St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity
Regional Spiritual Assistant
St. Francis of Assisi Friary
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
tel: (302) 798-1454 fax: (302) 798-3360 website: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
December 2024
Wherever we are, in every place, at every hour, at every time of the day,
every day and continually,
let all of us truly and humbly believe, hold in our heart and love, honor, adore, serve,
praise and bless, glorify and exalt, magnify and give thanks
to the Most High and Supreme Eternal God, Trinity and Unity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Creator of all, Savior of all who believe and hope in Him, and love Him,
Who, without beginning and end, is unchangeable, invisible, indescribable, ineffable,
incomprehensible, unfathomable, blessed, praiseworthy, glorious, exalted,
sublime, most high, gentle, lovable, delightful,
and totally desirable above all else for ever.
Amen.
The excerpts are taken from the Assisi Compilation and daily quotes are from various sources.
[10] [HIS HUMILITY TOWARD THE BISHOP OF TERNI “I MAY YET HAVE SONS AND DAUGHTERS”]
1 – One day he was preaching to the people of Terni in the piazza in front of the bishop’s residence. The bishop of that city, a discerning and spiritual man, attended that sermon. When the sermon was over, the bishop stood up and, among the other words of God that he spoke to them, he said: “From the beginning, when the Lord planted and built His church, He always beautified it with holy men who would improve it by word and example. Now, in this final hour, God has beautified his Church with this little poor man, lowly and unlettered,” pointing all the while to blessed Francis.
– Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it.
2 – “And because of this,” he continued, “you should love and honor the Lord and avoid sin ‘for He has not done this for every nation.’ ” After the sermon, blessed Francis came down from the place where he was preaching, and together the Lord Bishop and blessed Francis entered the bishop’s church.
– If you can find a path with no obstacles it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
3 – Then blessed Francis bowed down before the Lord Bishop and fell down at his feet, saying to him: “I tell you the truth, my Lord Bishop: no person in this world has yet honored me as much as you have today. Other people say: ‘That man is a saint!’ They attribute glory and holiness to the creature, not to the Creator.
– The most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt.
4 – You, however, like a discerning man, have separated what is precious from what is vile.” Often when blessed Francis was honored and people said, “This man is a saint,” he would respond to such expressions by saying: “I’m still not sure that I won’t have sons and daughters.” And he would say: “If at any moment the Lord wanted to take back the treasure He has loaned to me, what would I have left except just body and soul, which even non-believers have?
– People want the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the center of attention.
5 – I must believe, rather, that if the Lord had granted a thief and even a non-believer as many gifts as He has given me, they would be more faithful to the Lord than I.” He continued: “As in a painting of the Lord and the Blessed Virgin on wood, it is God and the Blessed Virgin who are honored, and God and the Blessed Virgin are held in memory.
– The first law of history is not to dare to utter falsehood; the second, not to fear to speak the truth.
6 – The wood and the paint attribute nothing to themselves because they are merely wood and paint. In the same way, a servant of God is a painting, that is, a creature of God, in whom God is honored because of His goodness. Like wood or paint, he must not attribute anything to himself, but give all honor and glory to God.
– You are deceived if you think that Christians can live without persecutions.
7 – He should not attribute anything to himself while he is alive except shame and trouble, because, while he is alive, the flesh is always opposed to God’s gifts.”- What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.
[11] [HE RESIGNS FROM OFFICE IN THE ORDER AND ALWAYS WANTS TO HAVE A GUARDIAN]
8 – Blessed Francis wanted to be humble among his brothers. To preserve greater humility, a few years after his conversion he resigned the office of prelate before all the brothers during a chapter held at Saint Mary of the Portiuncula. “From now on,” he said, “I am dead to you. But here is Brother Peter di Catanio: let us all, you and I, obey him.”
– Setting an example is the only means of influencing another.
9 – Then all the brothers began to cry loudly and weep profusely, but blessed Francis bowed down before Brother Peter and promised him obedience and reverence. From that time on, until his death, he remained a subject, like one of the other brothers. He wished to be subject to the general minister and the provincial ministers, so that in whatever province he stayed or preached, he obeyed the minister of that province.
– In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.
10 – What is more, a long time before his death, for the sake of greater perfection and humility, he said to the general minister: “I ask you to put one of my companions in your place regarding me, so that I may obey him as I would obey you. For the sake of good example and the virtue of obedience, in life and in death I always want you to be with me.”
– No one really becomes a fool until they stop asking questions.
11 – From that time until his death, he always had one of his companions as a guardian whom he obeyed in place of the general minister. One time he said to his companions: “Among other favors, the Most High has given me this grace: I would obey a novice who entered our religion today, if he were appointed my guardian, just as readily as I would obey him who is the first and the eldest in the life and religion of the brothers.
– It’s not until quite late in life that many discover how easy it is to say: I don’t know.
12 – A subject should not consider his prelate, a human being, but God, for love of Whom he is subject to him.” He likewise said: “There is no prelate in the whole world who would be as feared by his subjects and brothers as the Lord would make me feared by my brothers, if I wished. But the Most High gave me this grace: that I want to be content with all, as one who is lesser in the religion.”
– Life’s greatest tragedy is to lose God and not miss Him.
13 – We who were with him witnessed this often with our own eyes. Frequently, when some of the brothers did not provide for his needs, or said something to him that would ordinarily offend a person, he would immediately go to prayer.
– Visitors should always make us happy: some when they come and others when they leave.
14 – On returning, he did not want to remember it by saying “Brother so and so did not provide for me,” or “He said such and such to me.” The closer he approached death, the more careful he became in complete perfection to consider how he might live and die in complete humility and poverty.
– One can fail many times, but they are not a failure until they begin to blame somebody else.
[12] [AS HE IS DYING HE BLESSES BROTHER BERNARD AND PREDICTS HIS HOLY DEATH]
15 – The day Lady Jacoba prepared that confection for blessed Francis, the father remembered Bernard. “Brother Bernard likes this confection,” he said to his companions. Calling one of his companions, he told him: “Go, tell Brother Bernard to come to me immediately.”
– It is safer to err on the side of mercy.
16 – The brother went at once and brought him to blessed Francis. Sitting next to the bed where blessed Francis was lying, Brother Bernard said: “Father! I beg you, bless me and show me your love. I believe that, if you show me your love with fatherly affection, God Himself and the other brothers of the religion will love me more.”
– You cannot unsay a cruel word.
17 – Blessed Francis was not able to see him, since many days earlier he had lost his sight. Extending his right hand, he placed it on the head of Brother Giles, the third of the first brothers, who at that moment was sitting next to Brother Bernard. He thought he was placing it on the head of Brother Bernard.
– Every path has a few puddles.
18 – Feeling the head of Brother Giles, like a person going blind, he immediately recognized him by the Holy Spirit, and said, “This is not the head of my Brother Bernard.” Brother Bernard immediately drew closer to him. Blessed Francis, placing his hand on his head, blessed him.
– The best sermons are lived, not preached.
19 – “Write what I tell you,” he then said to one of his companions. “Brother Bernard was the first brother the Lord gave me. He began first and most perfectly fulfilled the perfection of the holy Gospel, distributing all his goods to the poor. Because of this and his many other prerogatives, I am bound to love him more than any other brother in the whole religion.
– Most of the things people worry about are never going to happen anyway.
20 – As much as I am able, it is my will and command that whoever becomes general minister should love and honor him as he would me. Let the other provincial ministers and the brothers of the whole religion hold him in my place.”
– Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
21 – Because of this, Brother Bernard was greatly consoled as were the other brothers who saw this. Another time, considering the outstanding perfection of Brother Bernard, blessed Francis prophesied about him in the presence of some of the brothers:
– Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
22 – “I tell you, some of the greatest and most cunning devils have been sent to test Brother Bernard. They will send him many trials and temptations. The merciful Lord, however, will deliver him toward the end of his life from all troubles and temptations, internal and external. And He will place his spirit and body in such peace, quiet, and consolation that all the brothers who see or hear of this will be greatly astonished, and consider it a great miracle.
– The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
23 – In this peace, quiet, and consolation of both body and soul, he will pass from this world to the Lord.” The brothers who heard this from blessed Francis were greatly astonished, since everything he predicted about him through the Holy Spirit came true, to the letter, point by point. In his last illness Brother Bernard was in such great peace and quiet of spirit that he did not want to lie down.
– One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day had been.
24 – if he lay down, he lay in a sitting position so that not even the lightest mist of humors would reach his head, inducing fantasies or dreams, rather than thoughts of God. And if this happened, he would immediately get up and strike himself, saying “What was that? Why was I thinking that way?”
– Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
25 – For relief, he gladly used to smell rose water, but as he drew closer to death, he refused to do even this, for the sake of constant meditation on God. He would say to anyone offering it: “Don’t distract me.” In order to die more freely, peacefully, and quietly, he deprived himself of care for his body, putting himself in the hands of one of the brothers who was a doctor and who was taking care of him.
– We find in life exactly what we put into it.
26 – “I do not wish to be concerned about eating or drinking,” he would say, “but I entrust myself to you. If you give me something, I’ll take it. If you don’t, then I won’t.” When he any thought entered his mind for which his conscience reproached him, he immediately confessed it and then said his penance.
– Kindness is the oil that takes the friction out of life.
27 – After his death, his flesh became white and soft and he seemed to be smiling, so that he appeared more handsome after death than before. Whoever gazed on him experienced more delight in seeing him this way than when he was alive, because he looked like a saint who was smiling began to grow weaker, he wanted to have a priest brother with him at all times, until the hour of his death.
– Humor is to life what shock-absorbers are to automobiles.
[13] [BEFORE DYING HE SENDS A LETTER TO LADY CLARE, PROMISING THAT SHE WILL SEE HIM AGAIN]
28 – During the week in which blessed Francis died, Lady Clare was seriously ill. She was the first plant of the Order of Sisters, the abbess of the Poor Sisters of the monastery of San Damiano in Assisi, who emulated Saint Francis in observing always the poverty of the Son of God She feared that she would die before blessed Francis. She wept in bitterness of spirit and could not be comforted, because she would not be able before her death to see her only father after God, that is, blessed Francis, her comforter both internally and externally, and her first founder in God’s grace.
– To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
29 – She sent word of this to blessed Francis through one of the brothers. Blessed Francis heard this and was moved to piety, since he loved her and her sisters with fatherly affection because of their holy manner of living, and especially because, a few years after he began to have brothers, she was converted to the Lord through his advice, working with the Lord. Her conversion not only greatly edified the religion of the brothers, but also the entire Church of God.
– Jesus can turn water into wine, but He cannot turn your whining into anything.
30 – Blessed Francis considered that what she desired, that is, to see him, could not be done then since they were both seriously ill. To console her, he wrote his blessing in a letter and also absolved her from any failings, if she had any, regarding his commands and wishes or the commands and wishes of the Son of God. Moreover, so that she would put aside all her grief and be consoled in the Lord, he, or rather the Spirit of God speaking through him, spoke to the brother she had sent. “Go and take this letter to Lady Clare, and tell her to put aside all her grief and sorrow over not being able to see me now. Let her be assured that before her death, both she and her sisters will see me and will receive the greatest consolation from me.”
– People are like tea-bags. You have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.
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