Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
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OPENING PRAYER
O beloved Saint Francis, your obedience to the Holy One and immense love of the poor, sick, and marginalized in your world led you to respond with intense care and devotion to their needs. Blow the clouds from our eyes to see how the needs of humans, animals, and our earthly home are indeed “Jesus in disguise”. Your dedication to prayer and mystic union with the Great Mystery have inspired people all over the world to follow the teaching and example of our Brother Jesus. Now, in our day, pray with and for us, that our prayer continues to birth our ministry to the poor and vulnerable.
O blessed Saint Francis, we ask for help; teach us courageous ways to overcome our own fear and obstacles to speak truth to power in our world. May your prayers on our behalf be heard and may we be granted grace to lead lives of courage and perseverance. Saint Francis of Assisi, Pray with us. Amen.
Adapted from Prayers at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, San Francisco, USA.
DENNIS, stop this video at 4.25 minutes please
VIDEO 1 10 Things to Know about St. Francis of Assisi
https://youtu.be/z-STc6JJagM Created by Fr. Gilbert Choondal SDB, Kolkata, India
READING 1
As sincere persons who are perhaps curious about mystics, or wanna-be mystics, or searchers for how-to-reach-mysticism, or on-the-path-mystics, we are all coming from a unique worldview. Our contemporary, Franciscan Father Richard Rohr calls this longing for the deepest experience of the Infinite the “incarnational worldview.” It encompasses not only just moral behavior, but both objective and ontological reality, the reality that allows us to know and feel we are holy, whether singing “we are wholly, holy” in our liturgy, or in a hospital bed in pain. It is the reality that St. Francis of Assisi lived, breathed, and taught his brothers and sisters through his example and his holy rule of Franciscan living.
Statuary and some contemporary images of St. Francis of Assisi often portray him in a sentimental, and overly “sweet” way, as if all he did was talk to the animals in the forests. This does our gentle-but- ferociously tough lover of Christ a disservice. Perhaps this modern conception is meant to demonstrate Francis’s extraordinary gift of compassion and tender heart toward all creatures, especially those less fortunate. These inaccurate portrayals hide his utterly selfless commitment to living the Beatitudes as the work of his daily life, his living and breathing his love of the universal Christ. He was far tougher than the majority of us will ever be. Let us explore some LESSONS, aspects of his life and gifts that are vibrating in our world today; we need only breathe deeply to begin making them our own.
LESSON 1 We All Have a Past – Get Over It
He was born Giovanni (John) renamed Francesco, di Pietro di Bernardone. Until age 25 years, Francesco/Francis was a spoiled rich kid who cared nothing for others, only having a good time. Brother Celano, an early Franciscan biographer who knew Francis well said: “Francis surpassed all his peers as an instigator of evil deeds and was a proud young man, given to vanity.” Francis himself said, “I lived in sin.” Later he would weep for his ways, and allowed the Light of the Holy One to come into his life: he made the changes. Same for us, we must leave our failings behind, get up and move forward, no matter the suffering that comes our way in our life, from family, friends, our own culture, and the world. We must fight past weaknesses every day, and help others to do so as well. St. Francis is a role model for us today.
ALL: Prayer Response: Show us how to use the strength of the Holy One to motivate and encourage us.
LESSON 2 St. Francis Was Tough
St. Francis had a deep appreciation and love of nature and all creation. But he was also a man who experienced great suffering and hardships during his life - it wasn’t all doves and roses. He joined the army, was captured, and spent a whole year nearly starving in a dark, dank prison cell in Perugia, until his father was able to pay a huge ransom and bring him home. Upon telling his father that he rejected the family business and was going to start a religious order, his father, after beating him, threw him in a prison cell in his own basement. Francis had an eye condition that was greatly exacerbated by horrible medical “treatments” that left him nearly blind and in great pain. He however, never failed to chant the Liturgy of the Hours and was a model to his friars. He would often fast for 40 days at a time in imitation of Christ; he would throw himself in the snow to fight temptation to impurity; he endured freezing conditions in the winter without adequate clothing. Francis of Assisi was the first known to bear the stigmata, the marks of the 5 wounds of Christ’s crucifixion. He taught that suffering was not the sign of God’s neglecting us, but to Love, Trust, and bear the burdens life presents as gifts from God.
ALL: Prayer Response: St. Francis, Help us to Love, Trust, and walk with you and Jesus our Brother.
LESSON 3 God Often Calls Us Out of Our Comfort Zone
We all have weaknesses and areas of lesser abilities, as did St. Francis. There are people, places, and situations that make us very uncomfortable, so we avoid them. Francis had a “strong aversion” to lepers, and he “shuddered” and “held his nose,” averting his eyes from lepers. In a biography, it is said that one day Francis was riding on the edge of town, and came upon a leper walking beside the road. Suddenly, he dismounted and approached the man, throwing his arms around him and addressing him as “brother.” He said the Holy Spirit had come over him and all “his bitterness was changed to sweetness.” Secondly, Francis lacked leadership and organization skills, and was overwhelmed when his little band of follower brothers quickly ballooned into a large congregation which needed organizing and a rule to live by. It is these times in our lives when we feel overwhelmed, afraid, incompetent, ill-equipped, or just don’t want to get involved that we rely on the Holy One to make things happen and inspire us to work outside our comfort zone. My friends, this is where the real progress is made toward the Kin-dom, right here on our earth, step-by-step every day.
VIDEO 2 You’re Welcome World: Contributions of Franciscans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49lR9i-KFlM&list=PL-
READING 2 Gift of Prayers Lasts 800 Years
St. Francis gifted us with several lasting prayers flowing from his unique spirituality. One precious gift was an insight and understanding of the interconnectedness of all beings, living creatures and the universe alike. From the Center for Action and Contemplation we read: Each and every creature is a unique word of God, with its own message, its own metaphor, its own energetic style, its own way of showing forth goodness, beauty, and participation in the Great Mystery. Each creature has its own glow and its own unique glory.
Who could ever express the deep affection Francis bore for all things that belong to God?
Or who would be able to tell of the sweet tenderness he enjoyed while contemplating in creatures the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator?
From this reflection he often overflowed with amazing, unspeakable joy as he looked at the sun, gazed at the moon, or observed the stars in the sky.
St. Francis was gifted with deep compassion – It is unfortunate that most men don’t think compassion is manly. It most certainly is. True men know how to be tough, but they also know how to be gentle and sympathetic to the suffering of others.
Like St. Francis, let’s show compassion to those we encounter, treating them as if they were Christ himself. Let’s “look beyond ourselves and seek to comfort those who are suffering, whether it be physically or emotionally.” - from The Life of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano, 1229
VIDEO 3 The Canticle of Creation
“A Thank-You Note to God” from St. Francis of Assisi, 1225 AD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpPSZkmr_Js
CLOSING PRAYER THANKSGIVING
A Prayer of Thanks and Gratitude, by St. Francis of Assisi
“Wherever we are, in every place,
at every hour, at every time,
every day and continually,
let all of us truly and humbly believe,
hold in our heart,
love, honor, adore, serve, praise
bless, glorify, exalt, magnify
and give thanks to the Most High
and Supreme Eternal God,
Trinity and Unity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
to Him who is Creator of all,
Savior of all,
without beginning or end,
unchangeable, invisible,
indescribable, ineffable,
incomprehensible,
unfathomable, blessed,
praiseworthy, glorious, exalted,
sublime, most high, gentle,
lovable, delightful and, above all else,
desirable, for ever and ever.”
–St. Francis of Assisi (1181 – 1226)
References and Resources
A Prayer of Gratitude https://youtu.be/I3cL0S6Sk3g
Bodo, M. (2018). Surrounded by love : seven teachings from Saint Francis. Franciscan Media.
Englebert, O. (2013). St. Francis of Assisi : a biography. Servant Books, An Imprint Of Franciscan Media.
Of, F., Armstrong, R. J., Brady, I. C., & Of, C. (1982). Francis and Clare : the complete works. Paulist Press.
Paterson, K. (2011). Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Chronicle Books.
Starr, M. (2007). Saint Francis of Assisi : Devotions, Prayers, & Living Wisdom.
Starr, M., & Francis. (2013). Saint Francis of Assisi : brother of creation. Sounds True.
Websites
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/franciscanspirituality
https://youtu.be/q0-fAJdr_3k TRANSITUS 2.39
https://catholicgentleman.com/2013/10/what-we-can-learn-from-st-francis/
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/st-francis-and-the-animals/
https://youtu.be/BcOU3bYmMOA 6 min video Francis the Saint and the Pope
Armstrong, R.J., Wayne Hellman, J. A. & Short, W. J., Francis of Assisi: Early Documents (New York, New City Press, 1999) - A three volume series: Vol. I, The Saint: Vol. II, The Founder: Vol. III, The Prophet
Boff, Leonardo, Cry of the Earth: Cry of the Poor (Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 1997);
St. Bonaventure. Breviloquium 2,5.1, 2, ed. Dominic V. Monti, OFM. Collected Works of St. Bonaventure. (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 2005), 72-73.
St. Francis and the Wolf picture: DarlingBeadsOfMay, Etsy
http://www.praying-nature.com/index.php
Pat McCloskey, OFM August 2019, St. Anthony Messenger
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