St. Francis is all the Community stands for. His life was one of immense love for God and absolute poverty, in total reliance on God.

On 4th October every year we celebrate Saint Francis' Birthday with a special Service. We would like to share with you the following readings as a glimpse on his life and a reflection on the way he has shown us.

A life of prayer

The Franciscan family now numbered eight men and their life began to take on the shape of custom. They had no proper dwelling-place, for Christ had not had where to lay His head and they wanted to be like Him; but they made themselves thatched huts, such as Italian shepherds build today, where they could take refuge in bad weather and where they could sleep for a few hours before they rose to begin their day with prayer.

It was still dark when they began their prayer and sometimes cold and wet so that they shivered in their little huts, and often they were sick and weary, but nothing was allowed to interfere with their prayer for it was their life’s blood and all that they did and were was rooted in it.

Those who were beginners in prayer had to learn it the hard way, through all the alternations of dryness, self-disgust and shame, boredom and hopelessness, shot through with those moments of light that made it all worth while. They had Francis to help them, and they had the love of each other, that love of a small closely knit community suffering the same things together which is about the toughest love on earth. They cherished one another with deep love and served each other.

And they had the worship of God, the slowly growing heaven of contemplation, filling up the empty spaces left by the things of the world of which they had stripped themselves.

What pleasures and comforts were to other men worship was to them: this looking up into the face of Christ and telling Him how much they loved Him.

Perfect Joy

One winter’s day when they were coming from Perugia to St. Mary of the Angels suffering sorely from the bitter cold, Friar Leo with great wonder asked St. Francis: “Father, I pray you in the name of God to tell me where is perfect joy to be found.”

And St. Francis answered him thus: “When we arrive at St. Mary of the Angels soaked by the rain, frozen by the cold, and tormented with hunger and knock at the door and the doorkeeper comes in anger and says: “Who are you?” and we say: “We are two of your Friars” and he answers: “You are not telling the truth, you are impostors who go about deceiving the world and robbing the alms of the poor. Go away!” and he doesn’t open to us but makes us stay outside in the snow and rain, cold and hungry. Then, if we endure patiently such great wrong and such cruelty without complaint, and think humbly and charitably that the doorkeeper really believes us to be what he has called us and that God makes him speak against us, O Friar Leo, this is perfect joy.

And if constrained by hunger and by cold and by the night we shall knock once more and again he abused us and beat us brusing every bone in our body and rolling us in snow; if we, thinking of the suffering of Christ, shall bear all these things patiently and with cheerfulness for love of Him, O Friar Leo, this is perfect joy.

O, Friar Leo know this, that above all the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his beloved is that of overcoming self, and of willingly bearing suffering, injuries and discomforts for the love of Christ.

The last journey

One night even Francis came to feel that his suffering had become more than he could bear. Francis, though he had looked into God’s face of love at Alvernia, actually began to wonder if God was punishing him because he was such a great sinner.

And then the suffering itself began to feel like sin. It seemed like a dark cloud that separated him from God and he prayed “My Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Good Shepherd … grant me, Thy little lamb, that no pain, however great, no infirmity or anguish shall ever separate me from Thee.

When that thought came to him the anguish had reached its peak and begun to ebb. He could realise again that God was with him, always had been with him and always would be with him. He heard the interior Voice talking to him, and began to glow with a return of joy.

The Voice asked him, if all the beautiful things of earth, the rivers, the sun, the hills and the sea, were made of gold and balm and precious stones, and if he could find a treasure more precious still than all these, and he were offered it in place of his suffering, would he not rejoice and be content? And Francis answered “Lord, I am unworthy of such a treasure.” And the Voice said to him: “Rejoice with all your heart, Francis, for such a treasure is life eternal which I have in keeping for Thee, and this thine infirmity and affliction is a pledge of that treasure.”

Francis heard the first fluting of the birds and knew that the sky was lightening. It was no longer a grief to him that he could not see the sun, and would not again see clearly the beauty of earth that he loved so well, for like his suffering it had been given to him as a pledge of heaven. It was passing from him now, for it had done its work. Yet in the passing he felt he loved it more clearly than ever, adored God in it and for it as never before and was infinitely grateful for all that God through the beauty of the world had given him and taught him.

He loved his brothers and sisters, the birds and animals and flowers, but now with heaven so near his thoughts turned not so much to them as to those greater creatures of God, the sun, the moon, the stars and winds and water, and Mother Earth herself. Joy mounted in him, up and up with the song of the lark as she sprang towards the sun. He called the brothers that he might share his joy with them. When they had gathered round him Francis rose from his bed and began to sing. This song, the Canticle of Brother Sun, that had grown out of a night of pain was so full of joy that it has become one of the deathless songs of time:

The Canticle of Brother Sun

O Most High, Almighty, good Lord,
Yours are the praise, the glory, the honour and all blessings.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong.

Be praised my Lord with all your creatures,
and especially Sir Brother Sun who is the light of day
and by him you shed light upon us.
He is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
of You, my Lord, he bears the likeness.

Be praised my Lord for Sister Moon and the Stars,
in the heavens you formed them clear, precious and beautiful.
Be praised my Lord, for Brother Wind and for the Air,
and for the Clouds, the clear sky and all kinds of Weather
by which you nourish all your creatures.

Be praised my Lord for Sister Water,
who is very useful, humble, precious and pure.
Be praised my Lord for Brother Fire,
through whom you illuminate the night for us
he is beautiful and merry, vigorous and strong.

Be praised my Lord for our Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and guides us,
and produces diverse fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Be praised my Lord for those who pardon for love of you,
and endure sickness and trials.
Blessed are they who shall endure them in peace,
for by you, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praise and bless the Lord
and give thanks to Him and serve Him in great humility.

The Way of Love

The readings you have heard this evening give a glimpse of the spirit and values of St. Francis.

He was free. Free of attachments to the world. Free of inhibitions to do God’s work. Free to love every single living thing on Earth.

The way he lived his life provides us with a perfect example of how to come to know God. Through his complete surrender to God and lifelong identification with Christ he received the Stigmata – the marks of the Crucifixion. And these marks were not just scratches. Metal nails actually materialised embedded in his hands and feet. And he had a wound in his side which would never heal up.

The Lord once said to St. Francis: “Go and repair my church.” At first Francis thought he should fix the stonework of the little chapel in which he worshipped. He later realised that he was to repair the Church as an institution and to bring back to people’s minds the way of God.

We too as individuals must help to set right the way of God which has been lost, by integrating with the Divine. Here at Mass and Communion we should offer our negativity to the sacrifice of Christ in this Bread. For Francis of Assisi the Blessed Sacrament was the most important thing in the world. We also should acknowledge that Christ is there present in the Host and wine.

Open yourself to Him, approach Him with love to receive his love. Ask Christ to live in you. Ask Him frequently in your daily lives. And He will live in you if you have love. And he will show you that He also lives everywhere in everything, in the ground beneath your feet, in the air that you breathe, and the sky above you.

And he is there in your heart burning brightly with the flame of love. Carry this flame with you always wherever you go and let it be your guide in the world.