The Testimony of Saint Francis of Assisi

Fresco, Saint Francis with Jesus and Blessed Mother Mary
Bishop's Office, Assisi

O how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel:  You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul, and your neighbor as yourself.  Therefore, let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind.  This is his particular desire when he says:  True worshipers adore the Father in spirit and truth.  For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth.  Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers saying:  Our Father, who are in heaven, since we must always pray and never grow slack.

- From a letter written to all the faithful by Saint Francis of Assisi

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It has been said that Francis represents an alter Christus, that he was truly a living icon of Christ. He has also been called "the brother of Jesus". Indeed, this was his ideal: to be like Jesus, to contemplate Christ in the Gospel, to love him intensely and to imitate his virtues. In particular, he wished to ascribe interior and exterior poverty with a fundamental value, which he also taught to his spiritual sons. The first Beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5: 3) found a luminous fulfilment in the life and words of St Francis. Truly, dear friends, the saints are the best interpreters of the Bible. As they incarnate the word of God in their own lives, they make it more captivating than ever, so that it really speaks to us. The witness of Francis, who loved poverty as a means to follow Christ with dedication and total freedom, continues to be for us too an invitation to cultivate interior poverty in order to grow in our trust of God, also by adopting a sober lifestyle and a detachment from material goods.

Francis' love for Christ expressed itself in a special way in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Fonti Francescane (Writings of St Francis) one reads such moving expressions as: "Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble, and let the heavens exult, when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest. Oh stupendous dignity! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that for our salvation he hides himself under an ordinary piece of bread" (Francis of Assisi, Scritti, Editrici Francescane, Padova 2002, 401).

… Francis was a great Saint and a joyful man. His simplicity, his humility, his faith, his love for Christ, his goodness towards every man and every woman, brought him gladness in every circumstance. Indeed, there subsists an intimate and indissoluble relationship between holiness and joy. A French writer once wrote that there is only one sorrow in the world: not to be saints, that is, not to be near to God. Looking at the testimony of St Francis, we understand that this is the secret of true happiness: to become saints, close to God!

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

General Audience, 27 January 2010

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100127_en.html

His Excellency Sergio Goretti, Bishop of Assisi; Fr. GianMaria Polidoro, OFM, WUCWO  Ecclesiastical Assistant;
Stella Bellefroid, WUCWO Treasurer General; Karen Hurley, Vice President for North America;
Vera Halperin de Tabanera, Vice President for Latin America-Caribbean; Elizabeth Twissa, Vice President for Africa;
Assisi, 2004

   

His Excellency Sergio Goretti, Bishop of Assisi, warmly welcomed the Executive Committee and affirmed the good work and mission of WUCWO.  He shared his personal experiences during the earthquake of September 1996 as well as the beautiful images of St. Francis with Baby Jesus and the Blessed Mother Mary, which were revealed within his office wall after the collapse of another wall.

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Gillian Badcock, WUCWO Secretary General
Reading at Mass in Chapel at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi

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Dove, Assisi

Assisi Pax International is a peace association founded in St Francis’s native land of Assisi. Its aim is to further a methodology of peace  as envisaged by its founder, GianMaria Polidoro, a Franciscan friar, who looked at St. Francis’s experience of peace and love for nature.

http://www.assisipax.org/index-en.asp

The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land (FFHL) is a worldwide ecumenical organization operating under the auspices of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. The principle purpose of the FFHL is to help stem the Christian exodus from the Holy Land by providing programs and projects that will serve as incentives for the Christians to remain as well as safeguarding the basic human rights of the Christian Palestinian minority living in the Holy Land.

http://ffhl.org/2006/default.asp

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Fr. GianMaria Polidoro, OFM, celebrating Mass at the Hermitage Cave of St. Francis
Monte Subiaso, Assisi, 2004
Karen Hurley; Vera de Tabanera; Maria Eugenia Diaz de Pfennich, WUCWO President General

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The Prayer of Saint Francis Before this Crucifix

Most high, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart. 
Give me Lord, right faith, firm hope, perfect charity and profound humility,
with wisdom and perception, so that I may carry out what is truly your holy will. 
Amen.

Assisi Sunset, September 2004

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