franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='FutureNunJMJ' timestamp='1299616236' post='2219298'] +JMJ You would think, huh? I've actually been thinking about this recently due to a 'brief' essay that I've been asked to complete... I think I'm drawn to Holy Father Francis through St. Clare, his little plant. Like TradMom said, Assisi today is a beautiful town. I've been blessed to be able to visit twice. I even had a little orange cat accompany me on my way to San Damiano. Praying in the chapel where St. Francis is buried was deeply moving and I was in awe that this little poor man who lived so foolishly (according to the world) was the very support of the church and has left an amazing impact on the world! A Lutheran friend of mine even adores St. Francis! St. Clare too is a powerhouse! I am in awe of her virtue and courage. Francis seems like a very rustic and down to earth man. He was able to see the intricacies of the world around him, and there was the very fingerprint of God! He never studied, but God gave Him the knowledge he needed to bring others to Christ. He relied on God for everything! He lived on Divine Providence to his death! He abandoned everything to live as Christ lived. He sought to not just live, but walk and breath the Gospel. I've been trying to read more of his writing, as I have found a beauty within them that lifts my soul to Heaven. The Little Flowers of St. Francis was wonderful as well. Perfect Joy is the one that sticks out the most. His courage to live so courageously for Christ is so contagious! There are many bold Franciscan Saints. Although he seems too unreachable with his extreme penance and prayer, he is still down-to-earth. He found himself to be unworthy of any praise or glory, but instead all was for Christ. My thoughts on all this are still a little disorganized and not completely uncovered. I also do not know as much as I perhaps should, but I am looking forward to coming to better know and understand the Franciscan spirituality in the monastery. I know that I am drawn to the Franciscan charism because of Holy Poverty. That was one of the things that I felt wasn't quite right when I visited the Dominicans. Through this attraction to Holy Poverty, I've come to learn more about what it means to be Franciscan... and Our Lady has a very special place in the heart of any Franciscan. [/quote] Can I add my love of Saint Francis to hers? She's going away soon. I think she should get the present.
Chamomile Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 I'm too tired to write something long, so I'll probably just post short meditations on St. Francis as they come to me. Recently I had a thought as to why it's been said St. Francis is the Saint who most closely resembled Jesus. Even though St. Francis was renown for all his deeds and the exterior manifestations of his love for Christ, he always sought to get away, to be alone with His Beloved. He wondered if he should be a hermit, but was told no. He had a hermitage he would visit for prayer, and he was observed to spend whole nights in prayer. He was a mystic but so transparent, so down-to-earth that people forget this. And this is what makes the best kind of mystic! And so I can see such an identification with Jesus in this - that pull to be alone and yet that overwhelming desire to help those in need. This pull created a balanced yet all-consuming desire to give all for God. And it produced miraculous fruits and helped rebuild the crumbling Church. This pull is also the stuff of the agony in the garden, though... and so St. Francis was a Saint of suffering... And joy! To own nothing but God - this is the source of Franciscan joy Because all other things drag us down and keep us from being light
Chamomile Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Oh! And when he heard the Lord tell him to rebuild his Church, he took it literally and started to physically rebuild a crumbling church, stone by stone. That must've made God What humility and willingness to do anything... And he stripped naked in front of the whole town to show he owned nothing and belonged to nobody but God. This is a spirituality that enacts what it preaches. And he probably prayed for me when I visited Assisi before I was Catholic and was told that this was the place where St. Francis's remains where, and I thought, "Who?"
Chamomile Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [img]http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff508/philothea1983/Mary_Francis_Cimabue.jpg[/img]
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 The simplicity of Francis's life is something so incredibly beautiful to me. I thank God daily for the likeness of my spirit to Francis's and I strive to be more like Papa Francis in all I do and say and think. His profound appreciation and understanding of the creation of God - not just man but all living things - is amazing to me and so utterly beautiful. His desire to literally leave behind every piece of temporal good in order to convert souls and spread the Love of Christ Jesus in his teaching is just amazing to me. His sacrifices on all levels were and continue to be extraordinary. I think sometimes that his sacrifices might seem even more extraordinary today. God probably knew that would happen, huh? His love for Lady Poverty has always spoken to me, his desire to serve God's beloved poor. To serve the sick and the dying. Those without temporal good. To imitate Christ in his humility, to make himself lesser than that in which he was created. To so literally and profoundly serve Christ in His call to follow? I WANT THAT. I have that desire and I want to follow in Papa Francis's footsteps. He gave of himself publicly, as someone has already mentioned, when his heart desired solitude. I GET THAT. His joy was abundant [i]because[/i] of his actions, not in spite of it. God graced Francis with such a complete understanding of man's place on this earth and he was very much in touch with his role in this life. He knew his place and he LOVED it. He embraced it so wholly, so perfectly. He was... a saint. (I know, I know! Terrible joke!)
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 p.s. a serious ditto to everything FN said.
Lil Red Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='AudreyGrace' timestamp='1299619203' post='2219319'] Humility, ds. Read the Prayer of St. Francis. We don't like to boast [/quote] nice comeback.
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='AudreyGrace' timestamp='1299619203' post='2219319'] Humility, ds. Read the Prayer of St. Francis. We don't like to boast [/quote] But... ... the prayer of Saint Francis is: [quote]We bless you, Most Holy Lord, Jesus Christ, here and in all your churches throughout the world, because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.[/quote]
AudreyGrace Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='franciscanheart' timestamp='1299646307' post='2219423'] [/quote] i was referring to this [url="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pray0027.htm"]http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pray0027.htm[/url]
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='AudreyGrace' timestamp='1299647515' post='2219433'] i was referring to this [url="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pray0027.htm"]http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pray0027.htm[/url] [/quote] I knew which one you meant. Saint Francis didn't compose that prayer.
AudreyGrace Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='franciscanheart' timestamp='1299648516' post='2219434'] I knew which one you meant. Saint Francis didn't compose that prayer. [/quote] why must you do this to me? why must the world lie to me? lol
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='AudreyGrace' timestamp='1299650094' post='2219437'] why must you do this to me? why must the world lie to me? lol [/quote] Share the knowledge.
cappie Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 Being a Capuchin Franciscan Friar, I have a "devotion" to St Francis, although he would hate the very idea of devotion to him not to Jesus Christ. I see that he has achieved in an outstanding manner what the world with its wisdom, technology and the good will of millions of people look for but don’t obtain: happiness, freedom, peace, harmony and reconciliation among peoples and with nature itself. Francis obtained all this because his contemplative spirit allowed him to see the beauty of all creation, and his obedience gave him interior freedom: it freed him from himself. Francis was the herald of peace and universal brotherhood because he came to know Christ who is our peace and who broke down the walls of separation. The life of Francis was one of Gospel penance, of carrying his cross. It is there that he learned the overwhelming wisdom of Jesus Christ: in the school of the cross. We find this wisdom also in our Rule which says that the brothers should be concerned “with what they ought to long for above everything: to have to Spirit of the Lord and his holy working, to pray to him continually with a pure heart, to have humility and patience in persecution and sickness, and to love those who persecute, reprehend and accuse us…” (RB 10, 8-10). As Paul tells us our faith is not based on human wisdom but rather on the power of God, and this strength is the weakness and scandal of the cross.
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 [quote name='cappie' timestamp='1299651587' post='2219442'] Being a Capuchin Franciscan Friar, I have a "devotion" to St Francis, although he would hate the very idea of devotion to him not to Jesus Christ. I see that he has achieved in an outstanding manner what the world with its wisdom, technology and the good will of millions of people look for but don’t obtain: happiness, freedom, peace, harmony and reconciliation among peoples and with nature itself. Francis obtained all this because his contemplative spirit allowed him to see the beauty of all creation, and his obedience gave him interior freedom: it freed him from himself. Francis was the herald of peace and universal brotherhood because he came to know Christ who is our peace and who broke down the walls of separation. The life of Francis was one of Gospel penance, of carrying his cross. It is there that he learned the overwhelming wisdom of Jesus Christ: in the school of the cross. We find this wisdom also in our Rule which says that the brothers should be concerned “with what they ought to long for above everything: to have to Spirit of the Lord and his holy working, to pray to him continually with a pure heart, to have humility and patience in persecution and sickness, and to love those who persecute, reprehend and accuse us…” (RB 10, 8-10). As Paul tells us our faith is not based on human wisdom but rather on the power of God, and this strength is the weakness and scandal of the cross. [/quote]
Ice_nine Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 I wanted to start a devotion to St. Francis but, like with most things, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Soooooo . . . where do I start?
vee Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 This Franciscan thread needs more Carmel [img]http://thecorner.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/24/item2548_teresa_icon.jpg[/img]
vee Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 [img]http://anunslife.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Teresa_John.jpg[/img]
vee Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Virgen_del_Carmen.JPG/250px-Virgen_del_Carmen.JPG[/img] There, thats better for now.....
Chamomile Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 [quote name='vee8' timestamp='1299769323' post='2219798'] [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Virgen_del_Carmen.JPG/250px-Virgen_del_Carmen.JPG[/img] There, thats better for now..... [/quote] St. Francis would've loved that... I'm pretty sure he was a Carmelite at heart
Chamomile Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) Note the similarities between St. Francis' Canticle the Sun and the Bendicite, which the Church prays every day in Lauds. [url="http://www.webster.edu/~barrettb/canticle.htm"]Canticle of the Sun[/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedicite"]Benedicite[/url] I say he was a Carmelite at heart because his first emphasis was on prayer and meditating on the law of the Lord - this then turned into action for him. His action was prayer, too, as all our works should praise the Creator, even when we are not specifically speaking ("Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words"). St. Francis was very obedient to the Church. I think it was G. K. Chesterton that pointed out in his biography of St. Francis, that he could've probably just started a new religion, a new sect of Christianity if he had so desired. He had the charismatic nature to do it and a mass of followers to build it up. But he chose to remain loyal to the Church, which was having difficulties at that time. He believed in Truth and Unity (which is a reflection of the Blessed Trinity). St. Francis loved the liturgy and was very reverent during liturgical prayer. [url="http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2011/02/st-francis-and-divine-office.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNewLiturgicalMovement+%28The+New+Liturgical+Movement%29"]Here's a link to an article about that[/url]. [size=1]edited because I accidently clicked on post without being done yet [/size] Edited March 10, 2011 by Chamomile
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