The fourth of October on the liturgical calendar marked the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. The core of Saint Francis’ spirituality can be found in what the psalmist proclaims in psalm 16 verse two: “I say to the Lord, ‘Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee.’” For Francis God was, to borrow Saint Bonaventure’s classic phrase, the Summum Bonum, the Supreme Good, the Most High. And this God, showed his love for humanity when he chose to become a human being, in the very person of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3, 16). In Saint Francis’ view, God’s love was made tangible in Jesus Christ, when he became our humble and poor brother.

For the Poverello to be Jesus is to live the gospel life with the brothers God gives. The introductory statement of the Approved rule explains this point very clearly. “The rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity” (Later Rule I, l). Contrary to what a good number of us think nowadays, for Francis Jesus and the Church are one. Thus, the ecclesiastical approval for his forma vitae was principal in his following of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his Testament Saint Francis confesses: “And after the Lord gave me some brothers, no one showed me what I had to do, but the Most High himself revealed to me what I should live according to the pattern of the Holy Gospel. And I had this written down simply and in a few words and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me” (Testament 14-16).

Hence, at the very beginning of the official rule, Saint Francis is saying that his way of life is the gospel life because he met Jesus personally and as a result of that intimate personal encounter the Lord blessed him by giving him brothers who followed his footsteps. And the privileged mode through which Saint Francis met with Jesus was in being merciful to those who thirsted for his love and care. Like the good Samaritan of the parable, Francis went to the leper and bound up his wounds (see Lk 10, 34). With the most eloquent words, the Saint recounts this experience in his Testament. “The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, thus to begin doing penance in this way: for when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them and I showed mercy to them. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body” (Testament 1-3).

The greatest gospel lesson Saint Francis teaches us by his very life and mission is that whatever we do to and for the poor we are doing it for the Lord himself. If he would have been conferred the Nobel prize, I’m sure he would have borrowed Mother Teresa’s sterling comment: “I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone... Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” What a gospel brother Saint Francis is!

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

San Gwann