There Will Be More Who Will Insult You

You will encounter some who are faithful, meek, and well disposed; they will joyfully receive you and your words. But there will be more who will insult you and resist your message. Prepare yourselves, therefore, to bear everything with patience and humility.

St. Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions - 36

If You Are Too Busy To Pray, Then You're Too Busy!

We need to be especially alert to the evil subtlety of Satan. His one desire is to keep people from having a mind and heart disposed to their Lord and God.

He circles, lusting to snatch the human heart by ruse of some gain or assistance and to stifle remembrence of the word and precepts of the Lord.

He wants to extinguish the light of the human heart, and so he moves in by means of worldly busyness and worry.

St. Francis of Assisi
Rule of 1221
CHAPTER XXII

Looking At The Speck In Our Brother's Eye

Those who are preoccupied only with knowing and pointing out the way of salvation to others, and neglect their own, will arrive naked and empty-handed before Christ's judgement seat. They will bring with them nothing but bundles of shame, disappointment, and bitterness. Then shall the truth of holy humility, which is our vocation, be proclaimed, exalted, and glorified. For those who were puffed up with learning prejudiced this truth by their own lives and by their empty words. They said this truth was falsehood and they cruelly persecuted, as if they were blind, those who were really walking in the truth of holy humility.

St. Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 72

Insults And Scorn

In the beginning, when St. Francis was still wearing the clothes of a layman, although he had already renounced the world, he went to Assisi for a long time looking wretched and so emaciated by penance that many thought he's turned simple-minded. They laughed at him as though he were mad, and relatives and strangers alike drove him away with insults and stones and mud. But he was already seasoned with a divine salt and rooted in peace of soul by the Holy Spirit, so he bore patiently all their insults and scorn with a joyful countenance, as if he were deaf and mute.

St. Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis
Chapter 2

Weapons

The Bishop of Assisi once said to St. Francis, "I think your life is too hard, too rough. You don't possess anything in this world."

And Francis replied, "My Lord, if we had possessions, we would need weapons to defend them."

St. Francis of Assisi
Anonymous of Perugia - 17

Class Warfare Is Forbidden Of The Brothers

Blessed Francis also warned his brothers never to judge or criticize those who live in luxury, eat fastidiously, and indulge in superfluous and splendid clothes; God, he said, is their Lord and ours; he has the power to call them to himself and justify them. He insisted that the friars should reverence such men as their brothers and masters, and they are indeed brothers since they are children of the same Creator; while they are masters since they help the good to do penance by giving them what is necessary to the body.

St. Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER XIV - 58

At This Time The Fear And Love Of God Had Died Out

As yet Francis did not preach sermons to the people they met; nevertheless in passing through towns and castles he exhorted all men and women to fear God and to do penance for their sins, while Brother Giles exhorted them to believe and to follow the excellent counsels of Francis.

When the people heard them, they said, 'Who are these men, and why do they speak like this?" They made this comment because at this time the fear and love of God had died out in the country and no one spoke of penance which was consodered as folly.

St. Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER IX - 34

What a Fine Place This World Would Be

PETER MAURIN

What a fine place
this world would be
if Dualist Humanists
tried to be human
to men.
What a fine place
this world would be
if Personal Theists
tried to be
their brother's keeper
as God
wants them to be.
What a fine place
this world would be
if Fundamentalist Protestants
tried to exemplify
the Sermon on the Mount.
What a fine place
this world would be
if Roman Catholics
tried to keep up
with Saint Francis of Assisi.

A Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

May the fiery and honey-sweet power of your love, O Lord, wean me from all things under heaven, so that I may die for love of your love, who deigned to die for love of my love.

Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi by
St. Bernardine of Siena and Ubertino da Casale

Where Do You Dwell, My Lady Poverty?

Enamored of your beauty, the Son of the Most High Father clung tightly to you when he was in the world and he knew your fidelity, proven in every instance. Even before he came to earth from the splendid light of his true home, you prepared a worthy dwelling place for him, a throne to support him, a wedding bed to receive him: the Virgin most poor, from whom he was born to shine his light upon this world. And hardly was he born when you ran in haste to meet him, for he had already found his home in you instead of in easy comfort.

St. Francis of Assisi
Sacrum Commercium - 19

Brother Angelo

Once when St. Francis was passing through the district of Borgo San Sepolcro, he came upon a village named Monte Casale. And there a young man, noble and delicate, came up to him and said, "Father, I want so much to join your brotherhood."

St. Francis answered, "Little son, you are so young and a delicate nobleman; I doubt that you could endure the hardness of our poverty."

But the young man said, "Father, are you not men like me? What you can endure, then, so can I with the grace of Christ."

This answer pleased St. Francis so much that he blessed the young man and received him into the Order then and there, giving him the name Brother Angelo.

St. Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis
Chapter 26

Rapt In Prayer

Francis's safe haven was prayer, not prayer of a few minutes, or empty, presumptuous prayer, but prolonged prayer, full of devotion and the serenity of humility. If he began late, it would be dawn before he finished. Whether walking, sitting, eating or driking, he was rapt in prayer. At night he would retire alone to pray in abandoned, neglected churches. That was how, by God's grace, he overcame many fears and anxieties.

Celano
First Life - 71

You May Not Claim Credit That God Is Pictured Through You

In a panel painting representing the Lord or the Blessed Virgin, it is the Lord or Holy Virgin who is honored, while the wood and the painting claim nothing for themselves. Similarly, a servant of God is a picture of God, in which God is honored for his favor. And you may not claim credit that God is pictured through you, for compared to him you are less than the wood and the painting.

St. Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 45

Doing Good Under The Pretext Of Reward

We must take good care that under the pretext of reward, of doing good, of giving assistance, we do not lose or turn our minds and hearts from the Lord.

St. Francis of Assisi
Rule of 1221
Chapter XXII

The Early Days At The Portiuncula

This is how our brothers lived in the early days at the Portiuncula, the church of Our Lady of the Angels. Although it was already a holy place, they made it even more holy by constant prayer and silence. If anyone spoke after the time set aside for silence, it was to speak devoutly and discreetly of things pertaining to the praise of God and the salvation of souls.

They curbed their desires of the flesh, not only by fasting, but also by frequent vigils, by enduring the cold in light clothing, and by working with their hands. In order to avoid idleness, they would often go and help poor farmers work their fields, and sometimes after work the farmers would share their bread with them for the love of God. They sanctified themselves and the place by these and other virtuous acts.

St. Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 57f

When People Shame You By Refusing You Alms

And when people shame you by refusing you alms, you should give thanks to God for that, because in recompense for shame we receive great honor before the judgement seat of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you should kknow that shame is imputed not to the one who suffers it, but to the one who inflicts it. And alms are the inheritance and the justice due the poor which our Lord Jesus Christ acquired for us. You who labor to acquire alms, then, have a great reward and also enrich those who give to you; for everything that people leave behind in the world will perish, but for the charity and almsgiving they've practiced they will have their reward from the Lord.

St. Francis of Assisi
Rule of 1221
Chapter IX

St. Francis of Assisi 800 Years Later

What is it, 800 years after the death of St. Francis of Assisi, that continues to draw followers into his Franciscan Movement?

Just ask Evy Christopher, Mary Jane Dolehanty, John Fitch, Georgianna Gibson or Joe Santillo, who will make their vows on April 6, 2008 as Associates of the Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, Indiana. Or simply ask Beverly Pardiek, who is being honored as a 15 year associate. They will tell you that as Seculars in the Franciscan order they desire to share in the basic charisms (gifts) of the Franciscan family in terms of the example of holy and integrated lives given by Saints Francis and Clare, and spiritual identity as articulated in the Rule. They are encouraged to be people of poverty, minority, joy, contemplation and ongoing conversion and to find a way to live these charisms in a vibrant and real way in their secular state.

Have you ever just wanted to get away from it all or said to yourself, "Enough is enough?" Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Then perhaps you can understand why these men and women, living within secular society, have said to themselves that there has to be something more to life than being caught up in a society driven by materialism, hedonism and malevolence. They have chosen instead to lead lives of "Simplicity."

Their formation can be viewed as a process by which sisters and brothers become people who love God, love their neighbors, are conscious of and work to address their sinful natures, have an appreciation and hunger for the sacraments, and who produce "worthy fruits of penance." In a word, formation asks them to become "people of mercy" and to be actively and conscientiously involved with growing in holiness at every level of their lives, that is, they accept a specific "Franciscan" direction and spiritual outlook as their own.

We can only experience humility and charity in relationship with one another as brothers and sisters. Francis always said, "And the Lord gave me brothers." Within the context of brotherhood and sisterhood, Franciscan men and women strive to follow the poor and crucified Christ by living the Gospel. At the time of Francis of Assisi, many religious orders and movements grounded their lives in the experience of the early Christian community in Acts 2. Francis teaches Franciscan men and women to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is best heard and lived within brotherhood and sisterhood. "Join the brotherhood" is an invitation to live the Gospel in community as together we follow the poor and crucified Christ. The message is there, it's stong, it speaks for itself. Can you hear it?

Anyone wishing to find out more about the Lay Franciscans here in the Richmond Catholic Community are encouraged to attend one of our monthly meetings in the Father Minton Meeting Room at Seton West or by contacting Jill Hillman at 912-933-6457 or by e-mailing her at jhillman@oldenburgosf.com

How The Brothers Are To Love

Let the brothers love one another, as the Lord says, "This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12).

And let them show by their deeds the love they have for one another, as the Apostle says, "Our love must not be just words or mere talk, but something active and genuine" (1 John 3:18).

And they are "not to go slandering other people" (Titus 3:2); nor are they to grumble or speak evil, for it is written, "Libelers and slanderers are enemies of God" (Romans 1:30). And they are "to be peacable and gentle, and always polite to people of all kinds" (Titus 3:2).

St. Francis of Assisi
Rule 1221
Chapter XI

Eastertide In Greccio

One day during Eastertide the brothers at the hermitage of Greccio prepared the table more daintily than they ususally did with white linens and glassware. Coming down from his cell, St. Francis saw the table elevated above the ground and decorated extravagantly. But though the table was smiling, he was not. Unseen and little by little he retraced his steps, put on the hat of a poor man who was there, and, taking his staff in his hand, went outside. He waited outside the door until the brothers began to eat, for they were in the habit of not waitning for him when he did not come at the signal. They had just begun to eat when this truly poor man cried out at the door, "For the love of the Lord God, an alms, please, for this poor, sick pilgrim." The brothers answered, "Do come in, whoever you are, for the love of him whose name you have invoked." He immediately entered and appeared before them as they were eating. Oh, what astonishment that pilgrim then caused these comfortable citizens! They gave him the plate he asked for, and he withdrew and sat alone on the floor, placing the dish in the ashes.

"Now I am sitting as a Lesser Brother should sit." he said. And turning to the brothers, he said, "We should be moved by the example of the poverty of the Son of God more than others are. I saw a table richly prepared, and I thought, this is not the table of poor men who beg from door to door."

Celano
Second Life - 61

Laziness Is Not Be Tolerated

In the beginning, when the Order was new and the brothers were living at Rivotorto, there was a brother who didn't pray much, who did no work, and who wouldn't go begging because he was ashamed to. But he did eat, and quite well.

Now when St. Francis was thinking over what to do about him, he received the word, through the Holy Spirit, that this brother was intent upon things of the flesh. So St. Francis said to him, "Good-bye, Brother Fly! All you want is to eat what your brothers work for and to idle away your time instead of working in God. You're like Brother Drone, refusing to work or to produce, but eating what the good bees work for, what they produce." So that brother left, and flesh-minded man that he was, he didn't even ask forgiveness.

St. Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 62

St Francis Embraced The Mother Of Jesus

St. Francis embraced the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ with indescribable love, because she had made the Lord of Majesty our brother and had obtained mercy for us. After Christ it was Mary in whom he placed his trust and whom he chose as advocate, both for himself and his brothers.

St. Bonaventure
Major Life - 9:3

HELP WANTED !

A special thanks to "The Curt Jester" for the following:

http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/

In a sign of the intensifying battle for Catholic voters between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, particularly ahead of next month’s Pennsylvania primary, both candidates have brought Catholic outreach coordinators aboard their campaigns, God-o-Meter has learned.

Just last week, Obama’s campaign hired Mark Linton, a legislative aide working on poverty and other social policy issues in Obama’s Senate office, as its National Catholic Outreach Coordinator. Linton, who had previously worked for Catholic Relief Services, is currently focused almost exclusively on Pennsylvania, where roughly one in three Democratic voters are expected to be Catholic.

“Mark’s job is to help get Senator Obama’s message on health care, the war, and helping American families out to the Catholic grassroots,” said Joshua DuBois, Obama’s National Director of Religious Affairs, in an interview Monday, describing Linton’s role. “Obama is just beginning to introduce himself to Catholics around the country.”

The Obama campaign would not grant a request to interview Linton, saying he’s not an official spokesperson.

The Clinton camp, meanwhile, has brought aboard Eric McFadden, the former field director for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a progressive Washington-based Catholic group founded after the 2004 election to combat conservative Catholic advocacy organizations.

This does make me wonder how a campaign advertises for a Catholic outreach coordinator?

Help wanted a Catholic outreach coordinator to help campaign for a candidate that supports the murder of innocents in the womb, supports experimenting on human embryos and killing them afterwards, supports cloning of humans for research and killing them afterwards, supports killing the sick and the elderly if they want to die or just have an evil family member representing them, plus support other Catholic values like homosexual marriage. Must be able to inform fellow Catholics that voting for a candidate totally in favor of intrinsic evils is acceptable. That somehow supporting so many moral evils has no bearing on their on their character and their decisions. After all a candidate that supports sucking the brains out of children as they are being born obviously is going to make ethical decisions in their presidency.

Must be able to hold the tension of working for a campaign that will attack the other Democratic candidate as not being pro-choice enough while at the same time reaching out to Catholics telling them it doesn't matter if their pro-choice in the first place since political decision will not bring a culture of life an any way whatsoever.

Communication skills are a must in explaining why the candidates frequent and fervent support of abortion actually means that they are working on reducing the same.

An advance degree in moral relativism is required along with good memory skills for repeating phrases such as "pro-choice is not pro-abortion" and other gems.

Moral schizophrenia while not required is a bonus.

Extraordinary Meekness

That meekness which is so necessary, we should learn from St. Francis. For his was an extraordinary meekness, not only toward other people, but also toward animals. He called all animals "brother" or "sister" and we read in the story of his life how even wild animals came running to him as their friend and companion.

St. Bonaventure
Sermon of October 4, 1255

St. Francis And The Swallows At Alviano

It happened once when St. Francis was preaching in Alviano that he could not be heard because of the chattering of a flock of swallows building their nests there. So St. Francis said to the birds, "My Sister Swallows, you have had your say. It is now my turn to speak. Be quiet now and listen to the word of the Lord."

Then to the astonishment of the people standing about, the little birds fell silent and did not move until St. Francis finished preaching.

Celano
First Life - 59

Saint Francis Preaches To The Birds

Once near Bevagna inthe Spoleto valley St. Francis saw a large flock of birds of various kinds. There were doves and crows, and those popularly called daws. Now Francis was always fervent toward creatures and showed them great tenderness, so as soon as he saw these birds, he left his companions and ran eagerly to the birds. And when he got close to them, he greeted them in his usual way. They seemed to be waiting for him; they didn't fly away as he expected them to. And so, filled with joy, he begged them to listen to the word of God. Among other things, he said to the birds: "My Brother Birds, you should always praise your Creator and love him. He covered you with feathers and gave you wings to fly and granted you a kingdom of pure air. He cares for you, too, without any worry on your part, though you neither sow nor reap."

At these words, as Francis and his companions later reported, the birds acknowledged his words in a wonderful fashion. They stretched out their necks and flapped their wings, and gazed at him with their beaks open. And St. Francis walked among them in fervor and spirit, brushing their heads and bodies with his tunic, and not one of them moved until he made the sign of the cross over them and gave them permission to fly away. And Francis and his companions went on their way, as well, praising and thanking God whom all creatures venerate and humly acknowledge.

Celano
First Life - 58

St. Bonaventure
Major Life - 12:3

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley: Comments Regarding The Franciscan Constitution

"The present constitutions emerged from a long process and the hard work of commissions and General Chapters. We also had the advantage of the newly composed Constitutions of the OFMs and the scholarly work of the legendary Father Cajetan Esser, O.F.M. Each Chapter of the present Capuchin Constitutions adopted a format which takes the Revelation of the Church and then Francis’ genius and then our fraternity and then develops the topic of the Chapter. It is a wonderfully constructed ecclesial vision of religious life and Franciscan spirituality. It locates us in the context of the Church and not as a sideshow of charismatic wonder.

"Capitular fathers were grateful to the fine work of the Italian Friar Guiseppe Santorelli from the Province of Ancora who helped incorporate more of the original Capuchin constitutions into the new Constitutions. All in all the Chapters that worked on the Constitutions did a remarkable job. I was present for some of those Chapters as a lowly translator and witnessed firsthand the hard work of the Capitulars.

"The new Constitutions despite its many strengths does have some flaws in my opinion. It is my hope that the call to re-look at the Constitutions might address some of these concerns:

• The new Constitutions dropped too much of our life of penance and the contemplative side of our life.
• The new Constitutions fail to give a clear formula for living a life of poverty “with explanations.”
• The new Constitutions favor generalities to honor an ill-conceived notion of pluriformity that has robbed the Constitutions of its fire.
• The new Constitutions needed to say more about the friars’ love for the Church and the fidelity to her moral and dogmatic teaching. Francis was so devoted to the Church, despite all the defects and shortcomings of the clergy and leadership.
•Our Constitutions should not be a bland description of how we are living our vocation in the 3rd millennium, but rather a description of how we should be living our life in a concrete program of radical poverty, radical prayer, radical love. Constitutions should not be easily tempered with. Performance and stability are important to inspire people with a sense of awe and seriousness. In today’s world young people see how everything is expendable, “throw-away.” Technology has created a world where everything is experimental or obsolete.

"The Constitutions are our identity as Capuchins and need to be firmly grounded in our history. We do not need a document that is modern and trendy that will soon seem dated and passe.

"Conclusion:

"Capuchin Identity is safeguarded by the Constitutions only in as much as it inspires us to live the Rule and Testament in a radical way. Generalities will never do. The Gospel Life of the Capuchin Brotherhood is about radical love. It is a life that begins with contemplative prayer. This allows one to imitate the self-emptying of Christ’s kenosis and leads to a radical witness that invites people to renounce the extreme individualism and materialism of our age in order to follow Christ poor and crucified.

"Some people are advocating removing some of the concrete directives on prayer that are in the Constitutions and place them in the Ordinances. This would be a fatal mistake. The ordinances are unknown and irrelevant to most of the friars. The Rule and Constitutions will always be the documents that form us and teach us our identity. The Constitutions cannot be a weak exhortation to live a vague ideal of the most common denominator. Rather, the Constitutions should be a challenging document that incorporates concrete directives about the life of prayer, poverty, and austerity. We need more boldness in our Constitutions if we are going to inspire young men to join our ranks.

"If we embrace or institutionalize a comfortable, bourgeois life style, the Order will die out, no matter how much lip service we give to a liberal social agenda. Our way of life lived in all its radical renunciation is capable of producing men whose witness of prayer, poverty and love will help transform society by calling people back to God, calling them to come home to the Church, by helping people to have a sense of personal vocation and to be part of a communal mission.

"It is my conviction that the contemplative aspects of our life should be addressed first of all. The Capuchin charism begins with the eremitical emphasis of the first friars as reflected in the document of Albacena, the subsequent Constitutions elaborate more on ministry and mission. The point of departure however is the contemplative basis of our vocation. When the life of prayer is carefully delineated, then the other aspects of our life take shape. The centrality of the Eucharist and mental prayer needs to be very clear. Daily celebration of a communal Eucharist, two periods of meditation, and the communal praying of the entire liturgy of the hours needs to be enshrined in the Constitutions as a bare minimum. To leave that up to local communities to legislate is too risky. By leaving things out of the Constitutions we are sending a signal that they are not really important and we encourage a take it or leave it attitude.

"The subjective mood, weak exhortations and mild recommendations do not communicate the sense of urgency that Francis wants to communicate in the Rule. It is a matter of life and death. St. Paul says no one will follow an uncertain trumpet blast. Our legislation should not be an exercise in subtleties. The directives about prayer and poverty need to be concrete, airtight and unyielding."

Cardinal Sean

http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/

A Ladder To The Throne Of God

St. Francis praised the Artist in every one of his works; whatever he found in things made, he referred to their Maker. He rejoiced in all the works of the Lord's hands, and with joyful vision saw into the reason and cause that gave them life. In beautiful things he came to know Beauty itself. To him all things were good. They cried out to him, "He who made us is infinitely good." By tracing his footprints in things Francis followed the Beloved wherever he led. He made, from created things, a ladder to his throne.

Celano
Second Life - 165

Lesser Brothers Are To Become Models Of Humility

Francis, the model of humility, wanted his brothers to be called Lesser and the superiors of the Order to bear the name "servants," thereby preserving the very words used in the Gospel which he had promised to observe. At the same time he enabled his followers to learn from their very name that they had come to the school of the humble Christ to learn humility. Jesus Christ, the teacher of humility, intending to form his disciples in true humility, said, "Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to become the first among you must be your slave" (Matthew 20:26-27).

St. Bonaventure
Major Life - 6:5

The Prayer Of St. Francis Before The Crucifix

Most High, Glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart,
and give me correct faith,
sure hope and perfect charity,
with understanding and knowledge, Lord,
so that I may fulfill your holy and true command,
Amen.

Writing of St. Francis of Assisi

Strip The Altar Bare And Strip Off Its Ornaments!

Strip the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary and cart off its varied furnishings if you cannot otherwise satisfy one who is in need! Believe me, it is dearer to Mary that the Gospel of her Son be kept, though it means stripping her altar, than to see her altar ornamented and her Son neglected!

Celano
Second Life - 67