tnavarro61 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 [quote name='AudreyGrace' timestamp='1299619203' post='2219319'] Humility, ds. Read the Prayer of St. Francis. We don't like to boast [/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil'Monster Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 i love St. Francis of Assisi cuz hes so amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnavarro61 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I need to learn more about this man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wikitiki Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 St. Francis? You mean St. Francis de Sales? I love that guy! The Salesians are amesome, and no one talks about them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franciscanheart Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 [quote name='ThePenciledOne' timestamp='1299619202' post='2219318'] I would like to say that I have a devotion to St. Francis, but I have yet to read St. Bonaventure "Life of St. Francis of Assisi" to really start it. [/quote] For what exactly are you waiting?! Go, KID! NOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chamomile Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chamomile Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chamomile Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 [img]http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff508/philothea1983/Mary_Francis_Cimabue.jpg[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 p.s. a serious ditto to everything FN said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyGrace Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franciscanheart Posted March 9, 2011 Share 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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