Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi | Naming the Days

Saint Francis of Assisi (1182 – 1226) might be the most well-liked Christian saint. His radiant spirit is a beacon for these looking for a lifetime of which means and repair. It does no good to place him on a pedestal; relatively we must always stroll with St. Francis on the trail of peace, openness, mysticism, poverty, reverence for nature, and love of animals. There are many religious sources on his outstanding life and his religious practices.

Photograph Credit score: Icon of St. Francis of Assisi by Br. Robert Lentz, OFM, out there from Trinity Shops.

To Title This Day:

Religious Practices

• Categorical your gratitude. Undertake St. Francis’s phrases “My God and my all!” as a sacred prayer and repeat it usually via the day.

• Discover a church in your neighborhood that celebrates the Blessing of the Animals. Many church buildings can have a particular time in the course of the service on Sunday. Take your pets (or footage of them) and keep in mind St. Francis’s love of all beings as you take part within the service. Instead, you’ll be able to supply your individual service and invite pals. Right here is an instance created by Bear Journey in 2019 for the Pilgrim Place neighborhood in Claremont, California.

• Spend some high quality time within the firm of an animal. This is a narrative from Residing the Knowledge of St. Francis about how St. Francis communed with a chook:
  “As soon as when Saint Francis was about to eat with Brother Leo he was tremendously delighted to listen to a nightingale singing. So he advised to his companion that they might additionally sing reward to God alternately with the chook. Whereas Leo was pleading that he was no singer, Francis lifted up his voice and, phrase by phrase, sang his duet with the nightingale.”

• Take a religious journey to see how the spirit of Francis of Assisi has the facility to liberate our lives at the moment via “The Spirituality of St. Francis,” an e-course by Jon M. Sweeney.

Movies

Watch the movie Brother Solar, Sister Moon directed by Franco Zeffirelli. It depicts the early lifetime of St. Francis.

Books

• Residing the Knowledge of St. Francis by Wayne Simsic. The creator claims that the little poor man of Assisi affords us a brand new consciousness, a brand new follow, and a brand new imaginative and prescient. He explores St. Francis’s religious follow of kindness which was primarily based upon courtesy and reverence towards all beings.

• Feed the Wolf by Jon M. Sweeney. On this practice-oriented exploration of residing with nothing to lose, a delicate, understanding, multifaith knowledge permeates chapters on residing merely, refusing energy, spending time within the woods, utilizing phrases rigorously, starting to bounce, making a giant desk and alluring the neighbors, and extra.

• St. Francis of Assisi by Jon M. Sweeney. This important useful resource on the lifestyle superior by the most well-liked of the Christian saints features a chronology, a short recounting of Francis’s life, and Francis’s prayers, songs, poems, letters, oral teachings, Rule of Life, and religious practices.

• The Ecstasies of St. Francis: The Method of Woman Poverty by John Ryan Haule. The creator notes how this saint known as for a radical reversal of values to place the emphasis on generosity and dependence on God’s grace. He additionally seems at St. Francis’s fantastic reference to the pure world and his closeness with animals, who might sense his inward peace and kindness.

• A Mannequin for Human Liberation by Leonardo Boff by which he calls this saint is known as “an archetype of the human ultimate: open to God, common brother, and caretaker of nature and Mom Earth.” In 5 sections, Boff covers his life and finds there a mannequin of gentleness and care, his preferential possibility for the poor, his liberation via goodness and repair of others, his creation of a preferred church and his integration of the adverse.

• The St. Francis Prayer E book: A Information to Deepen Your Religious Life by Jon M. Sweeney. Drawing from varied sources, it helps us faucet into the spirit of Francis’s devotional life via a weekly liturgy with a unique theme for every day, equivalent to peace and care in human relationships and love for all creatures.
  Right here is among the benedictions:
  “Now, wherever we’re,
  and in each place,
  and at each hour,
  all through every time of every day,
  could all of us truthfully and humbly imagine,
  holding in our hearts
  to like, honor,
  adore, serve,
  reward, bless,
  glorify, exalt,
  enlarge, and provides thanks
  to the Most Excessive and Everlasting God,
  Trinity and Unity.
  Amen.

Video Clips

This clip tells the story of how St. Francis helped the little Italian city of Gubbio take care of a wolf.