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
July 2026
O loving one, bear in mind your poor children for whom, without you,
their one and only consolation, there is little comfort. They still tearfully cry out to you:
O Father, place before Jesus Christ, son of the Most High Father, His sacred stigmata;
and show Him the signs of the cross on your hands, feet, and side,
that He may mercifully bare His own wounds to the Father,
and because of this the Father will ever show us in our anguish His tenderness.
Amen.
(Prayer to St. Francis from the End of the Second Book of the Life of St. Francis
by Bl. Thomas of Celano)
Excerpts from Franciscan Sources – Assisi Compilation #107- #110
Daily quotes from sayings of Pope St. John XXIII
107 – HE CORRECTS IDLE WORDS AMONG THE BROTHERS AT THE PORTIUNCULA
1 – When our most holy father Francis was staying at the church of Saint Mary of the Portiuncula, it was his daily custom after the meal to work at some task with his brothers to avoid the vice of idleness. Thinking of himself and his brothers, lest they lose, because of use less and idle words after prayer, the good they earned with the help of the Lord during the time of prayer, he ordered the brothers to ob serve avoid falling into useless and idle words. – We are not on earth as museum keepers, but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life and to prepare a glorious future.
2 – And he established the following: If any brother, while walking or working at something, utters any useless or idle word, he must say one Our Father with the Praises of God at the beginning and end of this prayer, with this condition: if perhaps he is the first to notice it and accuses himself of what he did, let him say the Our Father for his own soul together with The Praises of God as was said.- I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart.
3 – But if another brother corrected him first, he is bound to say the Our Father in the way mentioned for the soul of the brother who corrected him. If after being corrected, he offers an excuse, refusing to say the Our Father, he is bound to say two Our Father’s, as above, for the soul of the brother who corrected him, whose testimony, or perhaps that of another brother, will prove that it is true that he said that use less or idle word. He shall say the Praises of God, as mentioned, at the beginning and end of that prayer loud enough and clear enough for the brothers staying there to understand and hear, and while he is saying them, the brothers must be quiet and listen.
– Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
4 – If one of them keeps silent about this, he shall be bound to say one Our Father in the same way with the Praises of God for the soul of the brother who spoke. When any brother enters a cell, a house, or any place and finds a brother or brothers there or anywhere, he should always earnestly praise and bless God.
– Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
5 – It was the custom of the most Holy Father always to say those Praises, and it was his fervent wish and desire that the other brothers be similarly careful and devout in saying them.
-The family is the first essential cell of human society.
108 – HE SENDS THE BROTHERS ON MISSION FROM THE PORTIUNCULA; HOW HE DECIDES TO GO TO FRANCE; HIS DEVOTION TO THE BODY OF CHRIST; BROTHER SYLVESTER CASTS OUT DEMONS AT AREZZO; CARDINAL HUGOLINO SENDS HIM BACK FROM FLORENCE
6 – At the time of the general chapter celebrated in that same place, in which the brothers were sent for the first time to regions overseas, when the chapter had ended, blessed Francis staying in that same place with a few brothers, said to them: “Dearest brothers, I must be a model and example to all the brothers.
– A peaceful man does more good than a learned one.
7 – If therefore I send my brothers into far distant countries where they will endure toil, shame, hunger, and many other types of need, it seems to me to be just and good that I also go to some far distant region, especially so that the brothers may be able to bear their needs and trials more patiently when they hear that I am also undergoing the same thing.”
– Men are like wine, some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
8 – And he said to them: “Therefore go and ask the Lord that He may allow me to choose that region which will give more praise to the Lord and for the profit and salvation of souls and good example to our religion.” It was the custom of our most holy father to pray to the Lord, and to send his brothers to pray, not only when he was going to a faraway region to preach, but also when he went to nearby regions, so that the Lord might direct his heart to go wherever it seemed best to God. The brothers, therefore, went off to pray and when their prayer was finished they returned to him.
– The feelings of my smallness and my nothingness always kept me in good company.
9 – He said to them: “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, of his glorious Virgin Mother and of all the saints, I choose the region of France, in which there is a Catholic people, especially because of the other Catholics of the holy Church. They show great reverence to the Body of Christ, which pleases me very much. Because of this, I will gladly live among them.”
– See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little.
10 – Now blessed Francis had such reverence and devotion to the Body of Christ, that he wanted it written in the Rule that the brothers in the regions where they stay should take care and be concerned about this, and should admonish and preach about this to clerics and priests, so that they place the Body of Christ in a good and fitting place; and, if they did not do so, he wanted the brothers to do so. – It is now for the Catholic Church to bend herself to her work with calmness and generosity.
11 – In fact one time he wanted to send some brothers through every region with pyxes and wherever they found the Body of Christ placed illicitly, they were to place It honorably in them. Out of reverence for the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, he wanted it placed in the Rule that, wherever the brothers find the written words and name of the Lord by which the most holy sacrament is confected, not well kept, or carelessly thrown around in some place, let them gather them up, honoring in the words the Lord Who spoke them.
– Every Christian must be convinced of his fundamental duty of bearing witness to the truth in which he believes.
12 – Many things are made holy by the words of God, and the sacrament of the altar is celebrated in the power of the words of Christ. Although he did not write this in the Rule, particularly because it did not seem good to the brother ministers that the brothers should take this as a command, nevertheless, the holy father wanted to leave the brothers in his Testament and in his other writings his will about these things.
– Christ’s flock is made up of sheep that not only listen to their shepherd, but are also able to recognize his voice.
13 – He also wanted to send other brothers throughout every region with good and beautiful wafer irons for making hosts. When blessed Francis had chosen from those brothers the ones he wished to take with him, he said to them: “Go, in the name of the Lord, two by two along the way, decently, in the greatest silence from dawn until after terce, praying to the Lord in your hearts.
– It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.
14 – And let no idle or useless words be mentioned among you. Although you are traveling, nevertheless, let your behavior be as decent as if you were staying in a hermitage or a cell because wherever we are or wherever we travel, we have a cell with us. Brother Body is our cell, and the soul is the hermit who remains inside the cell to pray to God and meditate. So if the soul does not remain in quiet and solitude in its cell, a cell made by hands does little good to a religious.”
– The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality f arms, but in mutual trust alone.
15 – When they arrived at Arezzo, there was a great scandal and war night and day throughout almost the entire city, because of two factions who had hated each other for a long time. Blessed Francis heard all the noise and cries night and day; since he received hospitality in a hospice in a neighborhood outside the city, it seemed to him that the demons were overjoyed by this and were inciting the people to destroy their city with fire and other dangerous means.
– Born poor, but of honored and humble people, I am particularly proud to die poor.
16 – Moved by piety over that city, he said to Brother Sylvester, the priest, a man of God, of great faith and admirable simplicity and purity, whom the holy Father venerated as a saint: “Go in front of the city gate and in a loud voice command all the devils that they all leave this city.” Brother Sylvester got up, went in front of the city gate crying out in a loud voice: “Praised and blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ. On behalf of Almighty God and in virtue of holy obedience of our most holy father Francis, I command all the devils that they all leave this city!” Through the mercy of God and the prayer of blessed Francis, it so happened that, without any preaching, shortly afterwards, they returned to peace and unity.
– Here I am at the end of the road and at the top of the heap.
17 – Since blessed Francis was not able to preach to them at that time, once preached to them later, he said to them in the first words of his sermon: “…You bound and sold yourselves like animals in the market because of your wretched state. You betrayed yourselves into the hands of the demons when you placed yourselves at the will of those who have destroyed and continue to destroy themselves, and want to destroy you and the whole city. But you are wretched and ignorant people and ungrateful for the favor of God who, although unknown to many of you, at one time freed this city through the merits of a most holy brother, Sylvester.”
– I am able to follow my own death step by step. Now I move softly towards the end.
18 – When blessed Francis reached Florence, he found there Lord Hugolino, the bishop of Ostia, who later became pope. He had been sent by Pope Honorius as a legate for the Duchy of Tuscany, and Lombardy, and the Marches of Treviso as far as Venice.
– Authority is mainly a moral power; therefore it must first call upon the conscience.
19 – The Lord Bishop greatly rejoiced at his arrival, but when he heard from blessed Francis that he wanted to go to France, he prohibited him from going, telling him: “Brother, I do not want you to go beyond the mountains, because there are many prelates and others who would willingly block the religion’s interests in the Roman Curia.
– I live by the mercy of Jesus.
20 – The other cardinals and I, who love your religion, can protect and help it more willingly if you stay within the confines of this region.” But blessed Francis said to him: “Lord, it is a great shame to me, if I remain in these regions when I send my brothers to remote and far away regions.” The Lord Bishop, however, said to him as if rebuking him: “Why did you send your brothers so far away to die of hunger and to so many other trials?”
– Do not walk through time without leaving worthy evidence of your passage.
21 – In great fervor of spirit and in the spirit of prophecy, blessed Francis answered him: “Lord, do you think or believe that the Lord sent the brothers only for these regions? But I tell you in truth that the Lord chose and sent the brothers for the benefit and salvation of the souls of all people in the whole world and they should be received not only in the land of believers, but also in that of non-believers.
– I want to throw open the windows of the Church so that we can see out and the people can see in.
22 – As long as they observe what they promised the Lord, the Lord will minister to them in the land of non-believers as well as in the countries of believers.” The Lord Bishop marveled at his words and admitted that he spoke the truth. But the Lord Bishop did not allow him to go to France. Instead blessed Francis sent Brother Pacifico there with other brothers, and he returned to the valley of Spoleto.
– Prayer is the raising of the mind to God. We must always remember this. The actual words matter less.
109 BEFORE A CHAPTER AT THE PORTIUNCULA HE TALKS ABOUT BEING A TRUE LESSER BROTHER WHEN INSULTED
23 – Once when the time for the chapter of the brothers was approaching, to beheld at the church of Saint Mary of the Portiuncula, blessed Francis said to his companion: “It seems to me that I am not a Lesser Brother unless I have the attitude I will tell you.”
– Never hesitate to hold out your hand; never hesitate to accept the outstretched hand of another.
24 – And he said: “The brothers come to me with great devotion and veneration, invite me to the chapter, and, touched by their devotion, I go to the chapter with them. After they assemble, they ask me to proclaim the word of God and preach to them as the Holy Spirit instructs me.
– Before everything else, fidelity to the Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
25 – “After the sermon, suppose that they reflect and speak against me: ‘We do not want you to rule over us. You are not eloquent and you are too simple. We are very ashamed to have such a simple and contemptible prelate over us. From now on, do not presume to call yourself our prelate.’ And so, with insults, they throw me out. “It seems to me that I am not a Lesser Brother unless I am just as happy when they insult me and throw me out in shame, refusing that I be their prelate, as when they honor and revere me, if in both cases the benefit to them is equal.
– It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.
26 – If I am happy about their benefit and devotion when they praise and honor me, which can be a danger to the soul, it is even more fitting that I should rejoice and be happy at my benefit and the salvation of my soul when they revile me as they throw me out in shame, which is profit for the soul.
– Christ’s Church is, above all, the spiritual temple where every Christian knows he has his place.
110 – HE IS CONSOLED AT THE PORTIUNCULA BY SISTER CRICKET
27 – One time during summer blessed Francis was at that same place, and he stayed in the last cell next to the hedge of the garden behind the house, where, after his death, Brother Raineri, the gardener, stayed. It happened that one day, as he came down from that little cell, there was a cricket within on the branch of the fig tree next to that cell, and he could touch it. Stretching out his hand, he said:“Sister Cricket, come to me.”
– Every person has the right to life, to bodily integrity.
28 – The cricket immediately climbed onto the fingers of his hand, and with a finger of his other hand, he began to touch it, saying: “Sing, my Sister Cricket.”It obeyed him at once and began to chirp. This consoled blessed Francis greatly and he praised God. He held it in his hand that way for more than an hour. Afterwards he put it back on the branch of the fig tree from which he had taken it.
– If God created shadows it was to better emphasize the light.
29 – And in the same way, for eight days constantly, when he came down from the cell, he found it in the same place. And daily he would take it in his hand, and as soon as he told it to sing, touching it, it sang.
– You and I have one thing in common: money. You have a lot and I have nothing at all. The difference is I don’t care about it.
30 – After eight days, he said to his companions: “Let us give permission to our sister cricket to go where she wants. She has consoled us enough; and the flesh might vainglory from this.” As soon as it had received permission, the cricket went away and never appeared there again.
– Whoever has a heart full of love always has something to give
31 – His companions admired how obedient and tame she was to him. Blessed Francis found so much joy in creatures because of love of the Creator, to console him in his inner and outer self, that the Lord made even those that are wild to people become tame to him.
– I live by the mercy of Jesus.”
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
