This Advent, as we approach the Year of Jubilee as pilgrims of Hope, we might consider making the period a fast of joy.
We would do this not merely as a penitential act for the expiation of our past sins, but to express our hopeful hunger for a better reality, for a deeper communion with God. Is it no wonder that we have an hour of fasting before receiving communion at Mass? This is the same spirit of self-emptying in preparation of receiving a great gift.
Many of us may not see God’s abundance of goodness at his table of plenty. Our images of God may be distorted and even unhealthy. We may think of God as a harsh policeman or a whimsical tyrant. We may expect God to grant us what we want how we want it simply because we have delivered a set number of prayers and sacrifices. Fasting may be the pathway towards an emptying of these ideas, a way to allow the Holy Spirit to infuse our minds with who God is and guide us to live as his love drives us.
Consider this too, Advent is a time of joyful expectant waiting, but in a world where we demand immediacy and efficiency, we are often frustrated and angry when we have to wait.
Can we learn to simply wait? To allow this waiting time to be grounding time, a time of deeper grounding into the reason for our waiting. To sanctify and beautify the process and the journey.
Can we honour the people we encounter along the way, rather than attribute blame and mistakes to them?
Perhaps this Advent, we can put more effort into catching ourselves before we fall into frustration, into pausing before reacting in anger or hurt, into learning to respond in a healthy and responsible fashion. This is a kind of fasting that is holistic and harmonious with our Christian living.
May we allow the spirit of St Francis of Assisi to inspire our Advent journey, fasting from food and frustration to bring more peace, more joy, and more creative freedom into our world.
Did you know that St Francis of Assisi prescribed fasting from the Feast of All Saints until Christmas, which means about the time of Advent? This prescription was included in both the Earlier Rule of 1221 (a more scriptural and biblical version of Francis’ Rule of Life that was not approved by the Pope) and the Later Rule of 1223 (a legal and canonical version that was approved by Pope Honorius III on 29 Nov).
Let me cite here the two passages, which come from the heart of St Francis, and see what we can take to heart for our spiritual journeying.
Earlier Rule III:11-13 “Let all the brothers fast from the feast of All Saints until the Nativity, and from the Epiphany, when our Lord Jesus Christ began to fast, until Easter. However, at other times, according to this life, let them not be bound to fast except on Fridays. In accordance with the Gospel, it may be lawful for them to eat of all the food that is placed before them.”
Later Rule III:5-14 “Let them fast from the feast of All Saints until the Lord’s Nativity. May those be blessed by the Lord who fast voluntarily during that holy Lent that begins at the Epiphany and lasts during the forty days which our Lord consecrated by His own fast; but those who do not wish to keep it will not be obliged. Let them fast, however, during the other [Lent] until the Lord’s Resurrection. At other times they may not be bound to fast except on Fridays. During a time of obvious need, however, the brothers may not be bound by corporal fast.
I counsel, admonish and exhort my brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ not to quarrel or argue or judge others when they go about in the world, but let them be meek, peaceful, modest, gentle, and humble, speaking courteously to everyone, as is becoming… According to the holy Gospel, let them eat whatever food is set before them.”
As we can see, for Francis, fasting was an obligatory practice for both the season of Lent and the season of Advent. However, this was the practice of the Church at that time, as was fasting on Fridays. The optional (“not obliged”) fast was the fast beginning on Epiphany (6 Jan).
For Francis, there were two kinds of fasts: the fast of sorrow and the fast of joy. A fast of sorrow is when food that is delightful for us is sacrificed as an act of penance for sins committed. A fast of joy is when the heart is flooded with such spiritual delights that time at table is punishment and because of this, tendency to sin is diminished. For this reason, it is wonderful to fast because, by this wondrous act of devotion, fasting restores the spirit.
To put it simply, the fast of sorrow deals with our sins that must be expiated, while the fast of joy deals with strengthening ourselves to avoid future sins. It is like training and disciplining the will to choose the good and avoid the bad.
For Francis, fasting was more than bodily fasting. He wanted his friars to fast outwardly and inwardly. Through bodily fasting, we are invited to be kinder and more loving. In the Later Rule, immediately following the prescript on bodily fasting, Francis exhorts the friars not to quarrel or argue, to be meek and gentle and speak courteously. This is indeed an integrated and harmonious approach to fasting and the gradual growth to a life teeming with virtues.
Included in this fasting for his friars was eating what was set before them. Friars are mendicants, in other words, friars are beggars, and beggars can’t be choosers. So, we eat what is given to us.
St Francis only imposed the fasting periods that were enforced by the Church, that is, during the periods of Lent and Advent. But he proposed one more as optional and devotional from the period of Epiphany, which is in the spirit of the fast of joy. The rest of the year is time for friars to be with people, working and, when work does not provide enough, begging for their daily needs.
So, when the friars are not fasting from food, they are fasting from “unkind” behaviour as friars are to be meek and humble in the presence of all they serve, and bring about the Kingdom of Love as St Francis wanted his friars to do.
May Francis’ spirit of fasting, especially for the season of Advent, inspire us to consider the holistic manner of living out our spiritual lives, just as he did in joyful freedom!
“No! It can’t be real!” This was the response of many in St Francis’ time when they discovered that he carried the five wounds of the Crucified Christ after his retreat on Mt Alvernia in the autumn of 1224. But it was real. In fact, nine papal bulls (official communications by the Pope) were written to defend and support this miracle.
How did the Stigmata of St Francis come to pass?
Pope Honorius III formally approved the Rule of the Franciscan Order on 29 November 1223. However, the papal approval did not quash the protests from the brothers against the strictness of Francis’ Form of Life (forma vitae).
Pained by this, Francis felt a compelling need to go to a space of healing so he went up on Mt Alvernia from the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August) until the Feast of St Michael (29 September). Francis had a special devotion to these saints, and wanted their intercession for this difficult struggle.
Between these feasts was the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross (14 September), and Francis was already deeply touched by the Cross in San Damiano when Jesus on this cross called out to him: “Francis, go rebuild my Church, which you see is falling into ruins”.
When Francis was meditating on the Holy Cross during his retreat, he received a glorious vision of the Crucified One in the form of a burning Seraph. This is an angel from the highest choir of angels whose only role is to love and adore God, hence it is burning with love (seraph in Hebrew means “the burning one”).
Mysteriously, in this further wounding, Francis was greatly consoled and found inner peace. It was as if God had given him a bodily answer to the deep question of his heart – “Who are you, O God and who am I?”. The wounds of Christ crucified were now real on his flesh, and this was his desire fulfilled … to become one with his beloved. We become what we love. And as his beloved Christ was brought to new life in the Resurrection, so Francis experienced new life by the grace of consolation and deep peace.
The Franciscan Family entitled the Centenary celebrations “From Wounds to New Life” with the invitation for all of us to follow in Francis’ footsteps, to make real Francis’ experience in our own flesh.
We each have our own journeys with our personal gifts and wounds. The beauty of our journey into God is to keep inflaming our gifts to rebuild God’s Church and, by conforming ourselves to the Crucified Christ, allow God to transform our wounds and pains into new life.
As Francis said before returning home to the Lord, “The Lord has shown me what is mine to do, may He show you yours.”
On 2 August of each year, the “Pardon of Assisi” is celebrated in Assisi in the Church of St Mary of the Angels. This church is also known as the Portiuncula, which means “little portion of land”.
St Mary of the Angels is conceivably the most important Franciscan sanctuary in Assisi for the memories of Francis that it contains. He was so fond of the little church that he once said to the brothers, “If anyone should evict you from one door, return through another one.”
Francis lived here with the brothers in community, and he considered it his home base. After St. Clare left her family on Palm Sunday 1212, she met Francis in the Portiuncula where he gave her the tonsure. Finally, here Francis died on 3 October 1226.
According to the traditional account, in July 1216, Francis was praying in the Portiuncula when he had a vision of Jesus and the Virgin Mary surrounded by a host of angels.
Jesus asked him what grace he desired, to which Francis replied that he desired the complete forgiveness of all sins for everyone who came to his beloved little church. Jesus replied that he should go to the pope, since he was the Vicar of Christ, to request such an indulgence.
Francis went to Perugia, where Pope Honorius III had just been elected pontiff, and made his request that anyone who journeyed to St Mary of the Angels would receive a plenary indulgence – a full pardon for their sins.
Such a request was unprecedented. There were only a few ways to receive a plenary indulgence at that time – by making a pilgrimage to one of the great basilicas in Christendom such as St Peter’s in Rome, St James in Compostela, St Mary Magdalene in France, or by making the “queen of all pilgrimages” to the Holy Land. It was inconceivable to attach a plenary indulgence to a wayside country church.
Perhaps miraculously, Pope Honorius granted Francis his request. However, he limited the indulgence to just one day a year – 2 August.
The indulgence was initially limited to the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels in Assisi for 2 August. However, over time, the indulgence was extended to all Franciscan churches around the world on that day. Today, the indulgence is available in Assisi any day of the year.
The “Pardon of Assisi” can be obtained from the evening of 1 August until midnight on 2 August. To obtain the plenary indulgence, the faithful should
go to confession (a week before or after 2 August)
receive the Eucharist (a week before or after 2 August)
recite the Creed and the Our Father, and pray for the intentions of the Pope
visit a Franciscan church or any parish church on 1 or 2 August to honour Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula
“A chance to follow in St Francis’ steps”: Eight centuries after the Italian holy man visited Egypt, his relics make a return.
When Saint Francis made his renowned journey to Egypt in 1219, he was wearing the humble tunic which went on to become characteristic of his followers.
Now, 800 years later, that tunic – or part of it – has made a return to the country.
A piece of the garment – which counts as a second-class relic of the saint – arrived in Cairo on the 23rd May. It then made its way to Alexandria, and will also visit Minya, Assiut, Qena and Luxor before returning to Italy on the 2nd June.
Following in St Francis’ steps
The relic belongs to Franciscan friars from the Italian region of Tuscany, who are bringing it to various countries in celebration of the 800th anniversary of St Francis’ stigmata.
Speaking to Vatican News, Anthony Amen, a youth representative for the Egyptian Franciscans, said that the event aimed to “bring back the spirituality of Saint Francis”.
He added that he hoped the encounter with the relics would inspire the Church in Egypt to “follow in St Francis’ steps”.
The Saint and the Sultan
St Francis’ visit to Egypt is now best remembered for his encounter with Sultan al-Kamel, who was at the time the ruler of Egypt.
In the midst of the Crusades, the saint travelled behind enemy lines to meet with the Muslim leader, and remained with him for several days.
Amen said that the visit of the relic was “always a reminder for us to take the initiative to sustain dialogue between us and the other.”
He said that relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt had taken a “huge step forward” in the past ten years, during the leadership of President al-Sisi.
And, he said, much progress had also been made just in the past couple of years precisely because of the 800th anniversary of Francis’ encounter with the Sultan.
Dialogues took place, he said, between leaders and youth representatives from the Catholic Church and Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, one of the most prestigious centres of Muslim learning worldwide.
“From that moment,” Amen said, “we entered a new phase in interreligious dialogue between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.”
Amid celebrations for the eighth centenary of St. Francis of Assisi’s stigmata, hundreds of young people gather in Florence until Sunday to look at the future through the eyes of the great saint.
Young people gathered in Florence, Italy, are trying to fully perceive the legacy of St. Francis.
They are doing this through dialogue with the other generations.
At least a thousand young people have come from all over Italy to explore various themes, related to St. Francis, amid the celebrations for the eighth centenary of his stigmata.
This was seen in the opening evening during the encounter with Roberto Vecchioni, who met with Davide, a young singer-songwriter, and two girls from Rondine – Cittadella della pace, one Ukrainian and the other Russian.
The two young women shared their great pain for the war that has been going on between their countries for over two years.
For a sustainable safeguard of Creation
“To save life on earth we need an ecological conversion,” Stefano Mancuso, professor at the University of Florence and founder of plant neurobiology, appealed from the stage of the Francesco Live event.
The Francesco Live event is the meeting of young people who want to seek answers, following the testimony of the Poor Man of Assisi.
On Friday, Florence’s Basilica of the Holy Cross was packed with young people who participated in the event.
The first plenary session was dedicated to integral ecology, in which life, Mr. Mancuso went on to explain, “is a precious good, and yet,” he added, “the quantity of life on the planet is decreasing: the number of animals on earth has halved in the last fifty years, among mammals, almost all of them are now humans and animals that are part of the human food chain.”
A planet distorted by man
Chiara Giaccardi, professor of sociology at the Catholic University of Milan, also emphasised the weight of the human footprint on Earth. “We are in the era of the anthropocene, man has the power to distort the planet.”
Faced with this, she said, the answer lies in being generative.
‘”Science tells us that everything is relationship, and relationship is generative, it gives birth to fruits of the future. Freedom is not the absence of ties: it is making something exist that is not yet there. It is bringing something new into the world, in a shared way.”
This represents the opposite of individualism, which, according to the sociologist, “unties us from everything and ends up making us all the same. This is not our anthropological vision. Every genius needs to be fertilised in order to create. Everything we do has an impact on society and nature.”
Climate crisis and migration
The plenary, coordinated by Michela Lazzeroni, professor of economic-political geography at the University of Pisa, also gave voice to Giorgio Brizio.
The 22-year-old young man, student of International Development and Cooperation Sciences, also deals with climate crisis and migrations.
Also on stage was Friar Francesco Zecca, a Friar Minor from the Salento Province, who has been committed for years to justice, peace and the protection of creation, both in the city where he works, Taranto, and in the OIKOS project.
OIKOS is the Franciscan network of the Mediterranean, which during Francesco Live brought to Florence some young people from countries bordering the ‘Mare nostrum‘ and who for days, in the Sala Giunta of Palazzo Vecchio, have been discussing many issues concerning the present and future of this area of the world.
The economy was the central theme of the event held on Saturday.
