The evangelist Matthew also recounts the episode of the Baptist's martyrdom.

Herod wanted to have John killed because he reproached him for his offences, but at the same time he feared the crowd who considered him a prophet.

The theme of persecution combined with the people's favour for the man of God is also present in the story of St Francis.

In the Sources:

"Since the herald of Christ was famous for these and many other prodigies, the people paid attention to his words, as if an Angel of the Lord were speaking.

For the prerogative of the lofty virtues, the spirit of prophecy, the thaumaturgical power, the mission to preach coming from heaven, the obedience of creatures deprived of reason, the sudden conversions of hearts brought about by hearing his word, the knowledge infused by the Holy Spirit and superior to human doctrine, the authorisation to preach granted by the Supreme Pontiff by divine revelation, as well as the Rule, which defines the form of preaching, confirmed by the Vicar of Christ himself and, finally, the signs of the Supreme King impressed like a seal on his body, are like ten testimonies for the whole world and confirm without a shadow of a doubt that Francis, the herald of Christ, is worthy of veneration for the mission received, authentic in the doctrine taught, admirable for his holiness and that, therefore, he preached the Gospel of Christ as a true envoy of God" (FF 1221).

For this he too encountered persecution.

But to his brothers, in the Regola non bollata, he reminds them:

"And let all the brothers, wherever they are, remember that they have given themselves and abandoned their bodies to our Lord Jesus Christ.

And for his love they must expose themselves to enemies both visible and invisible, for the Lord says:

'He who loses his soul for my sake will save it for eternal life' " (FF 45).

Francis sacrificed his whole self on the altar of charity and poverty for the sake of the Kingdom, leaving a shining example.

«Herod, wanting to kill him, was afraid of the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet» (Mt 14:5)

Saturday of the 17th wk. in O.T.  (Mt 14,1-12)

Chapter thirteen of Matthew's Gospel highlights the rejection of Jesus by the inhabitants of Nazareth.

The Lord is amazed at the unbelief found in his homeland and the contempt reserved for him, so much so that he cannot perform any wonders there.

Like Jesus, so is his disciple.

Following in Christ's footsteps, Francis of Assisi too would have wished that the people of his time had been builders and choristers of other dreams.

But in his life he met (and with him his friars) men in whom often dwelt the inability to recognise the figure of the divine in the human.

A hardness that went hand in hand with that contempt for the prophetic and tended to nullify what was revolutionary in the spirit of the Poverello: the happy intuition of the valorisation of the person.

We find in the authoritative Sources:

"If Guido [a benefactor] treated them with such regard, others instead covered them with contempt. People of high and lowly status mocked and maligned them, even to the point of stripping them of their miserable garments.

The servants of God remained naked because, according to the evangelical ideal, they wore nothing but that one piece of clothing, and moreover they did not demand the return of what was taken from them [...].

Some threw mud on them; others put dice in their hands, inviting them to play; still others, grabbing them from behind by the hood, dragged them on their backs.

These and other such wickednesses were inflicted on them, because they were thought to be such mean beings, that they could be scrambled at will.

Together with hunger and thirst, with cold and nakedness, they endured tribulations and sufferings of all kinds.

But they bore everything with imperturbable patience, according to the admonition of Francis" (FF 1444).

«There is no prophet despised except in his own country and his own house» (Mt 13:57)

No longer a local child:

Son of Pietro di Bernardone (rich merchant) and Monna Pica, Francis had left all worldly and local affiliations to follow Christ and his Word.

For this he and his brothers were mocked and sidelined by the arrogance of many, incredulous towards the model of life that their witness provided.

We read in the Sources about Francis:

"The Spirit of the Lord who had anointed and sent him, assisted his servant Francis, wherever he went Christ himself, the power and wisdom of God, assisted him" (FF 1210).

Despite the little faith of the bystanders Jesus so conformed him to himself that he relived all his mysteries in his flesh.

Friday 17th wk in O.T.  (Mt 13,54-58)

In the Gospels, the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a net that gathers all sorts of fish, which are then selected by the fishermen.

One day Francis, walking with Aegidius, confided to him the following:

"Our religious movement will be similar to the fisherman, who casts his nets into the water and catches a multitude of fish; then, letting the small ones fall into the water, he piles up the big ones in baskets".

He prophesied with this simile the expansion of his Order" (FF 1436).

At the same time he never forgot the judgement of God who discerns Good and Evil, and the Lords whom we have served. Hence the final judgement on our actions.

Francis lived his entire existence in the fear of God and so did Clare; committed to ensuring that there were good fish in their Order.

And again, in the Legend of the Three Companions:

"Divine Grace had profoundly changed him. Although he did not wear a religious habit, he longed to find himself unknown in some city, where he could barter his clothes for the rags of a beggar and himself try begging for the love of God' (FF 1405).

The Minim knew that what a poor man received was addressed to Christ himself and that a single glass of water given to the small and marginalised was offered to Jesus.

His encounter with the leper in the plain of Assisi had turned bitterness into true sweetness in him.

Francis feared divine judgement and wanted to correspond to what the Word of God demanded of him.

He wanted to be that good fish at the service of the kingdom of heaven through a life spent for his neighbour.

«The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, which gathers all kinds of fish. When it was full, and having hauled it up on the shore, they [the fishermen] gathered the good fish into baskets but threw out the bad ones» (Mt 13:47-48)

Thursday of the 17th wk. in O.T.  (Mt 13,47-53)

Jesus speaks in parables of the Kingdom of Heaven, likened to a treasure hidden in a field for which he who finds it sells everything.

The subject of the parable about the Kingdom is also the pearl of enormous value for which the merchant who goes in search of it sells everything to buy it.

As the Sources themselves reveal, Francis' hidden Treasure was poverty not for its own sake, but for the sake of the Kingdom; conformation to the Poor Christ.

For him, Hidden Treasure for which to sell everything was the encounter with lepers, a concrete revelation of God and with whom he wanted to be often, caring for them and loving them more than himself.

Hidden treasure was also the prayer and sufferings he shared with Jesus.

The Sources attest:

"These visits to the lepers increased his goodness. Taking one of his companions, whom he loved very much, to an out-of-the-way place, he would tell him that he had discovered a great and precious treasure [...]. 

He often led him to a cave, near Assisi, and entered it alone, leaving his friend outside, eager to seize the treasure" (FF 1409).

"Then, loving every form of humility, he moved in with the lepers, staying with them and serving them all with great care.

He washed their feet, bandaged their sores, removed the rot from their sores and cleansed them of purulence.

He also, moved by admirable devotion, kissed their festering sores, he who would soon become the Good Samaritan of the Gospel" (FF 1045).

Again: 'And truly the immaculate bride of God is the true religion he embraced; and the Kingdom of Heaven is the hidden treasure he sought so ardently' (FF 330).

His biographer Celano continues, in the Vita Prima:

"He withdrew a little from the tumult of the world [...] and sought to keep Jesus Christ in the intimacy of his heart.

Like a shrewd merchant, he withdraws the pearl he has found from the gaze of the sceptics, and secretly endeavours to buy it with the sale of everything else' (FF 328).

The discovery of the great Gospel treasure is also attested in a short passage in the Legend of the Three Companions.

"Francis together with Aegidius went to the March of Ancona, the other two set out for another region.

Going towards the March, they exulted joyfully in the Lord. Francis, in a loud and clear voice, sang in French the praises of the Lord, blessing and glorifying the goodness of the Most High.

So great was their joy, that they seemed to have discovered a magnificent treasure in the evangelical estate of Lady Poverty, for the love of which they had generously and spontaneously disposed of all material possessions, considering them as waste" (FF 1436).

«The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field; which a man having found hid; and in his joy he goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field» (Mt 13:44)

Wednesday of the 17th wk. in O.T.  (Mt 13,44-46)

The Johannine passage narrates the resuscitation of Lazarus.

In the face of death, the humanity of the Lord testifies to his love for us, his friends.

Francis of Assisi too, sensitive to the ills of the people, in life and in death worked as an instrument of God, a sower of true life.

The Sources, in the Major Legend, give us pearls of life transmitted.

"In the village of Pomaranico, situated in the mountains of Apulia, two spouses had an only daughter, of tender age, whom they loved tenderly. But a serious illness led her to the grave.

Her parents, despairing of having any other heirs, thought themselves dead with her.

Relatives and friends came for that funeral too worthy of tears; but the unhappy mother, lying filled with unspeakable sorrow and overwhelmed with infinite sadness, knew nothing of what was taking place.

Meanwhile St Francis, in the company of a single friar, deigned to visit with an apparition the desolate woman, whom he knew well as her devotee.

Mercifully he spoke to her:

"Do not weep," he said to her, "for the light of your lamp, which you weep as if extinguished, will be restored to you through my intercession".

The woman immediately got up and telling everyone what the Saint had told her, she forbade the burial to take place; then, invoking with great faith the name of St Francis, she took her dead daughter by the hand, and, alive, safe and sound, she made her get up, amidst universal amazement" (FF 1264).

The Superwitness of faith, Francis, acted in such a way as to give glory to the Eternal in the presence of all, testifying that Jesus is indeed

the resurrection and the life, for whoever believes in Him even if he dies will live.

«I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will not die eternally. Do you believe this?»  (Jn 11:25-26)

St Martha, Mary and Lazarus  (Jn 11:19-27)

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells parables about the Kingdom of God, drawing inspiration from elements of nature: mustard seeds and yeast.

With natural and real connections, he explains the nature of the Kingdom.

Francis and Clare of Assisi were two mustard seeds that grew in humility and obscurity and became trees so large that many creatures found shelter in their branches.

Specifically, the papal bull of canonisation «Clara Claris praeclara» says this about Clare:

«This was the tall tree, stretching towards the sky, with outstretched branches, which produced sweet fruit in the field of the Church [...] and in whose pleasant and pleasant shade many followers flocked from all over, and still flock to taste its fruit» (FF 3294).

The Kingdom of God finds its development in these unique metaphors, of which the Poor Man of Assisi and the recluse Clare are vivid and concrete witnesses.

But Francis, like Jesus, also spoke to his brothers in parables. The Sources attest to this in various passages.

When he wanted to make them understand the path that awaited them in order to welcome the Kingdom of God, he recalled various parables from the Gospel.

We recall one of many with which he announced the Word entrusted to him by the Lord.

When he presented himself to the Pope, Jesus made him understand how he should express himself.

"He told the Pope how God had suggested to him the parable of a rich king who had married a beautiful poor woman with great joy and had children who looked like their father, the king, and who were therefore raised at the king's table.

He then gave the interpretation of the parable, coming to this conclusion:

'There is no need to fear that the children and heirs of the eternal King will die of hunger, for they, like Christ, were born of a poor mother by the power of the Holy Spirit and were begotten by the spirit of poverty in a poor religion.

For if the King of heaven promises the eternal kingdom to his followers, how much more will he provide for them the things he gives without distinction to the good and the bad."

The Vicar of Christ listened attentively to this parable and its interpretation and, filled with wonder, recognised without a shadow of a doubt that Christ had spoken through that man.

But he was also reassured by a vision he had at that moment, in which the Spirit of God showed him the mission to which Francis was destined.

In fact, as he recounted, he saw in a dream that the Basilica of St. John Lateran was about to collapse and that a poor man, small and despicable in appearance, was supporting it, putting his shoulders under it so that it would not fall.

"Truly," concluded the Pope, "this is the one who, through his work and his teaching, will support the Church of Christ" (FF 1064).

"Relying on divine grace and papal authority, Francis, full of confidence, set out for the Spoletana valley, ready to practise and teach the Gospel" (FF 1065).

These parables are also a narrative of the coming of the Kingdom of God, its expansion in the mustard seed of Francis and Clare, and their incredible developments.

Monday, 17th week in Ordinary Time  (Mt 13:31-35)

After teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus urges them to ask for what they need and to knock because the door will be opened to them.

For Francis of Assisi, giving to those in need was a way of life. This verb, 'to give', was often replaced by another typically Franciscan one: 'to give back'.

For him, giving his cloak to a poor man who knocked at the door of his heart meant giving back what had been lent to him.

On the other hand, as the Gospel says, whatever we wish to be done to us, we must also do to our neighbour (cf. Mt 7:12).

At the same time, he considered it important and a sign of humility to know how to ask.

After his change of life, obeying the voice of the Crucified One at San Damiano and overcoming himself, he devoted himself to countless labours.

The Sources narrate:

"Francis, a man of God, stripped of worldly possessions, consecrated himself to divine worship and, no longer caring for his own advantage, committed himself to serving God in every way possible.

Returning to the church of St. Damian, all happy and fervent, he made himself a hermit's habit and comforted the priest of that church with the same words of encouragement that the bishop had addressed to him.

Then, returning to the city, he began to walk through the squares and streets, praising the Lord with his soul intoxicated.

When he finished his praises, he set about obtaining the stones needed to restore the church. He said:

"Whoever gives me a stone will receive a reward; whoever gives me two stones will receive two rewards; whoever gives me three stones will receive three rewards!"

With ardent enthusiasm, he made this and similar appeals full of ingenuity, for this chosen one of God had a candid and childlike soul, did not resort to the learned language of human wisdom, but was simple and direct in everything" (FF 1420).

According to the Poverello, begging for alms for the love of God was the most noble and dignified gesture before the Lord and the world.

"For everything that the heavenly Father has created for the use of men, he continues to give freely even after sin, to the worthy and unworthy alike, because of the love he has for his beloved Son" (FF 1610).

«Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you» (Lk 11:9)

Sunday 17th, Ordinary Time, year C  (Lk 11:1-13)

Francis, the Little One of God, often instructed his brothers not to be servants of the weeds sown in the world by the evil one, not to follow his perverse and anti-Gospel logic. He recommended that they live the Word sown by Christ. 

We find, in fact, in his writings:

"All those who [...] walk after evil concupiscence [...] and do not observe those things which they have promised to the Lord and serve [...] the cares of the world and the preoccupations of this life: these are prisoners of the devil, whose children they are and do the works; they are blind, for they do not see the true light, our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not have spiritual Wisdom, for they do not possess the Son of God, who is the true wisdom of the Father" (FF 178/4).

Also, as he explained to the Supreme Pontiff to whom he went for approval of the Rule, the children of God have nothing to fear:

"There is no need to fear that the children and heirs of the Eternal King should die of hunger; for they, in the likeness of Christ, were born of a poor mother, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, and were begotten, by virtue of the spirit of poverty, into a poor religion.

For if the King of Heaven promises to his imitators the Eternal Kingdom, how much more will he provide for them those things which he bestows without distinction on the good and the bad" (FF 1064).

«The good field is the world; the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom. But the tares are the children of the wicked» (Mt 13:38)

Saturday of the 16th wk in O.T.  (Mt 13,24-30)

In today's Gospel Jesus teaches his disciples about humility and greatness in service.

He who wants to become great will be first in service. Compared to the imperial criterion, the evangelical criterion is quite different - it elevates those who make themselves last and do not dominate.

Thanks to the light received from the Spirit, Francis and Clare had learnt to incarnate the Word of God on a daily basis.

The target of their action was Christ to be recognised and served in the brothers or sisters, but also to be helped in those who knocked on the door or met along the way.

The children of the kingdom of heaven do not rule, but humbly serve their neighbour.

Jesus' disciples do not aspire to prestigious positions, but to conform to the identikit outlined in the Beatitudes.

Hence the active understanding of what the Sources propose.

"They [the brothers] occupied the day in prayer and working with their hands, so as to resolutely avoid idleness, the enemy of the soul [...].

They loved each other with a deep affection, and served and provided for each other as a mother would do with her only tenderly loved child.

Such was the affection that burned in their hearts, that they were ready to give themselves up to death without hesitation, not only for the love of Christ, but also to save the souls or bodies of their brethren" (FF 1446).

«As the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life, a ransom for many»  (Mt 20:28)

And Clare herself, enclosed within Damianite walls, offered in simplicity to her sisters the witness of all-round service.

"From then on she no longer refused any servile duties, to the point that she was the one who poured water over the sisters' hands, stood to assist them while they sat and served them at table while they ate.

She hardly gave any orders: but she did it herself spontaneously, preferring to carry them out herself rather than command her sisters" (FF 3180).

"She washed the seats of the infirm, she cleansed them herself, with that noble spirit of hers, without shying away from filthiness or disgusting the stench" (FF 3181).

The Minim and the Poor Woman of Saint Damian had received as a gift a pure heart, inflamed by Charity, at the service of the Kingdom.

Looking to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of the law, they had acquired His physiognomy as fraternal servants, to redeem the multitudes.

St James the Apostle  (Mt 20:20-28)