Under Solomon's Portico in Jerusalem, Jesus makes his denunciation to the Jews: you are not my sheep, because you do not listen to my voice.

Francis had a great concern for the sheep of his flock, wanting to walk in the footsteps of the Lord and desiring the same for them.

He had a special fondness for sheep and lambs: they reminded him of the Lamb that was immolated for our salvation.

It is touching how these meek animals listened to him, recognising his voice as a true shepherd.

In the Sources we find significant passages on this subject. The Major Legend narrates:

"At St Mary of the Portiuncula they brought the man of God a sheep as a gift, which he accepted with gratitude, because he loved the innocence and simplicity that, by its nature, the sheep shows.

The man of God admonished the sheep to praise God and not to annoy the brothers at all. The sheep, in turn, as if feeling the pity of the man of God, put his teachings into practice with great care.

When she heard the monks singing in the choir, she would also enter the church and, without the need for a teacher, would bend her knees, uttering tender bleats before the altar of the Virgin, Mother of the Lamb, as if eager to greet her.

'During the celebration of Mass, at the moment of the elevation, he would bend his bent knees, as if he wanted, that devout animal, to reproach the ungodly for their irreverence and wanted to incite the devout to reverence towards the Sacrament' (FF 1148).

Francis, a meek shepherd, was listened to and followed by all creatures, who perceived in him his unity with Christ, the Good Shepherd sent by the Father.

His intimates listened to him with great admiration, for his eloquent life spoke for him.

«My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me» (Jn 10:27)

Tuesday of the 4th wk. in Easter  (Jn 10:22-30)

Jesus in chapter ten of the Johannine Gospel calls Himself the 'Shepherd and Gate of the sheep' by entering through which one encounters salvation. He alone is the true Shepherd who cares for them and defends them from harm.

One day Francis, close to the finishing line of his calling, was asked by a friar about the figure who would lead the Order after him.

The passage, taken from the second life of Celano, reads as follows:

"Father you will pass from this life, and the family that followed you remains abandoned in this vale of tears. Point to one, if you know one exists in the Order, who satisfies your spirit and to whom the burden of being a general minister can be confidently placed'.

Francis, accompanying each word with sighs, replied:

"I do not know anyone capable of being the leader of such a varied army and shepherd of such a numerous flock. 'But I want to paint you and, as they say, model the figure, in which one can clearly see what the father of this family must be'.

"He must be," he continued, "a man of the most austere life, of great discretion and praiseworthy reputation [...] apply himself zealously to prayer and know how to distribute certain hours to his soul and others to the flock entrusted to him [...After the prayer, then, put yourself at the disposal of the religious, willing to let yourself be bothered by all, ready to answer and provide for everyone with affability [...] Even if it is admitted that you stand out for culture, however, even more in your conduct be the portrait of virtuous simplicity and cultivate virtue [...]".

And he continued:

"He comforts the afflicted, being the last refuge for the afflicted, lest, not finding salutary remedies with him, the sick be overcome by the disease of despair. Let him humble himself, to bend the proud to meekness, and let him drop some of his right, to win a soul to Christ. As for the deserters of the Order, as if they were lost sheep, do not close the bowels of your mercy to them, knowing full well that the temptations that can drive them to such things are very violent [...] It is your task above all to investigate the secret of consciences to extract the truth from the most hidden veins, but do not listen to those who gossip [...]" (FF 771-772).

All this indicates the value of being "Door" for Francis among his brothers, whom he loved with firmness and tenderness; with discretion and understanding, for the love of Christ.

«I am the Gate: if anyone enters through me, he will be saved; and he will go in and out and find pasture» (Jn 10:9)

Monday of the 4th wk. in Easter  (Jn 10:1-10)

Jesus, the true Shepherd, arguing with the Jewish leaders under Solomon's porch makes them aware that they are not his sheep. These, in fact, listen to his voice and follow him. The authorities, on the other hand, do not believe even the evidence of his works.

Francis was a tender-hearted but firm shepherd on the path to follow in the footsteps of Christ.

In this sense various passages from the Sources illuminate his itinerary. In his Admonitions, the Poverello writes:

"Let us look closely, brothers and sisters, at the good shepherd who, in order to save his sheep, endured the passion of the cross.

The Lord's sheep followed him in tribulation and persecution, in ignominy and hunger, in infirmity and temptation, and in other similar things; and they received from the Lord eternal life in return" (FF 155).

Again, St Bonaventure's Major Legend informs us:

"One day, being on his way near Siena, he met a large flock of grazing sheep. According to his custom, he greeted them benevolently, and they, ceasing to graze, all ran to him at once, lifting their snouts and gazing up at him.

They made him such a feast that the brothers and the shepherds were astonished, seeing the lambs and even the rams prancing around him in such a marvellous way" (FF 1147).

And finding St Francis together with St Dominic in Rome, in the house of the Cardinal of Ostia, before the latter spoke thus of his brothers, with great humility:

"Lord, my brothers for this very reason have been called Minors, so that they may not presume to become majors.

The very name teaches them to remain lowly and to follow in the footsteps of Christ's humility, so that in the end they may be raised above others in the presence of the saints.

If you want them to bear fruit in the Church,' he continued, 'keep them and preserve them in the state of their vocation, and bring them down even against their will.

For this, Father, I beseech you: that they may not be all the more haughty as they are poorer and may not show themselves arrogant towards others, do not in any way allow them to obtain offices' (FF 732).

Yes, Francis prayed to his heavenly Father to keep his sheep in humility and not to be torn from his hand.

The Poor Man of Assisi carried within himself all the traits of the authentic shepherd.

«My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me» (Jn 10:27)

4th Sunday in Easter C  (Jn 10:27-30)

In the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus speaking to his disciples tells them that only the Spirit of God can revive man and open him to new horizons.

Francis of Assisi, after his carefree youth, when he met the Lord, received a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit which, turning his life upside down, led him to a completely new existential style, overturned by the Gospel rebirth.

He considered himself a fool for Christ, "simplex et idiot"; united with Our Lady Poverty, because he was assumed by Jesus from the beginning to the end of his life and the source of divine riches.

By the work of the Spirit he was a new man, before whom bare and vital perspectives prevailed.

The world, with its deceptive appearances, no longer interested him and he was only attracted by the unloved Love.

He too, like Peter, if not with words with deeds, repeated to our Saviour:

"Jesus to whom shall I go, to whom shall we go?! You alone have words that do not pass away!".

But some passages from the Franciscan Sources support all this.

"Another time, being in Rome in the house of a cardinal, he was questioned about some obscure passages, and he expounded those profound concepts so clearly, that one would think he had always lived in the midst of the Scriptures.

Therefore the lord cardinal said to him:

"I do not question you as a man of letters, but as a man who has the Spirit of God.

And for this I gladly accept the meaning of your answer, because I know that it comes from God alone" (FF 691).

And again Celano, in the Vita prima:

"Men and women, clerics and religious flocked to see and hear the Saint of God, who appeared to all as a man from another world.

People of all ages and sexes were solicitous to admire the wonders that the Lord was again working in the world through his servant.

By reason of the presence or even the mere fame of Saint Francis, it seemed indeed that a new light had been sent down from heaven at that time to dispel the caliginous darkness that had invaded the earth" (FF 383).

Francis himself, in the Regola Bollata (1223), exhorts his followers thus:

"What they must desire above all things is to have the Spirit of the Lord and his Holy operation, to pray to him always with a pure heart and to have humility, patience in persecution and infirmity" (FF 104).

«It is the Spirit that vivifies, the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life» (Jn 6:63)

Saturday of the 3rd wk. in Easter  (Jn 6:60-69)

In today's passage Jesus upsets the mind-sets of the Jews who wonder how he can give them to eat his body and drink his blood.

Francis, endowed by Grace with extraordinary charisms, understood all this well.

In his simplicity he was a great lover of the Eucharist, to which he dedicated a special letter: 'Letter to all clerics on the reverence of the Body of the Lord'.

In it, among other things, we read:

"For we possess and see bodily nothing in this world of the Most High himself, except the body and blood, the names and words by which we were created and redeemed 'from death to life'" (FF 207a).

And again the Sources inform about Francis' devotion to the Body and Blood of the Lord.

"He was burning with love in every fibre of his being for the sacrament of the Body of the Lord, filled with awe beyond measure at such benevolent deigning and most generous charity [...] being filled with reverence for this venerable sacrament, he offered the sacrifice of all his limbs, and, when he received the immolated Lamb, he immolated his spirit in that fire, which always burned on the altar of his heart [...].

One day he wanted to send the brothers into the world with precious pyxes, so that they might place the price of redemption in the most worthy place possible, wherever they saw it kept with little decorum" (FF 789).

Clare also yearned to receive the living Bread descended from heaven with great devotion and recollection:

"When then he was about to receive the Body of the Lord, he first shed hot tears and, approaching then with trembling, feared Him who is hidden in the Sacrament no less than the Sovereign of heaven and earth" (FF 3210).

And again, during his long stay he devoted himself even more devoutly to the Eucharist.

According to the Legend:

"In that grave illness which confined her to the bedside, she had herself lifted up and supported at the back with supports; and, while sitting, she spun very delicate fabrics.

From these she made more than fifty pairs of corporals and, enclosing them in silk or purple envelopes, she destined them for various churches throughout the plain and the mountains of Assisi" (FF 3209).

The life of these two Poor Men was an unceasing Eucharistic sacrifice for the benefit of humanity, in unity with Jesus.

Their every gesture was bread broken and blood shed for every needy creature.

Living in poverty and simplicity in daily life, she became bread for all.

«He who chews my flesh and drinks my blood has the Life of the Eternal One» (Jn 6:54)

Friday of the 3rd wk. in Easter  (Jn 6,52-59)

In this part of chapter 6 of the Johannine Gospel it is emphasised by Jesus that no one can go to Him unless the Father draws him.

Whoever listens and learns from the Father goes to Jesus.

Francis, always listening to the Word and instructed by the Spirit, one day told his brothers the following:

"The Order and the life of the Lesser Brothers resembles a little flock, which the Son of God, in this last hour, asked of his heavenly Father, saying:

"Father I wish that you would raise up and give to me in this last hour a new humble people, different in their humility and poverty from all the others who have gone before them, and happy to possess only me alone." And the Father answered his beloved Son:

"Son, what you have asked is done".

Francis then added that the Lord wanted the brothers to be called 'Minor', because this is precisely the people asked by the Son of God to his Father, and of them it says in the Gospel: Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the Kingdom; and again: What you did to one of the least of my brothers (minors), you did to me.

'Although here the Lord speaks of all who are poor in spirit, yet he intended to refer in a special way to the Order of Friars Minor, which would flourish in his Church' (FF 1617).

And Clare, in the enclosure of the Damianite walls, writing to her spiritual daughter Agnes of Prague:

"Fill yourselves with courage in the holy service which you have begun by the ardent desire of the poor Crucified One. He for all of us bore the torment of the cross, snatching us from the power of the Prince of Darkness, who held us in chains as a result of the sin of the first man, and reconciling us with God the Father'" (FF 2863).

These two saints testify with their lives that for them the Bread that comes from God is the Word of Jesus and the ultimate self-giving Act of Him, transformed into everlasting salvation for us all.

The prayer dear to Francis, and often repeated by him before the Crucifix, is an externality of listening and faith at the same time, of footsteps directed to communion with the Father and his Son Jesus in the Spirit.

""Most high and glorious God, / illumine the darkness of my heart. / And give me straight faith, / certain hope and perfect charity,/ wisdom and knowledge, / Lord, / that I may do your holy and true commandment. Amen"" (FF 276).

«No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him» (Jn 6:44).

«He who believes has the Life of the Eternal One» (Jn 6:47).

Thursday of the 3rd wk. in Easter  (Jn 6:44-51)

In the Gospel of today's liturgy, Jesus reveals himself as the Bread of Life: salvation that every man seeks.

He affirms that he came down from heaven to do the will of the One who sent him, not his own.

Francis always distinguished himself by that continuous search for God's will in all things.

In the Sources we find from the Poverello an appreciation of the Father's will for Jesus:

"And the will of his Father was this, that his blessed and glorious son, whom he gave to us and was born for us, should offer himself, through his own blood, as a sacrifice and victim on the altar of the cross, not for himself, since through him all things were created, but in atonement for our sins, leaving us the example so that we might follow in his footsteps. And he wants us all to be saved through him and to receive him with a pure heart and a chaste body" (Letter to the Faithful. FF 184).

And in the Paraphrase of the "Our Father" he adds:

"Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: That we may love you with all our heart, always thinking of you; with all our soul, always desiring you; with all our mind, directing all our intentions to you and in all things seeking your honour; and with all our strength, expending all our energies and sensibilities of soul and body in the service of your love and not for anything else; and that we may love our neighbour as ourselves, drawing all with all our power to your love, enjoying the goods of others as of our own and in evils suffering together with them and giving no offence to anyone."

(FF 270).

In prayer he always asked God for knowledge of his will:

"Francis, the servant of Christ, not trusting in his own experience or that of his own, entrusted himself to prayer, to seek insistently what was [...] the disposition of the divine will.

He was thus enlightened with an answer from heaven and understood that he had been sent by the Lord for this purpose: to win souls to Christ, whom the devil was trying to kidnap.

And so he chose to live for all, rather than for himself alone, spurred on by the example of the One who deigned to die, He alone, for all men" (FF 1066).

From a young age Clare of Assisi always sought the will of the Father and, in the monastery, in her Rule, she wrote:

"Let the sisters [...] remember that they have renounced their own will for the love of God" (FF 2807).

Following the example of Christ who came to fulfil the Father's plan, Francis and Clare were also tireless seekers of the divine plan for them.

«For I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me» (Jn 6:38)

Wednesday 3rd wk. in Easter  (Jn 6:35-40)

Today's Johannine Gospel passage shows how the crowd had not yet understood the eternal value of the Bread that Jesus wanted to give them. The people think of the manna eaten in the wilderness by their fathers, but Christ directs their attention to his Father who provides a food that does not perish: his own Person.

A reminder of the unimaginable abundance of the Eucharist, Bread of life for all.

Francis, who described himself as "simple and idiotic", had a special heart that enabled him to perceive the depths of the Mystery of Christ's total self-giving.

Celano points out in the Vita Prima:

"Friend of simplicity, with an incomparably sincere and noble heart. And how much this name "Francis" suits him, to him who had a frank and noble heart more than any other" (FF 529).

His compassion for needy and poor people was visceral:

"He bent down, with wonderful tenderness and compassion, towards anyone afflicted by some physical suffering and when he noticed in someone indigence or need, in the sweet pity of his heart, he considered it as a suffering of Christ Himself" (FF 1142).

Indeed, before Jesus, Bread descended from Heaven, he expresses himself thus in his Admonitions:

"Behold, every day he humbles himself [...] every day he himself comes to us in humble appearance; every day he descends from the bosom of the Father onto the altar in the hands of the priest [...] and as to the holy apostles he showed himself in the true flesh [...] And as they with the eyes of the body saw only the flesh of him, but contemplating him with the eyes of the spirit, they believed that he was the same God, so we too, seeing bread and wine with the eyes of the body, must see and firmly believe that this is his most holy body and blood alive and true.

"And in this way the Lord is always with his faithful, as he himself says: 'Behold I am with you to the end of the world' " (FF 144-145).

And in his letters:

"O sublime humility! O humble sublimity [...] Behold, brothers, the humility of God, and open your hearts before him; humble yourselves also, that you may be exalted by him. NOTHING, THEREFORE, OF YOU HOLD BACK FOR YOURSELVES, THAT HE WHO OFFERS HIMSELF TOTALLY TO YOU MAY RECEIVE YOU TOTALLY' (FF 221).

But an example of 'Bread given' comes to us no less from Clare of Assisi:

"There was only one bread in the monastery, and already the hour of supper and hunger were pressing. Calling the dispenser, the Saint commands her to divide the bread and send one part to the brothers, keeping the other inside for the sisters.

From this second half kept, he orders fifty slices to be cut, which was the number of the Women, and to present them to them on the table of poverty.

And to the devout daughter, who answered her: "It would take the ancient miracles of Christ, to be able to cut so little bread into fifty slices", the Mother replied, saying:

"Do safely what I tell you daughter!".

So the daughter hastened to carry out the Mother's command; and the Mother hastened to address more sighs to her Christ, for her daughters.

And by divine grace that scanty matter grows in the hands of the one who breaks it, so that an abundant portion results for each member of the community" (FF 3189).

«The Bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world» (Jn 6:33)

Tuesday 3rd wk. in Easter  (Jn 6:30-35)

In today's passage, after the sharing of the loaves, the crowd chases Jesus to the other shore, towards Capernaum.

And immediately the Lord puts his finger on the sore spot by emphasising that they seek Him not because of the signs they have seen, but because they are satiated.

A quest driven not by faith, but perhaps by need.

And, to those who ask what to fulfil to do the works of God, the Lord urges the work par excellence: believing.

Jesus dismounts and shifts his gaze from law to Faith.

Wonderful context that in the time of Francis and Clare led the poor people of Assisi to evolve their path of trust and abandonment in God.

In the extraordinary Franciscan Sources we find Francis himself called by the Lord to a leap of faith.

"The Saint found great consolation in the Lord's visits and was assured by them that the foundations of his Order would always remain stable [...].

Being troubled by bad examples, and having resorted one day, so bitterly, to prayer, he felt himself addressed in this way by the Lord:

"Why are you, little man, troubled? Perhaps I made you pastor of my Order in such a way that you would forget that I remain its principal patron?

That is why I have chosen you, simple man, so that those who will, may follow the works that I will do in you and that must be imitated by all others.

I have called you: I will preserve and shepherd you, I will make up with new religious the void left by the others, to the point of giving birth to them if they were not already born.

'Do not therefore be troubled, but wait for your salvation, for if the Order should be reduced even to only three brothers, my help will always be stable'.

From that day it was customary to say that the virtue of a single holy friar overcomes a quantity, however great, of imperfects, as a single ray of light dispels the thickest darkness" (FF 742).

To him who believes in Him who makes us righteous, it is his faith that is reckoned to him for righteousness (cf. Rom 4:4-5).

S. Clare, then, lived literally what Jesus suggests in this Gospel passage: be concerned about food that lasts forever.

In fact, Pope Gregory, with the Bull "Quo elongati" [Up to what point] of 28 September 1230, forbade the Friars Minor from entering monasteries without a special licence from the Holy See - and that only those brothers deputed to do so could take care of the Poor Clares.

In this context, here is what the Sources attest:

"Once, when the Lord Pope Gregory had forbidden any monk to go to the monasteries of the Women without his permission, the pious Mother regretted that the sisters would more rarely have the food of sacred doctrine and groaning said:

"Take them all away from us now, the brothers, after you have taken away those who gave us the nourishment of life!"

And she immediately sent all the brothers back to the minister, not wanting to have beggars to provide the material bread, when they no longer had those who provided them with the bread of the spirit.

But when Pope Gregory learned of this, he immediately put the prohibition back in the power of the general minister" (FF 3232).

Solicitude of a soul in love with the eternal food and willing to renounce everything for It.

«Work not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for the life of the LORD [...]» (Jn 6:27).

«This is the Work of God: that you believe in him whom he has sent» (Jn 6:29).

Monday of the 3rd wk. in Easter  (Jn 6:22-29)