Saint Francis
First Point
So great was the love of Saint Francis for the poor that he gladly gave them alms on every occasion and was unable to turn down anyone who asked him for anything, because he saw Jesus Christ in them and was convinced that whatever good he did for them, he didfor Jesus Christ.1This same love for the poor led this great saint to devote himself to instruct them, rather than the rich, because he knew that this was what Jesus Christ did when he was on arth with his holy Apostles.This led Jesus to reply to the disciples of Saint John, when they asked him what they ought to report about him to their master, Tell him thatI am preaching the Gospel to the poor.2Finally, this love for the poor led Saint Francis to serve them inthe hospitals of the places he visited. It was to imitate Jesus Christ, who also loved the company of the poor, that Saint Francis was so strongly drawn by affection for them.You are required by your work to love the poor, because the task you have in this work is to be devoted to their instruction. Look upon them, with Saint Francis, as images of Jesus Christ and as those who are best disposed to receive his Spirit in abundance. In this way the more affection you show for them, the more you will belong to JesusChrist.
Second Point
Not content with loving the poor, Saint Francis also wanted to be poor and detached from earthly things. To accomplish this completely, one day when his father was complaining that he was giving a great deal to the poor, Saint Francis at once went with him before the bishop and, having publicly renounced his father’s inheritance before this prelate, left home on the spot and never wished to live there any more. He then also undertook to give up all the pleasures and all the comforts that a person can enjoy in this world. He always lived in this detachment, which made him often repeat these words: My God and my all, because when he had stripped himself of everything on earth, he no longer had anything but God and was able to possess him to the full. He discovered perfect poverty and total emptying of self in Jesus Christ at his birth and in Jesus Christ suffering and dying. This is why he had special devotion to these two mysteries and every year celebrated the Nativity of Jesus Christ with very particular devotion in the desire to conform himself to Jesus Christ in the extreme poverty of his birth and death. Learn from this saint to love poverty and to live in detachment from all things. The more detached you will be from creatures, the more you will possess God and his holy love. What! Will you keep on saying, as Saint Augustine said before his conversion, They are meretrifles that hold me back and keep me from belonging entirely to God!
Third Point
Love for suffering possessed the heart of Saint Francis so much, as well as love for poverty, that considering how much Jesus Christ had suffered for him, he could not be content, after he had left the world, to spend a single moment of his life without suffering. This is why Jesus Christ suffering, who has always been the model of those who willingly suffer for the love of God, gave such delight to his heart that he could neither keep nor satisfy himself from the contemplation of Jesus in this state. He fasted very rigorously almost all the year round. In winter he wore very little clothing, which made him suffer very much from the cold. He often spent his nights in prayer and took very severe disciplines. He practiced very harsh austerities, and he could say with Saint Paul that he was attached to the cross with Jesus Christ.3 For this reason, one time when he was at prayer, a Seraphim imprinted on his body the sacred stigmata of the Passion. He received this favor only after he had devoted himself to continual mortification. Imitate this great saint in the love he had for suffering, and see to it that either your mind or your body is always mortified. May this mortification be so effective in you that it reproduces on your body, so to speak, the sacred stigmata of Jesus Christ crucified.
Historical Context
Francis (ca. 1181–1226) was born at Assisi, in Umbria, son of a prosperous merchant, Peter Bernadone. Led by a deep religious experience, he abandoned a military life and the wealth of his family at the age of 28 or 29, embraced a spirit of utter simplicity for the love of Christ, and, with the approval of the Pope, led a small group of followers in a life of poverty and itinerant preaching. He also inspired Saint Clare to found a religious group, the Poor Clares. His followers soon became very numerous, and he was forced to write a Rule and to delegate the administration of the Brothers to others. He was saddened by the departure from his original simplicity necessitated by the different types of people attracted to his following. He was favored with the stigmata toward the end of his life, and he suffered also from ill health and near blindness. But his spirit of love and joy prevailed, as can be seen in the Canticle of the Sun, which he composed shortly before his death.
Scripture Citation
- Mt 25:40
- Mt 11:5
- Gal 2:19