Novena to Saint Francis of Assisi day 2
Prayer before the crucifix of San Damiano
Most High glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart.
Give me right faith, sure hope and perfect charity.
Fill me with understanding and knowledge that I may fulfill your command.
Second life according to Celano, nº 9
Meditation
Second life according to Celano, nº 9
St. Francis instinctively departed in horror from the lepers. He avoided them as much as he could and did not wish to meet any. One day he was riding a horse near Assisi, one of them stepped out. And as much as it caused him a lot of disgust and horror, be it because of his bad smell or horrible appearance, so as not to fail in the practice of love, which he discovered in his prayer, jumping off the horse, he ran to kiss him. And the leper, extending his hand to Francis, the saint kissed her. Francis returned to ride the horse, then looked back and forth, and, although it was an open field without hindrance in sight, he no longer saw the leper. Full of admiration and joy for the experience, a few days later he tries to repeat the same action. He goes to the place where the lepers dwell, and kisses the hand and mouth of each of them. Thus, how bitter it was to see lepers became sweetness to his soul.
Meditation
It was very unpleasant for St. Francis to meet the lepers. They represented the ugly and most degrading of the human being. They were those people who, having leprosy, a disease that breaks down the flesh of the body, quite common in Francis' time, were expelled from the city and condemned to live outside to await death. They meant, therefore, the most unworthy of society, those despised that nobody wanted to touch. Francisco meets them at a decisive moment of their conversion. That moment in which your life changes in such a way that what was previously unpleasant will become sweetness of the soul. That is, a true encounter with God, for he discovers in the despised the human face of the suffering Christ. Francis realizes that Jesus was also poor in his life, and now he manifested himself to him in the despicable in the eyes of men, the lepers. Jesus also met them and healed them of their ailments, transforming situations of pain and injustice into true liberation of people and their slavery. Francis realized and wanted to practice mercy and justice with the poorest of his time and from there start living like them, outside the city and without anything of his own. God, who has fully manifested in his poor and humble Son, continues to be present especially from the poor. Therefore, claiming the primacy of God is, for Francis, to do penance from them, and therefore, lead a sober life, practicing justice, respecting every man and woman for what he is: a son of God, and for So, my brother. Today we also have lepers. Let us think about the people who least count in our society and discover in them the face of the suffering Christ who invites us to love him.
Full novena to Saint Francis:
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