St. Francis of Assisi - March 31

A Prayer of Praise

"We thank you
that your Son himself will come again
in the glory of his majesty
to send the wicked ones
who have not done penance and who have not known you
into the eternal fire,
and to say to all those who have known you and have
adored you and have served you penance:
'Come, you whom my Father has blessed,
take as your heritage the kingdom
prepared for you
since the foundation of the world' (Mt 25:34)."  --St. Francis, Rule of 1221, Chapter XXIII

With each coming of Christ (His first and the one yet to come) we are blessed beyond measure.  You don't have to wait even a moment longer if you would receive His kingdom right now.

St. Francis of Assisi - March 30

A Prayer of Praise

"We thank you
that through your Son you created us,
and that through the holy love you had for us
you brought about his birth
as true God and true man
by the glorious, ever-virgin, most blessed, holy Mary,
and that you willed to redeem us captives
through his cross and blood and death."  --St. Francis, Rule of 1221, Chapter XXIII

That God would deign to come to earth, in the form of man, is rather astonishing. When we "walk in the shoes" of another so that we can identify with them in order to help them, we are showing them what God did for us and has done for them.

St. Francis of Assisi - March 29

A Prayer of Praise

"All-powerful, most holy, most high and supreme God,
Holy and just Father,
Lord, King of heaven and earth,
we thank you for yourself
for through your holy will
and through your only Son
with the Holy Spirit
You have created all things spiritual and corporal
and, having made us in your own image and likeness,
You placed us in paradise.
Then, through our own fault, we fell."  --St. Francis, Rule of 1221, Chapter XXIII

This is a good prayer to remind ourselves Who God IS and who we are.

St. Francis of Assisi - March 28

How the Brothers Are to Preach to the People

"All my brothers, whenever they wish, may proclaim to anyone and everyone, with the blessing of God, the following or a similar exhortation and prayer of praise:

   Fear and honor, praise and bless,
   give thanks and adore
   the Lord God All-Powerful,
   Triune and One,
   Father and Son and Holy Spirit,
   Creator of all things.  
   Repent!  (Mt 3:2)
   Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,
   for you know how soon we die!  
   'Give, and there will be gifts for you' (Lk 6:38).
   'Forgive, and you will be forgiven'  (Lk 6:37).
   And 'if you do not forgive others, your Father will
   not forgive your failings either' (Mt 6:15).
   'Confess your sins to one another' (Jm 5:16).
   Blessed  are you who die in repentance,
   for you will be in the kingdom of heaven.
   Woe to those who do not die in repentance,
   for you will be children of the devil
   whose co-workers you are,
   and you will go into fire everlasting.
   Guard yourselves and abstain
   from every evil and persevere
   in good unto the end."  --St. Francis, Rule of 1221, Chapter XXII

Acknowledging God's position in our lives through praise, repentance, and perseverance in being His Light in a dying world is still how we are to live.

St. Francis of Assisi - March 27

Jesus Christ, Our Peace and Reconciliation

"Kissing your feet and with all the love I'm capable of, I beg you to render, as far as you can, all reverence and total adoration to the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all things in heaven and on earth are made peaceful and are reconciled to God the Almighty (cf. Col 1:20)."  --St. Francis, Letter to the Whole Order

Today we celebrate the event--Jesus's resurrection--that enables us to be reconciled to God the Almighty.  The peace we experience because of this should bring us great Joy in the midst of any trial or tribulation we may be asked to endure.

St. Francis of Assisi - March 26

God's Seal

"The Lord was pleased to endorse and confirm the teaching and Rule of St. Francis, not only by miraculous signs, but also by the marks of his own stigmata, so that no true believer could possibly question them on external or internal evidence.  And in his goodness God was pleased to affix his own seal to the Rule and teaching of St. Francis, who would never have presumed to teach or write anything other than what he received from the Lord.  As he himself testifies, it was God who revealed to him the entire Rule."  --From a sermon of St. Bonaventure, October 4, 1255

This is the account of St. Francis's experience as related in the Catholic Encyclopedia:  "Early in August, 1224, Francis retired with three companions to "that rugged rock 'twixt Tiber and Arno", as Dantecalled La Verna, there to keep a forty days fast in preparation for Michaelmas. During this retreat the sufferings of Christ became more than ever the burden of his meditations; into few souls, perhaps, had the full meaning of the Passion so deeply entered. It was on or about the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (14 September) while prayingon the mountainside, that he beheld the marvellous vision of the seraph, as a sequel of which there appeared on his body the visible marks of the five wounds of the Crucified which, says an early writer, had long since been impressed upon his heart. Brother Leo, who was with St. Francis when he received the stigmata, has left us in his note to the saint's autograph blessing, preserved at Assisi, a clear and simple account of the miracle, which for the rest is better attested than many another historical fact. The saint's right side is described as bearing on open wound which looked as if made by a lance, while through his hands and feet were black nails of flesh, the points of which were bent backward."

St. Francis of Assisi - March 25

Mirrors

"When you see a poor person, you are looking at a mirror of the Lord and his poor mother.  So, too, in the sick you are contemplating the kind of infirmities he took upon himself for us."  --Celano, Second Life, 85

So the imagery of a mirror I used yesterday is not anything new!  I recently read that the image you see in a mirror does not "reverse" the image as some believe.   It merely reflects light directly back at us.  Therefore, it is showing you what you are showing it.  This video explains it:  

                   

Physics Girls says, "The mirror is showing you what you presented to it."  This is something to keep in mind, not only when we see Christ reflected in others, but when we look at ourselves.  Are we and others seeing Christ reflected in us?