A beautiful man. A beautiful Saint. Loved by all. This sums up the life and witness of St. Francis, who graces our gardens, hovers over our pets, listening to their preaching, who calls the earth, the stars, the waters, the sun, the moon- “Brother “ and “Sister,”- the one who received the marks of Christ’s five wounds on his own body, the one who encountered the “heretic” Muslim as brother and friend, the one who gave dignity to the beggar and the leper by living with them and loving them... the list could go on and on...
The Feast of St. Francis should be a universal Holyday, given how magnificent a life he lived, an impossible life to literally follow. Nor should we. One Francis is enough. We ALL can make a difference in our little corner of the world in which we live by embracing a simple lifestyle and open our eyes to the countless poor in our streets and in the world at large. Refugees. Asylum seekers. The sick. The ones excluded. The “les miserables.”
Open eyes, wide open eyes pry wide open hearts that become saturated with the waters of Grace. And we are changed, transformed....
Peace...Joy,
Fr. Frank