/Our Father St. Francis
was a "man of single heart." We marvel at the simplicity of his famous
prayer:
MY GOD AND MY ALL!
And we see that his marveling simplicity
spilled over into every phase of his life. The simplicity, the
single-heartedness of Francis invites us to "do likewise," to opt for his
pattern of Christlikeness, rather than choosing the "me-most-ness" of
complication, criticism, or complaint.
How to describe the spirit of our
Franciscan charism?
We can discover a whole range of life-imitable
traits
contained in the letters of the title which Holy Church herself
has
attributed to the spiritual family of St. Francis of Assisi.
/
It has been said that
The Franciscan Order was born with a song.
St. Francis' living and dying was so
"song-full" that the more scrupulous friars worried over what the neighbors
might think of such a death scene as his, overspilling with the sung praise
of God. The Seraphic "singing-ness" went far deeper than lyrics or
notes, though; it was a whole life-set attuned to God and the wonder of His
ways, unfolding in sorrow and in joy,
leading (as our lives one day will) to
the everlasting
HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!
of heaven.
