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FEAST OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI - 7 OCTOBER 2007
The parish of St. Andrew's Lutwyche celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Sunday 7 October by holding a special Eucharist with the blessing pets.
We hold this service on the First Sunday of October in every year as a celebration of the love we have for our animal companions and to re-assess the love that we have for God and for each other as we bring to mind the challenge that St. Francis offers all of us.
Franciscan Spirituality describes that approach to God and life in the world characterized by the values and behaviors that have their foundation in the religious experience of Francis and Clare of Assisi and the movement begun by them. This spirituality is expressed in the life and writings of the Franciscan women and men belonging to the First order, the Second Order and the Third Order Regular and Secular, as well as countless others who claim the Franciscan spirit as their own.
 
Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
Born at Assisi in Umbria, the son of Peter Bernadone, a wealthy cloth merchant, Francis spent a carefree youth, more interested in revelry and romantic chivalry than in learning, business or religion. But his life could not be characterized as licentious and he had a deep concern for the poor. Francis's conversion began in 1202 when he was a prisoner of war for a year at Perugia. Soon after his release he was stricken with a serious illness. These experiences made him conscious of his soul's barrenness. But once recovered, he set off on a military expedition led by Duke Walter of Brienne, hoping to win fame and knighthood.
 
At Spoleto he was overcome with a fever and in a dream heard a voice ask "who can benefit you the most:the Lord or the servant? Why do you desert the Lord for his vassal?". Deeply affected by this event, Francis returned to Assisi, lived a more retired life and sought to discover God's will. One day in 1205 or 1206, while at prayer in the dilapidated church of S. Damiano near Assisi, a voice from the crucifix said to him "Francis, repair my house". Francis interpreted these words literally, believing his mission was to rebuild the church in which he knelt. With characteristic simplicity he took several bolts of expensive cloth from his father's shop and sold them and brought the money from the transaction to the priest in charge of the church.
 
Indignant at his son's behavior, Peter Bernadone summoned him to the Bishop of Assisi's court, demanding that the price of the cloth be returned. In a dramatic gesture of abandonment to Providence, Francis gave back to his father not only the money but even the clothes he was wearing and standing disrobed before the assembly, he said "Hitherto I have called Peter Bernadone father; henceforth I will say 'Our Father, who art in heaven."
 
Francis then went about Assisi begging materials for the repair of poor and abandoned churches. One of these St. Mary of the Angels, he made the center of his activities. While attending Mass there in 1209, he heard read a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew (Chapter 10:4-14) that gave him a new insight into the nature of his vocation. He now saw clearly that he was called to be not only a repairer of churches and a devout hermit but likewise a joyful proclaimer of the Gospel. His vocation was to follow the Gospel way of poverty, simplicity and humility.
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It is thought that it is unlikely that Francis deliberately set out to found a religious order, but his winning personality, his joyous asceticism, and his simple eloquence drew men to him. He and his earliest followers lived as itinerant preachers, possessing no permanent residence, begging their food when they could not earn it by honest hard work and refusing to accept money under any circumstances. Their sermons consisted of simple moral admonitions. The content of their message was "Be converted, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand". Their sincerity, austerity and joyousness deeply impressed all who saw and heard them.
In 1209 or 1210, when his followers numbered 12, Francis sought Papal approval for the simple rule he had constructed from Gospel Texts. This was granted orally by Innocent III. Ten years later the Lesser Brothers, as Francis wanted his followers to be known, numbered more than 5,000.
In 1221, in an attempt to provide for the needs of his expanding brotherhood, Francis revised the rule. As a legal document this revision was not satisfactory and 2 years later another revision was undertaken. In the composition of this 3rd and final rule Francis had the aid of his close friend and advisor Cardinal Hugolino (Later Gregory IX). Though more legal in tone, this rule still bears the stamp of Francis's genius and breathes the spirit of the gospel which he held to be the essence of his way of life.
Toward the end of his life his order attained a size and complexity that Francis never envisioned. His health was failing and he was almost blind. Realizing his weakness and his limitations as an executive, he resigned the direction of the order into the hands of a vicar. His last years were spent mostly in prayerful retirement in primitive hermitages among his early companions. On September 17, 1224 at La Verna the marks of the five wounds of Christ were miraculously imprinted on his body. Lying naked on the bare earth, as a final sign of his total abandonment to God, he died praying the 141st Psalm.
St. Francis is best understood through a study of his own writings. He is the patron saint of animals due to his love of creation.
Files suitable for printing are available from Dean Dudley on 0418 769 711
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