October 4th

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Friday, October 4, 2019 – St. Francis of Assisi                                         Bar 1:15-22; Lk 10:13-16 _______________________________________________________________________________

Jesus said, “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” Lk 10:16

Our “first name is ‘sinner’” said Pope Francis, and for this reason, “we ask the Lord for the grace to be ashamed” before God who “embraces us” with all of His mercy. “We know that in our heart there are many inclinations towards sin” Pope Francis continued, “towards greed, jealousy, hate and gossip”. He focused for a moment on the notion of gossip. We despair when we hear news of wars, but to gossip is a form of war; it is a war of the heart to destroy the other” he asserted, and when “the Lord tells us: ‘no, do not gossip, keep quiet’”, in many cases we do not listen and simply do as we please.

So Pope Francis suggested to the faithful a personal reflection of “looking always at the sin in one’s relationship with the Lord, who loves us, who has given us everything”, even if often “we do what we want”. For this reason, Pope Francis advised that “when we make an examination of conscience or as we prepare for confession, we should not just make a mere list of sins”, but rather, we must “recognize” the sins that we have committed. (Morning meditation on Friday, October 6, 2017)

When St. Francis of Assisi worked on the Rule that was supposed to take the form of a Franciscan way of life, he devoted one chapter to the mission. For the first time, the proclamation of the Gospel was not only the task of charismatic personalities, but the duty of each member. The novelty of the missionary plan conceived by Francis created the preconditions for effective missionary activities. These included solidarity and friendship with the locals, as well as knowledge of Islamic culture. Later, Francis presented two ways for missionaries to behave in Muslim territory: “The brothers who go there can act spiritually among Muslims in two ways. One way is that they will not provoke disputes or fights, but will submit to every human creation for God's sake and will confess that they are Christians. The second way is that if they see that the Lord likes it, they will preach the Word of God so listeners will believe in the Almighty God, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Creator of everything, the Son of the Redeemer and the Savior, and they become Christians.” (From the Rule of St. Francis)

What effective methods of proclaiming the gospel do you know and use?

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.           St. Francis of Assisi