Franciscan Lent

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Chapter 7 of  The Little Flowers tells us that St. Francis, prior to Lent, next to Lake Perugia, housed in the house of a secular friend of his, was inspired by God to go to spend all Lent alone in a small uninhabited island of said lake.

How St. Francis passed a Lent in an island of the lake of Perugia, where he fasted forty days and forty nights, and ate no more than one half loaf. In as much as the faithful servant of Christ, St. Francis, was in certain things well-nigh another Christ, given to the world for the salvation of mankind, God the Father willed to make him in many actions conformed and like unto His Son Jesus Christ; as is made manifest in the venerable College of the Twelve Companions, and in the admirable mystery of the sacred stigmata, and in the unbroken fast of the holy Lent which he made on this wise... (continue reading after advertising) 

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On a time, St Francis being, on the day of Carnival, hard by the lake of Perugia, in the house of one of his disciples, with whom he had lodged during the night, he was inspired by God to go and keep that Lent in an island of the lake; wherefore St. Francis besought this disciple of his that, for the love of Christ, he would carry him in his skiff to an island of the lake, whereon no man dwelt, and that he, would do this on the night of Ash Wednesday to the end that none might know thereof; and he, for the love of the great devotion which he bare St. Francis, diligently fulfilled his request and carried him to the said island.

St. Francis took with him nothing save two small loaves. And, when he had landed upon the island, and his friend was about to depart and to return to his house, St. Francis besought him lovingly that he would not reveal to any man that he was there, and that he would not come for him until Holy Thursday; and so he departed. And St. Francis remained alone, and, in that there was no dwelling there, wherein he might find shelter, he entered into a very dense thicket, which many brambles and bushes had made like unto a cave or little but; and in this place he set himself in prayer to contemplate celestial things.

And there he abode all Lent without eating and without drinking anything save only half of one of those little loaves, according to that which his disciples found on Holy Thursday when he returned to him; for he found of the two little loaves one whole and half of the other. It is believed that St. Francis ate for reverence of the fast of Christ the blessed, who fasted forty days and forty nights without taking any earthly food; and on this wise, with that half loaf, he cast forth from himself the poison of vainglory, and after the ensample of Christ fasted forty days and forty nights.

Thereafter, in that place where St. Francis had shown such marvellous abstinence, God did many miracles through his merits; for which cause men began to build houses there and to dwell there; and, in a little while, a walled village, fair and great, was made there, and withal the Place of the friars, which is called the Place of the Island, and the men and women of that village still have kept great reverence and devotion for that place where St. Francis kept the said Lent.

Praise be to Jesus Christ and his poor servant Saint Francis. Amen

1) Francis' Lent is like Jesus', he has Jesus inside. The important thing is not so much the penance that he does, but the desire of Jesus, the eagerness to put him in real ways at the center of life.

2) To achieve this "Christological Lent," we must use, like Francis, the means of isolation (silence) and the simplicity of life. They are not an end in themselves, but a tool since Francis is not so interested in penance but in the reality of Jesus.

3) When the text says that Francis ate half bread is that it means that he is fleeing from a proud fast, and that he wants to live the humble fast of life that has been the fast of Jesus himself who has lived a humble and dedicated life.

4) The text says that a large and good village, a community, formed on that island. The Christian fast, which Jesus and Francisco do, has to create community.

We draw some derivations that help us live Lent this year in the Franciscan style:

1) The most important thing about Franciscan penance, not to forget, is to grow in the following and love of Jesus. The Franciscan is not so much a penitent as a follower. May our desire to follow Jesus grow in Lent this year.

2) Francisco teaches us that silence and fasting are oriented to contemplation, to the deepening of faith. They are not an end, but a means to delve into the beautiful reality of Jesus who saves us.

3) Franciscan Lent must be Lenten solidarity. It is not so much the Lent of one who does not eat, but that of the one who shares. Live simply so that others simply can live.

4) The Lenten fast must lead to create community, to strengthen our believing and human bonds. Franciscan fasting is not an individual ascetic practice, but a school of faith and community solidarity, fraternal

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