It was
JESUS in the
EUCHARIST that drew Francis;
JESUS in the Church that
supported and directed the Gospel revolution which he led.
These themes are the
CRIB,
the CROSS, and the CIBORIUM. We find an apostolic
summary of Franciscan spirituality in those stirring words of St.
Paul:
For me to live is Christ.
That
says it best of all because, when all is said and done, JESUS is
the Reason for being a Franciscan, just as the following of JESUS was the
all-seasonal reason for St. Francis doing what he did. And
so reviewing the past considerations of our SERAPHIC family traits, we
find that they all begin and end with
Jesus Christ.
The
S*E*R*A*P*H*I*C Order.
Franciscan preachers down the ages have expounded
on the enduring
"C" themes of......
PART 8
Intent on seeing
JESUS
in all things,
INTENSE in his desire that all men be saved, our Seraphic Father so
utterly identified with the suffering God-Man that he could offer but one
prayer as he neared the end of his earthly life:
Lord, I beg
You to allow me to feel in my heart as much as possible the love which
urged You to suffer so much for our salvation, and to feel in my body as
much as possible that pain which You suffered for love of men.
God's response to this two-fold petition, the
Sacred Stigmata,
remains the glory of the Franciscan Order.
The love which those five holy wounds signified
remains ever and always the goal
of every Franciscan heart striving to be
like Francis' own.
JESUS
It was love that drove Francis up the peaks and PENITENCE,
PRAISE and
PRAYER, and down into the valleys of HUMILITY and
HAPPINESS.
JESUS
ARDENT, ADORING love for the Son of God urged
Francis on to
APOSTOLIC labors and missionary endeavors for the spread
of His kingdom.
The RADIANCE of
JESUS in His
RADICAL
responding to all the Father desired attracted Francis.
JESUS
JESUS
JESUS
JESUS
was SWIFT in accomplishing the Father's will, and that set Francis' feet
running down the lane of holy obedience.
Complex
and complicated Francis thoroughly CONVERTED to Gospel
SIMPLICITY, because JESUS was so Deifically simple.
JESUS
JESUS
