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
Late in his life, and approaching “Sister Death”, Francis wrote a piece of poetic praise to the God he knew was present to him in all of creation. This renowned piece is a beautiful hymn of praise that Franciscans have treasured throughout the centuries.
It is also an inspiration to many within the Christian community. Hymns have been written based on these words, and in 2015, Pope Francis began his second encyclical using the words of the hymn of praise, The Canticle of the Creatures:
Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory,
and the honour, and all blessing,
To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no human is worthy to mention Your name.
Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day and through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant
with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of You, Most High One.
Praised be You, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven You formed them clear
and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather,
through whom You give sustenance
to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble
and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains and governs us,
and who produces various fruit
with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give
pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, shall they be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will find
in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility.
This glorious hymn to the God who loves summarises the spirituality of Francis of Assisi. For Francis, and for we Franciscans, God is present in all created things. All of creation must be treasured, protected, loved and cared for because the footprints of God can be seen in all that we see, all that we touch, and all whom we encounter. Fractious attitudes and behaviours must cease. Even death is the place where God is to be found.
Franciscan Spirituality is not about praying to a distant, unapproachable God who has not become present to us. Franciscan Spirituality – our shared spirituality – begins by finding God in the world we inhabit and the people we encounter.
This is the great challenge that Francis leaves us, and it is what we strive to become: followers of Francis, walking in the footprints of the loving God, finding the living God in the world around us.
The early sources about the life of Francis mention five “Lents”.
A Lent to prepare for Easter and one for Christmas
For 40 days before Easter, Francis observed the “Great Lent”, what we know as Lent today. Francis observed a similar period of 40 days of fasting and prayer in preparation for Christmas, beginning after the Feast of All Saints on 1 November. It was at the end of a Lent preparing for Christmas that Francis arranged for the display of the Nativity scene at Greccio. Both Lents were observed by his brothers as well (Later Rule, Chapter 3).
A fast like Jesus’ in the desert
Francis also recommended a fast of 40 days after the Epiphany, 6 January. On this day in Francis’ time, the Church celebrated the Baptism of the Lord (as well as the visit of the Three Kings), so Francis reasoned that Jesus began his fasting of 40 days in the desert on 7 January.
A Lent in summer
In some years, Francis observed a Lent in summer, from the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the Church of Rome, on 29 June until the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (whom Francis called “the virgin made church”) on 15 August.
A Lent to honour Saint Michael
Finally, Francis observed out of personal devotion a Lent in honour of Saint Michael after the Assumption until 29 September. It was during such a “Lent of Saint Michael”, in 1224, that Francis received the vision of the Seraph on the mountain of La Verna, followed by the appearance of the stigmata on his body.
We have indications from the early sources about how Francis observed these Lents: in fasting, solitude, and prayer.
If these Lents are indicative of his usual practice each year, Francis would spend probably three to five periods of about 40 days each in relative seclusion, dedicating himself to prayer and fasting in solitude, sometimes with one of the brothers, sometimes by himself. This would amount to about four to seven months a year in a secluded, contemplative way of life, frequently spent in the hermitages, a characteristic feature of early Franciscan spiritual practice.
Basically, Francis was creating the space and time to step apart and reflect on how God was asking him to deepen his commitment in terms of the ever-changing situation of his life. “When blessed Francis stayed constantly in a place to pray . . . he was always anxious to know the will of the Lord, about how he could please him better” (Assisi Compilation, 118)
From a post by Friar William J Short OFM in the Commission on the Franciscan Intellectual-Spiritual Tradition website.
