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Feast Day: October 4th

May the Lord give you His Peace.

Pax et Bonum

Francis of Assisi has been the most beloved and popular of saints, a man who has inspired Christians of all traditions. His ideal of evangelical poverty has challenged Christians for eight centuries. His spirit of uncompromising commitment to the Gospel has endured as a force for renewal in the church. His teaching about intimacy with God and the whole-hearted love of Jesus Christ moulds our vision of the spiritual life. Above all Francis’ personal magnetism continues to attract men and women today.

from the introduction to “St. Francis of Assisi: A Biography” by Omer Englebert

The San Damiano Cross is the cross that St. Francis of Assisi was praying before when he received his mission from the Lord to “Rebuild my Church”. The cross now hangs in the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi. Franciscans especially revere this cross as a sign of their mission from God.

St Francis’ Prayer Before the Crucifix

All-highest, Glorious God, Cast your light into the Darkness of my Heart, Give me Right Faith, Firm Hope, Perfect Charity and Profound Humility with Wisdom and Perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly your Holy Will. 

Words of St. Francis

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

Let us begin again for up to now we have done nothing.

Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

Kissing your feet and with all the love I am 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.                                                                    Letter to the Whole Order

Blessed are you, servant of God, if you do not consider yourself any better when you are honoured and extolled by others than when you are considered low and simple and despised; for what you are before God, that is what you are, and no more.  Admonition 19

The peace which you proclaim with words must dwell even more abundantly in your hearts. Do not provoke others to anger or give scandal. Rather, let your gentleness draw them to peace, goodness and concord. This is our vocation: to heal wounds, to bind what is broken, to bring home those who are lost. And remember that many who may now seem to be of the devil can one day become disciples of Christ.     Legend of the Three Companions , 58

 O my Brothers and Sisters, I want you all to go to Heaven!

 St. Clare of Assisi

Words of St. Clare

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others

St. Clare is the patron saint of eye diseases, the patron of embroiderers and, something you mightn’t know: the patron saint of television. This is  due to a time one Christmas, when she was too ill to leave her bed; she saw projected on her wall and she heard, the whole liturgy of the Midnight Mass, even though it was happening a few miles away!