In today's Liturgy, Jesus calls for discreet, fraternal correction before taking more drastic measures.

The two Poor Men of Assisi were exemplary people in their fraternal love and in the corrections they made, always seasoned with wisdom, humanity and charity. 

Severe with themselves; attentive and merciful with their neighbour.

Francis before acting towards the brothers prayed and even beforehand examined himself.

Clare of Assisi liked to call herself "little plant of the Seraphic Father Francis".

She was always a solicitous Mother and a great example to her daughters and sisters in the Monastery of St Damian.

Even when it was necessary to exhort or remonstrate, she knew how to correct with love and wisdom that came to her from on high.

The Sources attest [Rule of St Clare]:

"Let the abbess admonish and visit her sisters and correct them with humility and charity, not commanding them anything that is against her soul and the form of our profession" (FF 2806).

And again, with an extensive far-sighted look, Clare herself continues:

"I admonish and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ all my sisters, present and future, that they always strive to imitate the way of holy simplicity, humility and poverty, and also the honesty of that holy life, which was taught to us by our blessed Father Francis from the beginning of our conversion to Christ" (FF 2845 - Testament).

"And loving one another in the love of Christ, that love which you have in your heart, show it outside with works, so that the sisters, provoked by this example, may always grow in the love of God and in mutual charity" (FF 2847 - Testament).

"If your brother commits a fault against you, go and admonish him between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you will have gained your brother" (Mt 18:15).

Wednesday 19th wk. in O.T. (Mt 18:15-20)

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 will 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 Sanhedrists, 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)

Jesus announces his death and resurrection to his own. He teaches his own humility and minority by paying the temple tax.

The first biographer of St Francis, Thomas of Celano, in the Vita Seconda, narrates the meeting that took place between Dominic and Francis at the home of Cardinal Ugolino, later Pope Gregory IX, probably between the end of 1219 and the beginning of 1221.

The Cardinal himself was deeply moved by hearing the dialogue between 

two saints, who spoke of God with such gentleness and humility, servants of God in an original way, both living the Paschal mystery.

"They found themselves together in Rome, in the house of Cardinal d'Ostia who was later Supreme Pontiff, the shining lights of the world St Francis and St Dominic.

Hearing them speak so sweetly to each other about the Lord, at the end the bishop said:

"In the early Church the pastors were poor and people of charity, without greed. Why,' he asked, 'among your brothers those who stand out for doctrine and good example, do you not make them bishops and prelates?'

A contest arose between the two saints, not to precede each other in reply, but because one proposed the honour to the other and even wanted to force him to speak first. They actually outdid each other in the veneration they nurtured for each other.

In the end, humility won out in Francis, because he did not step forward, and it also won out in Dominic, because he humbly obeyed and answered first.

So Dominic said to the bishop:

"Lord, my brothers, if they understand this, are already placed in high rank, and as far as I am concerned I will not allow them to obtain any other dignity".

After this brief and convinced reply, Francis bowed to the bishop and said in turn:

"Lord, my brothers have been called Minors precisely for this reason, so that they will not presume to become majors.

The very name teaches them to remain lowly and to follow in the footsteps of Christ's humility, so that in the end they may be raised above others in the presence of the saints.

If you want them to bear fruit in the Church of God,' he continued, 'keep them and preserve them in the state of their vocation, and bring them down even against their will.

For this, Father, I beseech you: that they may not be as proud as they are poor and may not show themselves arrogant towards others, do not in any way allow them to obtain offices'.

These were the answers of the Saints' (FF 732).

Wisdom and humility following Christ, free children of the Kingdom.

"Now when they were gathered together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again - And they were greatly grieved" (Mt 17:22).

Monday of the 19th wk. in O.T. (Mt 17,22-27)

The Poor Man of Assisi had great devotion to bread, because it reminded him of the living Bread that came down from Heaven for us, Jesus, who became Food for our hunger for love.

In the Sources there is a particular episode that underlines this:

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

"The bread of the Angels is that which Holy Poverty collects from door to door, and which, asked for the love of God, for the love of God is bestowed, at the prompting of the Holy Angels".

Once, after asking for alms and receiving them, he turned to his brothers to "continually celebrate the Passover of the Lord, that is, the passage from this world to the Father, passing through the desert of the world in poverty of spirit, and as pilgrims and strangers and as true Jews" (FF1129).

Francis had a life centred on the gift of self by looking to Jesus, the Bread of Life, and had a special and profound respect for the heavenly Food. We find in his writings:

"Behold, every day he humbles himself, as when from the royal seat he descended into the womb of the Virgin; every day he himself comes to us in humble appearance [...] and as to the holy apostles he showed himself in the true flesh [...] so we too, seeing bread and wine with the eyes of the body, must see and firmly believe that this is his most holy body and blood living and true" (FF144).

And thinking of his now extended Order and desiring to have his form of life approved in perpetuity by Pope Honorius, God encouraged him with this revelation:

"It seemed to him that he had picked up some very small crumbs of bread from the ground, to distribute them to many hungry brothers around him. He was afraid that, in distributing them, such small crumbs might not fall from his hand. But a voice from above said to him: 'Francis, with all these crumbs, make a single host and give it to those who wish to eat'".

"While he was doing this, all those who did not receive the gift with devotion, or who, after receiving it, despised it, immediately distinguished themselves from the others, because they became lepers [...] The following day, while he was praying with great perseverance, he heard this voice coming from heaven: 'Francis, the crumbs you saw last night are the words of the Gospel; the host is the Rule, the leprosy is iniquity'".

A journey, that of Francis, in a Eucharistic key, which makes the living Bread his point of reference at every juncture.

On the feast of St Laurence [martyred in 258, during the persecution of the emperor Valerian] the liturgy proposes a Johannine passage that befits him, concerning his journey of faith.

One of the seven deacons of Rome who died for the cause of the Gospel, he was a fruitful seed for souls, testifying that to lose one's life in this world is to keep it for eternal life.

Francis, in his new life, was truly the grain of wheat that dies to rise again with Christ and in Christ. It is not for nothing that he is often remembered as 'Alter Christus' because he became, by grace, very like Him.

The Saint spent his bare existence in the service of the Lord and his neighbour, often wondering whether he had really become a servant of his Word or not.

The light that the Sources offer us is truly revealing:

"From the moment Francis rejected transient things and began to adhere closely to the Lord, he did not want to waste even a particle of time [...].

He considered it a great sin not to do something good and judged it a retrograde step not to always make progress.

While he was staying in a cell in Siena, one night he called his sleeping companions to him.

"I invoked the Lord," he explained to them, "that he might deign to show me when I am his servant and when I am not.

For I would like to be no other than his servant.

And the Lord, in his immense kindness and deigning, has now answered me:

"Acknowledge thyself my servant truly, when thou thinkest, sayest, actest holy."

For this reason I have called you, brothers, because I want to blush before you if at times I have failed in these three things'" (FF 743).

In prayer, he often repeated:

"Rapture, I pray thee, O Lord,/ the burning and sweet power of thy love/ my mind from all things that are under heaven,/ that I may die for love of thy love,/ as thou hast deigned to die/ for love of my love" (FF 277).

"If the grain of wheat that falls to the ground does not die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12:24).

10 August 2022. St Lawrence. (Jn 12:24-26)

Lamps: Clare, Francis, the Mother of God and Teresa.

Edhit Stein, of Jewish origin, in religion Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, went to meet Christ as a victim of the Shoah, always keeping her East before her eyes: Jesus!

Like her, St Clare was a wise and vigilant virgin who renewed the Church with her life, fertilised by the ever new power of God's Spirit.

A virgin who went to meet her Bridegroom by spending, day after day, her life for others, without sparing.

In the Sources we read:

"She used, for Matins, to anticipate the young girls; waking them noiselessly with nods, she would invite them to the praises of God.

Often, while they were all still asleep, she would light the lamps; often she would ring the bell herself, with her own hands.

There was no place in her monastery for lukewarmness, there was no place for sloth there where laziness was shaken by a stinging impulse to pray and serve the Lord" (FF 3200).

At the beginning of the Legend of St Clare, we find an enlightening passage:

"Therefore merciful God aroused the venerable virgin Clare and in her made women shine a very bright lamp: and you blessed Father [...] have placed this lamp on the candelabrum, that it may give light to all who are in the house" (FF 3151).

"Let the women imitate Clare, the imprint of the Mother of God, the new guide of women" (FF 3153).

Throughout her brief existence, Clare was a wise virgin diligently awaiting her Bridegroom, making "Clare by name and clear by virtue" (FF 3154) shine as the new woman of the Spoletana valley.

In fact, she was so loving towards her daughters and sisters that 'very often in the cold of the night by her own hand she covered them while they slept and wanted those whom she saw incapable of observing common austerity to be content with a less severe regime.

If some were troubled by temptation, if some, as can happen, were seized with sadness, he would call them aside and console them by weeping.

Sometimes he prostrated himself at the feet of the afflicted to relieve the violence of the pain with motherly caresses" (FF 3233).

Francis himself, recounts his biographer Celano, had "respect for the lamps, lamps and candles, and did not want to extinguish their splendour with his own hand, symbol of the eternal Light" (FF 750).

He had understood, by revelation of the Crucifix of San Damiano, the task assigned to him: to repair the Church of Christ, purchased with his Blood, and now in ruins.

Hence his solicitous gesture of having an oil lamp placed before that image, a solicitous and immediate response of the Poverello to become a concrete witness of an existence-expected in transparency for Christ: for the One who had deigned to call him to live for Him and of Him.

"Behold the Bridegroom! Come out to meet [Him]!" (Mt 25:6)

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Patron Saint of Europe (Mt 25:1-13)

Jesus asks his disciples:

"But who do you say that I am?" (Mt 16:15).

Who Jesus was for Francis is evident e.g. in his writings, especially in the Praises of God Most High, where he expresses himself thus:

"You are Holy, Lord, only God, who works wonderful things.

Thou art Most High... Thou art King Almighty... Thou art triune and one, Lord God of gods. You are good, all good, the highest good, the living and true Lord God... You are our eternal life, great and admirable Lord, almighty God, merciful Saviour.

And he inculcated the same in his brothers, living the Gospel of charity and concord:

"Truly on this solid foundation they built, splendidly, the building of charity. And like living stones, gathered, as it were, from all parts of the world, they grew into a temple of the Holy Spirit" (FF 387).

And how could they have grown otherwise with a transparent guide like Francis? He who "exults with joy in all the works of the hands of the Lord, and through this joyful vision intuits the cause and the reason that enlivens them [...].

In beautiful things he recognises the highest Beauty, and from everything that is good for him a cry rises up: He who created us is infinitely good [...].

He has regard for the lamps, lamps and candles, and does not want to extinguish their splendour by his own hand, symbol of the eternal Light.

He walks with REVERENCE ON THE STONES, out of regard for him who is called STONE. And having to recite the verse that says 'On the rock you raised me up', he changes the words thus for greater respect: 'Under the feet of the STONE you raised me up'" (FF 750).

And close to death, Francis asks to return to St Mary of the Angels, where it all began. He had himself placed on the bare earth, as the cornerstone of the Seraphic Order:

"In the twentieth year of his conversion, he asked to be taken to St Mary of the Portiuncula, to render to God the spirit of life there where he had received the Spirit of grace.

When he was brought there, to show that, after the model of Christ-Truth, he had nothing in common with the world [...] he prostrated himself in fervour of spirit, all naked on the bare earth [...].

Thus lying on the earth, having laid down his sackcloth, he lifted his face to Heaven, according to his custom, totally intent on that heavenly Glory, while with his left hand he covered the wound on his right side, that it might not be seen.

And he said to the brothers: 'I have done my part: may Christ teach you yours'" (FF 1239).

Francis, at the conclusion of his life, reveals himself to be the stone upon which Christ builds his Church.

That Church that at the beginning of his journey the Poverello had "confused" with the repair of the church of San Damiano, in whose work the stones had had their weight and meaning.

"In fact, just as the three buildings were repaired (S. Damiano, the Porziuncola, the little church of S. Peter, not far from Assisi), under the guidance of this holy man the Church would be renewed in three ways: according to the form of life, according to the Rule and according to the doctrine of Christ proposed by him - and a threefold militia of the elect would celebrate its triumphs" (FF 1050).

Francis: Stone upon which Christ builds his ruined Church.

Thursday of the 18th wk. in O.T. (Mt 16 13-23)

The Word of the Gospel today highlights the incipient and already granitic faith of a pagan woman who asks for mercy for her daughter, tormented by a demon.

Francis of Assisi, a prophet of God, a stranger to the official institutional world, also did wondrous things in this regard.

The Poor Man, champion of faith in Christ, achieved healings by the power of the Spirit of God, in life and in death.

His life of faith infected many people who, benefiting from his testimony, were healed of evils and diabolic possessions.

In this regard, the Sources give us various episodes:

"There lived in Foligno a man named Peter. He was on his way to visit the sanctuary of St Michael the Archangel [...] When he arrived at a spring, tired and thirsty, he took a drink of water, and it seemed to him that he had swallowed demons. And indeed from that instant he remained obsessed for three years, saying and doing horrible things.

He took himself to the tomb of the most holy Father Francis, and arrived there still harassed by demons, more furious than ever against him; as soon as he touched the tomb, he was, with an evident and clear miracle, freed completely and forever" (FF 554).

And again Celano in the Vita Prima recounts the faith of a child healed by Francis:

"Matteo, a child from Todi, had been lying in a bed for eight days, more dead than alive: his mouth hermetically closed, his eyes shut tight, his face, hands and feet blackened like a cauldron on fire. Everyone thought there was nothing left to hope for.

One day the mother prostrated herself in prayer, invoking the name and help of Francis.

When she gets up, the child begins to open its eyes, to see and suck milk. Shortly afterwards, the black skin falls off, the flesh returns to its normal colour and regains vigour and health.

As soon as she sees him out of danger, the mother questions him: "Who cured you, my son?".

The child replies, stammering, 'Ciccu, Ciccu'.

Again they question him: "To whom do you owe this grace?". And the child replies: "Ciccu, Ciccu!" - thus halving the name of Francis, since he was still small and unable to speak well" (FF 556).

The little ones, in age but also in heart, obtain by Faith what adults cannot even ask for or desire.

A solid faith is an object of admiration by Jesus who works according to the desire of those who live it, generating new creatures.

"Woman, great is your faith! Let it happen for you as you wish" (Mt 15:28).

Wednesday of the 18th wk. in O.T. (Mt 15,21-28)

Francis had learnt that the presence of the Holy Spirit offers itself to those who invoke it with familiarity, the more distant they find it from the din of the worldly. 

The Sources recount that "the man of God, remaining all alone and in peace, filled the woods with groans, sprinkled the earth with tears, beat his breast and, as if he had found a more intimate sanctuary, talked with his Lord [...].

There, too, he was heard by the brothers, who were piously observing him, to appeal with cries and groans to the divine Goodness on behalf of sinners; he also cried aloud the Lord's Passion, as if he had it before his eyes.

There, as he prayed at night, he was seen with his hands outstretched in the form of a cross, lifted up from the ground with his whole body and surrounded by a luminous cloud: marvellous light spread around his body, which wonderfully testified to the light shining in his Spirit.

There, moreover, as sure evidence testifies, the hidden mysteries of divine Wisdom were revealed to him, which, however, he did not divulge to the outside world, except to the extent that the charity of Christ compelled him to do so and the usefulness of his neighbour demanded it [...].

When he returned from his prayers, which transformed him almost into another man, he took the greatest care to behave in uniformity with others, lest the wind of applause, because of what he let out, deprive him of the interior reward" (FF 1180- Major Legend).

Francis guarded his transformation into 'Alter Christus' with great discretion, almost living in the seclusion of his heart.

In fact, the same Sources attest: "From the beginning, when the true love of Christ had already transformed his lover into his own image, he began to conceal and hide the Treasure so cautiously that not even his intimates would discover it for a long time.

But divine Providence did not allow it to remain hidden and not reach the eyes of her loved ones [...].

One of his companions once, seeing the stigmata on his feet, said to him: "What is this, good brother?". 

"Mind your own business" - he answered him" (FF 719- Vita Seconda of Celano) with the frankness and simplicity that distinguished him.

Transfiguration of the Lord (Mk 9:2-10)