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
May 2026
Hail, Holy Lady, most Holy Queen, Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Who are the Virgin made Church and the one chosen by the Most Holy Father of Heaven,
Whom He consecrated with His Most Holy Beloved Son and with the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete;
On you descended and in whom there was and is all fullness of grace and every good.
Hail His Palace; Hail His Tabernacle; Hail His Home. Hail His Robe; Hail His Handmaid; Hail His Mother and
Hail all you holy virtues, which by the grace and illumination of the Holy Spirit are poured into the hearts of the faithful, so that from being unbelievers, you make them faithful to God.
(Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi honoring Mary, Virgin-Made-Church)
The Assisi Compilation continues below from #99-#102
Quote for the day from C.S. Lewis
99 – HE AWAITS DEATH AT THE BISHOP’S PALACE IN ASSISI; HIS COMPANIONS SING THE CANTICLE FOR HIM
1 – When blessed Francis lay gravely ill in the palace of the bishop of Assisi, in the days after he returned from Bagnara, the people of Assisi, fearing that the saint would die during the night without them knowing about it, and that the brothers would secretly take his body away and place it in another city, placed a vigilant guard each night around the palace’s walls.
– When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.
2 – Blessed Francis, although he was gravely ill, to comfort his soul and ward off discouragement in his severe and serious infirmities, often asked his companions during the day to sing the Praises of the Lord which he had composed a long time before in his illness. He likewise had the Praises sung during the night for the edification of their guards, who kept watch at night outside the palace because of him.
– Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.
3 – When Brother Elias reflected that blessed Francis was so comforting himself and rejoicing in the Lord in such illness, one day he said to him: “Dearest brother, I am greatly consoled and edified by all the joy which you show for yourself and your companions in such affliction and infirmity. Although the people of this city venerate you as a saint in life and in death, nevertheless, because they firmly believe that you are near death due to your serious and incurable sickness, upon hearing praises of this sort being sung, they can think and say to themselves: ‘How can he show such joy when he is so near death?
– Don’t shine so that others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see HIM.
4 – He should be thinking about death. “Do you remember,” blessed Francis said to him, “when you saw the vision at Foligno and told me that it told you that I would live for only two years? Before you saw that vision, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, who suggests every good in the heart, and places it on the lips of his faithful, I often considered day and night my end.
– Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less
5 – But from the time you saw that vision, each day I have been even more zealous reflecting on the day of my death.” He continued with great intensity of spirit: “Allow me to rejoice in the Lord, Brother, and to sing His praises in my infirmities, because, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I am so closely united and joined with my Lord, that, through His mercy, I can well rejoice in the Most High Himself.”
– Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.
100 – A DOCTOR NAMED JOHN TELLS HIM HE WILL DIE SOON: “WELCOME, MY SISTER DEATH!”
6 – Another time during those days, a doctor from the city of Arezzo, named Good John, who was known and familiar to blessed Francis, came to visit him in the bishop’s palace. Blessed Francis asked about his sickness saying: “How does my illness of dropsy seem to you, Brother John?”
– Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.
7 – For blessed Francis did not want to address anyone called ”Good” by their name, out of reverence for the Lord, who said: No one is good but God alone. Likewise, he did not want to call anyone “father” or “master,” nor write them in letters, out of reverence for the Lord, who said: Call no one on earth your father nor be called masters, etc.
– There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.
8 – The doctor said to him: “Brother, by the grace of the Lord, it will be well with you.” For he did not want to tell him that he would die in a little while.
– There is someone that I love even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is……me.
9 – Again blessed Francis said to him: “Tell me the truth. How does it look to you? Do not be afraid, for, by the grace of God, I am not a coward who fears death. With the Lord’s help, by His mercy and grace, I am so united and joined with my Lord that I am equally as happy to die as I am to live.”
– If you never take risks, you’ll never accomplish great things. Everybody dies, but not everyone has lived.
10 – The doctor then told him frankly: “According to our assessment, your illness is incurable and you will die either at the end of September or on the fourth day before the Nones of October.”
– I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else
11 – Blessed Francis, while he was lying on his bed sick, with the greatest devotion and reverence for the Lord stretched out his arms and hands with great joy of mind and body and said to his body and soul: “Welcome, my Sister Death!”
– The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks.
101 – HE TELLS BROTHER RICCERIO HIS LAST WISHES; THE MEANING OF “LESSER BROTHERS.”
12 – Brother Riccerio of the Marches of Ancona, noble by birth and more noble by holiness, was loved by blessed Francis with great affection. One day he came to visit blessed Francis in that palace. Among other points he discussed with blessed Francis about the state of the religion and observance of the Rule,…
– Some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny.
13 – … he asked him: “Tell me, Father, when you first began to have brothers, what was your intention? And what is it today, and what do you believe it will be until the day of your death? Because I want to be sure of your intention and of your first and last wish, so that we, cleric brothers who have many books, may keep them although we will say that they belong to the religion?”
– The fact that our heart yearns for something Earth can’t supply is proof that Heaven must be our home.
14 – Blessed Francis told him: “I tell you, brother, that it has been and is my first and last intention and will, if the brothers would only heed it, that no brother should have anything except a tunic as the Rule allows us, together with a cord and underwear.”
– One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.
15 – Another time, blessed Francis said: “The religion and life of the Lesser Brothers is a little flock, which the Son of God in this very last hour has asked of His heavenly Father, saying: ‘Father, I want you to make and give me a new and humble people in this very last hour, who would be unlike all others who preceded them by their humility and poverty, and be content to have me alone.’
– Every contact you make with everyone you meet will help them or hinder them on their journey to heaven.
16 – And the Father said to His beloved Son: ‘My Son, Your request has been fulfilled.’ ” This is why blessed Francis would say: “Therefore, the Lord has willed that they be called Lesser Brothers, because they are the people whom the Son of God speaks in the Gospel:
– I have often repented of speech but hardly ever of silence.
17 – Do not fear, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom; and again: What you did for one of these, the least of my brothers, you did it for me. For, although the Lord may be understood to be speaking of all the spiritually poor, he was nevertheless predicting the religion of the Lesser Brothers that was to come in His Church.”
– Don’t judge a man by where he is, because you don’t know how far he has come.
18 – Therefore, as it was revealed to blessed Francis that it was to be called the Religion of the Lesser Brothers, he had it so written in the first Rule, when he brought it before the Lord Pope Innocent III, and he approved and granted it, and later announced it to all in the Council.
– If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it’s not so bad.
19 – Likewise, the Lord also revealed to him the greeting that the brothers should use, as he had written in his Testament: “The Lord revealed a greeting to me that we should say ‘May the Lord give you peace.’ ”At the beginning of the religion, when blessed Francis would go with a brother who was one of the first twelve brothers, that brother would greet men and women along the way as well as those in their field, saying:
– There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
20 – “May the Lord give you peace.” And because people had never before heard such a greeting from any religious, they were greatly amazed. Indeed, some would say almost indignantly: “What does this greeting of yours mean?” As a result that brother began to be quite embarrassed. Then he said to blessed Francis “Let me use another greeting.”
– God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.
21 – Blessed Francis told him: “Let them talk, for they do not grasp what is of God. But do not be embarrassed, for one day the nobles and princes of this world will show respect to you and the other brothers because of a greeting of this sort.” And blessed Francis said: “Isn’t it great that the Lord wanted to have a little people among all those who preceded them who would be content to have Him alone, the Most High and most glorious?”
– Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
22 – If any brother wanted to ask why blessed Francis in his own time did not make the brothers observe such a strict poverty as he told Brother Riccerio, and did not order it to be observed, we who were with him would respond to this as we heard from his mouth.
– Those who do not think about their own sins make up for it by thinking incessantly about the sins of others.
23 – Because he told the brothers this and many other things, and also had written down in the Rule what he requested from the Lord with relentless prayer and meditation for the good of the religion, affirming that it was completely the Lord’s will.
Afterwards when he showed them, they seemed harsh and unbearable, for they did not know what was going to happen to the religion after his death.
– To love at all is to be vulnerable.
24 – And because he feared scandal for himself and for the brothers, he did not want to argue with them; but he complied with their wish, although not willingly, and excused himself before the Lord.
– Love is never wasted, for its value does not rest upon reciprocity.
25 – But, that the word of the Lord, which He put in his mouth for the good of the brothers, would not return to Him empty, he wanted to fulfill it in himself, so that he might then obtain a reward from the Lord. And at last he found peace in this and his spirit was comforted.
– God loves us: not because we are lovable but because He is love, not because He needs to receive but He delights to give.
102 – A MINISTER ASKS ABOUT BOOKS; THE MINISTERS REMOVE THE CHAPTER IN THE RULE ABOUT POVERTY
26 – At the time when he returned from overseas, a minister spoke with him about the chapter on poverty. He wanted to know his will and understanding, especially since at the time a chapter had been written in the Rule from prohibitions of the holy Gospel: Take nothing with you on the journey, etc.
– Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.
27 – And blessed Francis answered: “I want to understand it in this way, that the brothers should have nothing except a tunic with a cord and underwear, as contained in the Rule, and those compelled by necessity, may have shoes.” And the minister said to him: “What shall I do, for I have so many books worth more than fifty pounds?”
– If nothing in this world satisfies me, perhaps it is because I was made for another world.
28 – He said this because he wanted to hold on to them with a clear conscience, most especially because he had a qualm of conscience about keeping so many books when he knew blessed Francis strictly interpreted the chapter on poverty.
“Brother,” blessed Francis said to him, “I cannot and must not go against my own conscience and the perfection of the holy Gospel which we have professed.” Hearing this, the minister became sad. Seeing how disturbed he was, blessed Francis said to him with intensity of spirit, intending this for all the brothers:
– You must make your choice: either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
29 – “You, Lesser Brothers, want to be seen as and called observers of the holy Gospel, but in your deeds you want to have money bags.” Although the ministers knew that, according to the Rule of the brothers they were bound to observe the holy Gospel, they nevertheless had that chapter of the Rule where it says “Take nothing for your journey, etc.” removed, believing, despite it, that they were not obliged to observance of the perfection of the holy Gospel.
– If you live for the next world, you get this one in the deal; but if you live only for this world, you lose them both.
30 – Knowing this through the light of the Holy Spirit, blessed Francis said in the presence of some brothers: “The brother ministers think they can deceive God and me.” Then he said:”Indeed, that all the brothers may know that they are bound to observe the perfection of the holy Gospel, I want it written at the beginning and at the end of the Rule that the brothers are bound to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that the brothers may always be without an excuse before God, …
– There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’
31 – I want to show with these deeds and always observe, with God’s help, what God has placed in my mouth for the welfare and usefulness of my soul and those of my brothers.” Therefore, he observed the holy Gospel to the letter from the day he began to have brothers until the day of his death.
– God doesn’t want something from us. He simply wants us.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
