A Month of Prayer with St. Francis of Assisi

Wyatt North

• Publisher: Wyatt North Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781667304199
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

As much as any of the saints, Saint Francis of Assisi—born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone—is known for his profound piety. He is especially remembered for how he renounced worldly possessions in order to focus on spiritual things. At great personal risk, he attempted to convert the Sultan in Egypt to end the Crusades. His Franciscan Order grew quickly in his time and has since birthed several other orders that persist to this day. He is known particularly for his love of the Eucharist. According to tradition, he received the stigmata while in prayer in 1224, making him the first recorded saint to receive this blessing.

 

 Day 1

St. Francis placed a great deal of emphasis on the Eucharist in his discussions of the Christian life. How can one draw near to the Lord without receiving with awe and gratitude the very means, ordained by Christ, that He has instituted as His way of drawing near to us? Thus, St. Francis goes to great lengths in his writings to reinforce the proper posture and awe a Christian should have when taking the Eucharistic host. While many people seek God in many and various places, in the Eucharist, God seeks us, He comes to us on His terms, and therefore, it is the one place where we can be certain that we are genuinely encountering the Lord.

 

Meditations from St. Francis

 

The Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me you would, without doubt, have known My Father also: and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him. Philip saith to Him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth [My] Father also. How sayest thou, Shew us the Father?” The Father “inhabiteth light inaccessible,” and “God is a spirit,” and “no man hath seen God at any time.” Because God is a spirit, therefore it is only by the spirit He can be seen, for “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” For neither is the Son, inasmuch as He is equal to the Father, seen by any one other than by the Father, other than by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, all those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ according to humanity and did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity, that He was the Son of God, were condemned. In like manner, all those who behold the Sacrament of the Body of Christ which is sanctified by the word of the Lord upon the altar by the hands of the priest in the form of bread and wine, and who do not see and believe according to the Spirit and Divinity that It is really the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are condemned, He the Most High having declared it when He said, “This is My Body, and the Blood of the New Testament,” and “he that eateth My Flesh and drinkety My Blood hath everlasting life.”

Wherefore [he who has] the Spirit of the Lord which dwells in His faithful, he it is who receives the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord: all others who do not have this same Spirit and who presume to receive Him, eat and drink judgment to themselves. Wherefore, “O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart?” Why will you not know the truth and “believe in the Son of God?” Behold daily He humbles Himself as when from His “royal throne” He came into the womb of the Virgin; daily He Himself comes to us with like humility; daily He descends from the bosom of His Father upon the altar in the hands of the priest. And as He appeared in true flesh to the Holy Apostles, so now He shows Himself to us in the sacred Bread; and as they by means of their fleshly eyes saw only His flesh, yet contemplating Him with their spiritual eyes, believed Him to be God, so we, seeing bread and wine with bodily eyes, see and firmly believe it to be His most holy Body and true and living Blood. And in this way our Lord is ever with His faithful, as He Himself says: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”

St. Francis of Assisi. Of the Lord’s Body.

 

Additional Biblical Reflections: Matthew 28:29–20; John 14:6; 1 Corinthians 11:29.

 

Prayer

 

Lord, while we see the accidents of bread and wine, you nonetheless have chosen these crude vessels to become your body and blood, your presence. Let us receive the sacrament worthily and regularly, with proper contrition, so that by discerning your body, we might receive this gift to our glory and yours. Amen.

Day 2

Today’s meditation addresses two of Jesus’s most difficult teachings. First, St. Francis speaks of renouncing the material world and possessions since such things can easily become false gods. Second, he urges that one love even those who might persecute them on account of their faithful obedience. This is why he argues that one should not abandon their superiors or people who are in authority, even if situations demand, for the sake of their soul, necessary disobedience. It is better to disobey and accept the consequences—if such disobedience is rooted in higher fidelity to God—than to disobey and flee.

Meditations from St. Francis

The Lord says in the Gospel: he “that doth not renounce all that he possesseth cannot be” a “disciple” and “he that will save his life, shall lose it.” That man leaves all he possesses and loses his body and his soul who abandons himself wholly to obedience in the hands of his superior, and whatever he does and says—provided he himself knows that what he does is good and not contrary to his [the superior’s] will—is true obedience. And if at times a subject sees things which would be better or more useful to his soul than those which the superior commands him, let him sacrifice his will to God, let him strive to fulfil the work enjoined by the superior. This is true and charitable obedience which is pleasing to God and to one’s neighbor.

If, however, a superior command anything to a subject that is against his soul it is permissible for him to disobey, but he must not leave him [the superior], and if in consequence he suffer persecution from some, he should love them the more for God’s sake. For he who would rather suffer persecution than wish to be separated from his brethren, truly abides in perfect obedience because he lays down his life for his brothers. For there are many religious who, under pretext of seeing better things than those which their superiors command, look back and return to the vomit of their own will. These are homicides and by their bad example cause the loss of many souls.

St. Francis of Assisi. Of Perfect and Imperfect Obedience.

Additional Biblical Reflections: Matthew 6:19–21; Acts 5:29; Romans 13:1–14; 1 Timothy 6:17–19.

Prayer

Lord, perfect obedience often requires we walk a tightrope between both requiring material goods to survive and worshipping them, between obeying authorities and remaining faithful to what is requir...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7
• Day 8
• Day 9
• Day 10
• Day 11
• Day 12
• Day 13
• Day 14
• Day 15
• Day 16
• Day 17
• Day 18
• Day 19
• Day 20
• Day 21
• Day 22
• Day 23
• Day 24
• Day 25
• Day 26
• Day 27
• Day 28
• Day 29
• Day 30