From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   September 17th - Feast of the Stigmata of our holy father St. Francis   
      
   Francis imitated Christ so perfectly that towards the end of his life our   
   Lord   
   wished to point him out to the world as the faithful imitator of the   
   Crucified,   
   by imprinting His five wounds upon his body.   
      
   Two years before his death, when, according to his custom, Francis had   
   repaired   
   to Mt. La Verna to spend the 40 days preceding the feast of St. Michael the   
   Archangel in prayer and fasting, this wonderful event took place. St.   
   Bonaventure gives the following account of it:   
      
   "Francis was raised to God in the ardor of his seraphic love, wholly   
   transformed   
   by sweet compassion into Him, who, of His exceeding charity, was pleased to   
   be   
   crucified for us. On the morning of the feast of the Exultation of the Holy   
   Cross, as he was praying in a secret and solitary place on the mountain,   
   Francis   
   beheld a seraph with six wings all afire, descending to him from the heights   
   of   
   heaven. As the seraph flew with great swiftness towards the man of God,   
   there   
   appeared amid the wings the form of one crucified, with his hands and feet   
   stretched out and fixed to the cross. Two wings rose above the head, two   
   were   
   stretched forth in flight, and two veiled the whole body.   
      
   "Francis wondered greatly at the appearance of so novel and marvelous a   
   vision.   
   But knowing that the weakness of suffering could nowise be reconciled with   
   the   
   immortality of the seraphic spirit, he understood the vision as a revelation   
   of   
   the Lord and that it was being presented to his eyes by Divine Providence so   
   that the friend of Christ might be transformed into Christ crucified, not   
   through martyrdom of the flesh, but through a spiritual holocaust.   
      
   "The vision, disappearing, left behind it a marvelous fire in the heart of   
   Francis, and no less wonderful token impressed on his flesh. For there began   
   immediately to appear in his hands and in his feet something like nails as   
   he   
   had just seen them in the vision of the Crucified. The heads of the nails in   
   the   
   hands and feet were round and black, and the points were somewhat long and   
   bent,   
   as if they had been turned back. On the right side, as if it had been   
   pierced by   
   a lance, was the mark of a red wound, from which blood often flowed and   
   stained   
   his tunic."   
      
   Thus far the account of St. Bonaventure. Although St. Francis strove in   
   every   
   way to conceal the marvelous marks which until then no man had seen, he was   
   not   
   able to keep them a complete secret from the brethren. After his death they   
   were   
   carefully examined, and they were attested by an ecclesiastical decree. To   
   commemorate the importance of the five wounds, Pope Benedict XI instituted a   
   special feast which is celebrated on September 17th, not only by all   
   branches of   
   the Franciscan Order, but also in the Roman missal and breviary.   
      
   ON LOOKING UP TO THE CROSS   
   1. With the example of our holy Father St. Francis in mind, consider what   
   effect   
   a glance at the cross should have on us. It led Francis from the service of   
   the   
   world to the service of God and to penance. A look at the crucifix should   
   remove   
   from our hearts all delight in the world and fill us with sorrow for the   
   sins we   
   have committed in the service of the world, and of our evil passions. For   
   what   
   other reason was Christ nailed to the cross, and his whole body bruised? The   
   Prophet tells us: "He was wounded for our iniquities. He was bruised for our   
   sins" (Is 53:5). Meditation on the sufferings of our Savior caused St.   
   Francis   
   to shed so many tears that his eyes became inflamed. -- Do you also kneel   
   before   
   the crucifix and bewail the sins through which you nailed your Savior to the   
   Cross?   
   2. Consider that a look at the cross is also a consolation for the sinner.   
   Our   
   crucified Lord assured St. Francis of the complete remission of his sins.   
   The   
   Prophet also tells us: "By His bruises we are healed" (Is 53.5). Moses gave   
   us a   
   picture of our Savior on the Cross when he raised a brazen serpent on high   
   in   
   the desert, so that those who had been bitten by the poisonous serpent in   
   punishment for their murmuring might be healed by looking up to this sign of   
   our   
   redemption. On the crucifix you behold our Savior Himself. "Behold the Lamb   
   of   
   God; behold Him who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29). -- Look up   
   to   
   Him with sincere contrition and lively confidence; He will also take away   
   your   
   sins.   
   3. Consider how the contemplation of the Crucified finally pierced St.   
   Francis   
   through and through with the fire of love, so that our Lord made him even   
   externally like Himself. A look at the crucifix should also awaken ardent   
   charity in us. St. Augustine points this out to us when he says: "Behold the   
   head that is bent to kiss you, the heart that is opened to receive you, the   
   arms   
   stretched out to embrace you." Do not look at the image of your crucified   
   Savior   
   in the cold and indifferent way that one looks at a work of art, to marvel   
   at   
   the painful expression there represented. Let it speak to your heart and let   
   your heart speak to it. Serve Him faithfully so that you may one day be   
   united   
   with Him in eternity.   
      
   PRAYER OF THE CHURCH   
   O Lord Jesus Christ, who when the world was growing cold, didst renew the   
   sacred   
   wounds of Thy sufferings in the body of our holy Father St. Francis in order   
   to   
   inflame out hearts with the fire of Thy divine love, mercifully grant that   
   by   
   his merits and intercession we may cheerfully carry our cross and bring   
   forth   
   worthy fruits of penance. Who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Occupy your minds with good thoughts, or the enemy will fill them with bad   
   ones.   
   Unoccupied, they cannot be.   
   -St Thomas More   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in   
   me,   
   although he be dead, shall live: And every one that liveth, and believeth in   
   me,   
   shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?  (John 11:25-26)   
      
      
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   Prayer in Honor of the Sacred Stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi   
      
     O Lord Jesus Christ, Who when the world was growing cold, in order that   
   the hearts of men might burn anew with the fire of Your love, did in the   
   flesh of the most blessed Francis reproduce the stigmata of Your passion: be   
   mindful of his merits and prayers; and in Your mercy vouchsafe to us the   
   grace ever to carry Your cross, and to bring forth worthy fruits of penance.   
      
     -To all the faithful who, upon the five Sundays which immediately precede   
   the feast of the sacred stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi, or upon any   
   other five consecutive Sundays during the year, shall exercise themselves   
   either in pious meditation, or in vocal prayer, or in any other work of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)