Feast Of Our Holy Father St. Francis Of Assisi

To Love Jesus and To Make Him Loved.

How does one dare to write on the Seraphic Saint of Assisi without fearing to do him an injustice through human ignorance and frailty? His life is a mystery untapped and shrouded, but with fear and knowledge of my great incapability to render an article worthy of St. Francis of Assisi, my holy Father, I ask him the beloved and wounded angel of Christ to help me that you dear readers may love him and come to follow him to the glory of God.

It is perhaps a common thing for those who read the lives of the Saints to look at the pedestal on which God has placed them. For example, we see in our holy Father Francis a spotless purity, we see him performing austerities the likes that few Saints could match. We see him embracing huge crosses without discouragement and conquering devils with his courageous faith. We see that he perservered in holy prayer and was victor over numerous temptations and evils. He did not fall although the evil one and his pathetic myraids of demons came to throw in his face all that God would allow. We see that he cured the lepers and raised the dead, oh indeed our holy Father Francis did do all these wonderful things and we rejoice in these prodigies of Christ Jesus in His glorious Saint. But this is not in itself holiness and is not that alone which should win your hearts, dear readers to love Francis of Assisi.

These acts were the pedestal on which stands Francis of Assisi, they are not the crown. What drove St. Francis of Assisi to give all to Christ? To empty himself, to pour himself out and to sacrifice all for Jesus Christ? It was love my dear brethren! It was love that caused these tremendous prodigies to take place. Nothing came between St. Francis and his Best Beloved, nothing. He was jealous of poverty because he wished nothing, absolutely nothing to distract him from loving and pleasing Jesus Christ. And because nothing was a hindrance to the union of Christ and St. Francis of Assisi, nothing could be refused him. St. Francis loved Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ loved St. Francis. It was love which caused St. Francis to act, to prove his love to Jesus, to please Jesus, it was this love which was the ultimate cause of his holiness and won him so many graces. The austerities, the miracles were not the holiness of St. Francis, they were an effect of his great and burning love of Jesus Christ.

If we look with the eyes of faith at this blessed Saint, we must confess that what is most admirable in him is that which could not really be revealed to us by his biographers. What is most admirable is that which possessed his soul, which inflamed his heart, this heart which was the heart of a man like ours, only raised by the grace of God above frail mediocrity unto heroism. This hidden seed which grew within him and which drove him to perform incredible deeds for Jesus was nothing else but pure love, and that love unto folly which made him soar like an eagle to his God. And this it is which is most admirable in Francis.

That which could never be measured or recorded in a book on the life of Francis of Assisi, that which was kept in secret by him alone and brought silently up to the heights of Mount Alvernia, until like a volcano smoldering and in the midst of eruption it drew down from Heaven the Seraph and caused the Wounds of our redemption to be seared in his living flesh giving us a glimpse of his remarkable soul. We see indeed a little of who this Saint of Assisi was. And that was a victim, a holocaust of the Love of God, and this love is what is most worthy of imitation, worthy of admiration, worthy of our silent contemplation. All the penances and austerities in the world practised without love are worthless, and so we, should center all of our energy and fervour in imitating that which drove St. Francis to do these things and look deep into that which made him truly holy.

"He sought his Beloved, from whom he was only separated by the wall of his flesh. To be present to Him in spirit" says the authour of the Life and Legends of St. Francis of Assisi, and he records that St. Bonaventure does not think it possible to find words to express the love which the Seraphic Father had for Jesus Crucified. In fact St. Francis could not even hear the term, the love of God without his soul swooning and thrilling like a musical instrument does when it is being played. "My God and my All, who art Thou, O sweet Lord! and who am I, Thy servant, a miserable worm? I wish to love Thee, most holy Lord, I wish to love Thee. O God! I have consecrated to Thee my heart and my body. If I had the means of doing more for Thee, I would do it, and I ardently wish I had the means." This was the prayer and cry of St. Francis, this was the end of his affections and now in Heaven is what he possesses in glory.

Indeed, St. Francis as St. Bonaventure states, "conformed in a spiritual manner to the practice of the Old Law, which was to offer holocausts out of the tabernacle, and to burn incense within it." In fact, St. Francis wishing to prove his love for Our Crucified King, longed for martyrdom and undertook three voyages to receive it. The Lord Christ seeing and wishing to grant his desire favoured him instead "with a martyrdom of Love, impressing on his body the five Wounds which rendered him a living and expiring martyr." Francis' heart was so inflamed that he wished to die out of love for Him, Who died for love of us. And a touching event at the end of our Saint's life had him riding on a donkey, blind from the weeping of sweet tears of repentence and love and repeating over and over again, "Jesus, my love was crucified." It could be said that one of the first Saints to practise devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was our holy Father Francis. Wonderful to relate is the fact that Jesus Christ Himself gave to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque as a protector, St.Francis of Assisi, and this was due to the great and burning love Francis had for the Eucharistic Lord which he perservered in all of his life after his conversion.

St. Francis contrary to what some modern authors may assert was not an environmentalist. His love for his Creator and Lord made him see the greatness and love of God in all creatures. He could contemplate the greatness and blessedness of God in the smallest insect. He blessed and praised God in all of His creatures and was brought, through the grace of God to such a state of purity that like Adam in the garden, even little birds, wolves, insects and other creatures were subject to him. May we gain the favour of this Saint and through imitation of his virtues become pleasing to Our Lord Jesus Christ!

O blessed and holy Father Francis, today thy children call to thee! pray for us and for the Holy Church that in imitating thee and through thy powerful aid, we may obtain a burning and intense love for Jesus Crucified. Help us O blessed Francis, to trample over the world, the flesh, and the devil, let nothing attract us but the Heart of Jesus Christ and that of His Holy Mother Mary, so that with thee and through thee we may rejoice with Them in the glory of Paradise. Amen.

1. All quotations and referenced information for this article taken from the book: The Life and Legends of St. Francis of Assisi by Rev. Fr. Chalippe O.F.M.