The Memorial of Saint Francis 2022
As I have stated before in
Homilies and even gave a retreat on this topic last Fall, as I was going through
Chemo at Fr. Meyer’s, I came across a collection of all the encyclicals of Pope
Leo XIII and was struck particularly by his encyclical on the Saint we celebrate
today…Saint Francis. It is actually
titled in English “On Saint Francis”
Just a few quotes from the
encyclical:
11. “amidst the effeminacy of
the time, Francis is seen to go about careless and roughly clad, begging his
food from door to door, not only enduring what is generally deemed most hard to
bear, the senseless ridicule of the crowd, but even to welcome it with a
wondrous readiness and pleasure.”
23. “you well know, venerable
brethren, that no small alleviation is to be found in the institutes of St.
Francis, if only they are brought back to their pristine state; for if they
only were in a flourishing condition, faith and piety, and every Christian
virtue would easily flourish; the lawless desire for perishing things would be
broken; nor would men refuse to have their desires ruled by virtue”
25. “We have always bestowed
special care upon the Third Order of St. Francis…We exhort Christian men not to
refuse to enroll themselves in this sacred army of Jesus Christ…(may you) strive
to imitate (St. Francis)…Therefore take pains that the people may become
acquainted with the Third Order and truly esteem it; provide that those who
have the care of souls teach what it is,
how easily anyone may enter
it,
with how great privileges
tending to salvation it abounds,
and what advantages, public
and private, it promises.”
That is why I am pursuing the
Third Order Franciscans. The plan is for
me to make my promises in November.
Please pray for me, and I invite anyone who feels called to discern the
3rd order of St. Francis to pursue it as well. There is a fraternity in Bloomington, there
is a fraternity in Terre Haute.
St. Francis, pray for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment