10)

«And he sent two by two before him into every city and place where he was about to go» (Lk 10:1).

This passage from the Gospel of Luke was well impressed in the memory of Francis of Assisi and, preparing his brothers for the mission, he expressed it thus:

"In the name of the Lord, go two by two through the streets, with dignity, keeping silence from morning until after the third hour, praying in your hearts to the Lord.

No frivolous and vacuous talk among yourselves, for although you are on the way, your behaviour must be as collected as if you were in a hermitage or in a cell.

Wherever we are or move, we take our cell with us: brother body; the soul is the hermit who dwells in it to pray to God and meditate.

And if the soul does not live serenely and solitarily in its cell, very little use is served to the religious by a cell erected by the hand of man" (FF 1636).

Thus prepared, the brothers went out to announce the Good News.

In the Sources we read again:

"He insisted that the brothers should not judge anyone, nor look down on those who live in luxury [...] for God is our Lord and theirs, and he has the power to call them to himself and to make them righteous [...].

And he added: 'Such must be the behaviour of the brothers in the midst of the people, that whoever hears and sees them, may be led to glorify and praise the heavenly Father'.

It was his fervent wish that both he and the brothers should abound in good works, by which the Lord is praised. And he said:

"The peace you proclaim with your mouth, have it even more abundantly in your hearts.

Do not provoke anyone to anger or scandal, but let all be drawn to peace, goodness, concord by your meekness.

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

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

The Poor Man of Assisi, before communicating the Word of God to the people, wished for peace, saying:

"May the Lord give you Peace" (FF 359).

This he always announced with great devotion to those who came to him.

And it often happened that, with God's grace, the enemies of Peace and of their own salvation became children of Peace.

Preaching and healing the sick he met, he would say:

«The kingdom of God is at hand» (Lk 10:9).

Many were thus urged to repent and follow Christ and disciple Him.

St Cyril and Methodius, 14 February (Lk 10:1-9)

In the passage from Mark, the sincere and indomitable faith of a Syro-Phoenician woman is narrated, who asks and obtains from Jesus - precisely by Faith - the deliverance of her little daughter.

The Holy Spirit has a way of bestowing charisms on the small and simple; thus He gave Francis the healing power from many evils and the power of deliverance from the evil one, the tyrant of so many creatures.

Wisdom, which is nobler than all motion and penetrates everywhere by its purity, communicates itself to holy souls and forms friends of God and prophets. Thus in the soul of the Poor Man.

The Sources illustrate numerous healings and deliverances of the possessed by Francis, and describe the growing faith in those who had received the saving gift.

Yes, because the evangelical consequence of these healings is the extensive manifestation of people's active belief, in a sincere and humble manner.

We read in the Sources:

"Once the Saint appeared to a woman from Narni, who was furious and so out of her mind that she did and said frightful and filthy things, and said to her:

"Make a sign of the cross".

She replied that she was prevented from doing so.

Then Francis himself impressed it on her forehead, and instantly she was freed from madness and all demonic influence.

Countless have been the unhappy men and women who, tormented in various ways and by manifold deceptions by demons, were delivered by virtue of the merits of the glorious father" (FF 555).

Francis was very attentive to the ills of the people he met.

He was often seized with great compassion when he saw a creature asking for help in an exasperated and insistent manner.

The documentation of the Sources is permeated by this tenacious and humble logic of the Saint, who, even before the concrete fact, perceived in his innermost being the profound need for the complete salvation of the other.

He believed, in fact, that when a man takes pity on another man, there, God is resurrected, and the Good News is proclaimed.

«For this word of yours, go; the devil has gone out from your daughter» (Mk 7:29)

Thursday, 5th wk. in O.T. (Mk 7,24-30)

Jesus teaches the crowd and explains: what makes one impure is what comes from the heart.

Francis, pure in heart, transparent in his intentions and intentions, had also introduced in the Admonitions he wrote a clear guiding call for his brothers - on the merits of behaviour.

In the Sources:

"When we live according to the flesh, the devil wants to take away from us the love of [our Lord] Jesus Christ and eternal life, and wants to lose himself with everyone in hell; for we through our own fault are ignoble, miserable, and contrary to good, ready instead and willing for evil, because, as the Lord says in the Gospel: Out of the heart proceed and come forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, impudiciousness, envy, false witness, blasphemy, [pride], foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within the heart of man, and it is these things that defile man.

Now instead, since we have left the world, we have nothing to do but to follow the will of the Lord and to please Him alone" (FF 57).

In this way he instructed his brothers in the way of purity.

And in the Vita Prima of Celano, regarding his brothers:

"And this is what they always used to do when they came to him; they did not hide even the slightest thought and involuntary motions of their souls from him, and after having accomplished all that was commanded them, they still considered themselves useless servants.

And truly "purity of heart" filled that first group of the blessed Francis' disciples to such a degree that, although they knew how to do useful, holy and upright things, they showed themselves utterly incapable of drawing vain pleasure from them.

Then blessed Francis, clasping his sons to himself with great love, began to manifest to them his plan and what the Lord had revealed to him" (FF 370).

Magnificence of the little ones!

«What comes out of man, that makes man unclean» (Mk 7:20)

Wednesday 5th wk. in O.T.  (Mk 7,14-23)

Mk highlights the comparison between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees, whom He reproaches for the hypocrisy of appearances - worshipping their tradition instead of God Himself - and neglecting the commandment of Love.

Francis of Assisi detested appearances, rituals observed for mere vanity, honour to God given with the lips and not with the adherence of the heart; failing the commandment of Love, the Substance of God.

He resented the hypocrisy of 'ablutions' that misunderstand the charity to be extended to one's neighbour.

He urged his brothers to bear witness to the Gospel with boldness, proclaiming the Word at every opportunity; without kneeling to abstract precepts.

Looking at the episodes that recall this new sense of purity, a passage from the Sources is particularly interesting:

The brothers, in their all-interior ideal "When they met a church or a cross along the way, they would bow down to recite a prayer and say devoutly:

"We adore thee, O Christ, and bless thee for all thy churches scattered throughout the world, for thou hast redeemed them by thy holy cross".

They were convinced, in fact, that they were in a holy place, wherever they encountered a cross or a church.

Everyone who saw them was greatly astonished, because of their way of dressing and living that was so different from any other: they looked like woodland creatures.

Wherever they entered, be it a city, a castle, a village, a dwelling, they proclaimed peace, exhorting men and women to fear and love the Creator of heaven and earth, and to keep his commandments.

There were those who listened to them willingly and those who, on the contrary, mocked them.

Mostly they were pelted with a storm of questions [...].

Although it was annoying to answer so many questions, they confessed with simplicity that they were penitents from Assisi [...]" (FF 1441).

Free from ceremonial, they proclaimed the Kingdom of God with authenticity and not only with their lips, but with the testimony of their lives, which emphasised the Word read and prayed.

They were not slaves to useless observances of custom, but tenacious servants of the Gospel at all costs.

Jesus' warning was not directed at them:

"Setting aside the commandment of God, keep the tradition of men" (Mk 7:8).

Rather, this admonition concerns those who take glory from one another, neglecting what pleases God.

«Artfully you set aside the commandment of God, to observe your own tradition» (Mk 7:9)

Tuesday, 5th wk. in O.T. (Mk 7,1-13)

The evangelist Mk shows how, as Jesus passed by, people everywhere flocked to carry on stretchers the sick to be healed.

Following in the footsteps of the Master, Francis performed healings in every place.

He had received special charisms in favour of the people, who wanted to touch him to be healed.

In the Sources, there is an interesting and moving episode in this regard.

In Susa, a young man from Rivarolo Canavese, named Ubertino, who had entered the Order of Friars Minor, after a terrible fright, became insane and was struck by paralysis in his right side, losing sensibility, motion, hearing and speech.

The brothers were distressed to see him lying in his bed in that state.

On the eve of St Francis he had a moment of lucidity and began to invoke his father in a heartfelt way.

At the hour of matins, while all the brothers were in choir, the blessed father appeared to the novice in the infirmary, causing a great light to shine in the house.

The father placed his hand on his right side, running it down to his feet; he put his fingers in his ear and made a special sign on his right shoulder, saying:

"This will be for you the sign that God, using me, whom you wished to imitate by entering Religion, has restored you to perfect health" (FF 1325).

Then he put on the girdle and said to him:

"Get up and go to church to devoutly celebrate, together with the others, the prescribed praises of God" (FF 1325).

The young man tried to touch him with his hands and kiss his feet, as a sign of thanksgiving, but the blessed father disappeared from his sight.

The young man then went into the church to celebrate the praises now healed, to the amazement of the onlookers.

Francis, an apostle of resurrection, in life and in death worked many healings in the bodies and hearts of many people.

These wanted to touch his tunic, his cloak, his hood, firmly believing that they could be healed and regain faith in the God who had sent him.

«And they begged him to touch even the fringe of his cloak; and as many as touched him were saved» (Mk 6:56)

Monday, 5th wk. in O.T. (Mk 6,53-56)

Francis had understood that the words of the Crucifix of San Damiano did not refer to the rebuilding of the small temple, but to the renewal of the Church in its members.

He had laid down the cloths of penance to assume the 'minoritic' garb, girding his hips with a rough rope and covering his head with the hood in use by the peasants of the time, walking barefoot.

He had begun his apostolic mission by marrying Our Lady Poverty to become, as Jesus suggested, a fisher of men, in faith.

The Sources, across the board, provide significant pictures of this becoming a 'fisherman' in the proclamation of the Word of salvation.

We read, in fact, in his address to the brothers:

"Dearest brothers, let us consider our vocation. God, in his mercy, has called us not only for our salvation, but also for that of many others.

Let us therefore go throughout the world, exhorting everyone, by example rather than by words, to do penance for their sins and to remember God's commandments'.

He continued:

"Do not be afraid of being thought insignificant or deranged, but proclaim penance with courage and simplicity. Have confidence in the Lord, who has overcome the world!

Francis had cast his nets into the sea of the society of the time to bring souls to God and this he taught his brothers to do.

They "walked all joyful, speaking among themselves the words of the Lord, saying nothing that did not serve the praise and glory of God and the profit of the soul.

They frequently abandoned themselves to prayer. The Lord took charge of preparing hospitality for them and saw to it that they were served what was necessary" (FF 1455).

Astonishment accompanied them, in their purity of spirit, for the souls they were leading to God - happy that the unloved Love, as Francis said, through the proclamation became better known.

The disciples who believed immediately experienced the fruitfulness of gestures made in unity with Christ.

With introspective capacity combined with Grace, Francis became a fruitful missionary, working wonders with the strength of the Risen One, casting the net on the right side.

The Sources narrate a significant episode that occurred at a hermitage near Rieti (Fonte Colombo).

Visited by the doctor for the cure of his eyes, Francis asked his companions to welcome him to lunch, preparing something good for him.

"Father," replied the guardian, "we tell you with blushes, we are ashamed to invite you, so poor are we at this time.

"Perhaps you want me to repeat it to you?" insisted the saint.

The doctor was present and intervened: "I, dearest brothers, will esteem your penury a delight".

The brothers hurriedly placed what was in the pantry on the table: a little bread, not much wine, and to make the meal more sumptuous, the kitchen sent some pulses.

But the table of the Lord meanwhile moves to take pity on the servants' table.

There is a knock at the door and they rush to open it: there is a woman carrying a basket full of beautiful bread, fish and shrimp pies, and on top plenty of honey and grapes.

At such a sight the poor diners sparkled with joy, and putting aside that misery for the next day, they ate of the delicious food.

The moved doctor exclaimed:

"Neither we seculars nor you friars really know the holiness of this man".

And they would certainly have been fully fed, but more than the food the miracle had satiated them.

Thus the loving eye of the Father never despises his own, rather he assists those most in need with more generous providence.

The poor man feeds at a richer table than that of the king, how much God surpasses man in generosity" (FF 629).

«Indeed amazement had seized him and all those with him in the catch of fish that they had caught» (Lk 5:9)

5th Sunday in O.T. (year C) (Lk 5,1-11)