Minute Meditations

Francis follows in the footsteps of Jesus, and that is where most of us falter. We want to follow Jesus’ footsteps, but we know ahead of time where they lead, and we are afraid. We hold back. In his writings Francis never uses the word imitate in relation to Christ; instead he uses the phrase, “to follow in the footsteps of Christ”; Christ’s invitation was to “follow me” (Matthew 10:38), not “imitate me.” In following Christ the self one thinks has been lost is actually found, so that as one walks in the footsteps of Christ a whole and realized true self begins to emerge.

—from the book Mystics: Twelve Who Reveal God's Love by Murry Bodo, OFM

Francis went about the world following the footprints of Christ, not so he could look like Christ, but because they were the footprints of divine humility. He discovered that God descends in love to meet us where we are and he found God in the most unexpected forms: the disfigured flesh of a leper, the complaints of a brother, the radiance of the sun, in short, the cloister of the universe. The wisdom of Francis makes us realize that God loves us in our incomplete humanity even though we are always running away trying to rid ourselves of defects, wounds and brokenness. If we could only see that God is there in the cracks of our splintered human lives we would already be healed.

—from the book The Humility of God: A Franciscan Perspective  by Ilia Delio, OSF

Unless one truly believes in God, one is incapable of genuinely celebrating God. An observer once watched as Francis prayed throughout the length of an entire night. To his amazement, Francis spent the whole time simply repeating, over and over, “My God and my all! My God and my all!” This simple act, so undramatic, so seemingly modest, in fact was an incredibly intense celebration. Francis truly believed that God was all, and he realized that the only celebration worthy of God is wonder-filled and grateful acknowledgment of God’s allness. Pageantry and pomp and circumstance aren’t needed to celebrate the living God. All that’s required is the heartfelt conviction that nothing—absolutely nothing—is more real or important. When we reach this point (if  we reach this point) our belief in God is a simultaneous celebration of God. Which is exactly how things should be.

—from the book Perfect Joy: 30 Days with Francis of Assisi  by Kerry Walters

You love St. Augustine, St. Magdalene, these souls to whom “many sins were forgiven because they loved much.” I love them too, I love their repentance, and especially…their loving audacity! When I see Magdalene walking up before the many guests, washing with her tears the feet of her adored Master, whom she is touching for the first time, I feel that her heart has understood the abysses of love and mercy of the Heart of Jesus, and, sinner though she is, this Heart of love was not only disposed to pardon her but to lavish on her the blessings of His divine intimacy, to lift her to the highest summits of contemplation. — From a letter to Abbé Maurice Bellière (member, Missionaries of Africa) | June 1897

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

When I shall have arrived at port, I will teach you how to travel, dear little brother of my soul, on the stormy sea of the world: with the surrender and the love of a child who knows his Father loves him and cannot leave him alone in the hour of danger… The way of simple love and confidence is really made for you. — Autobiography of a Soul | Epilogue

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

This, Brother, is what I think of God’s justice; my way is all confidence and love. I do not understand souls who fear a Friend so tender. At times, when I am reading certain spiritual treatises in which perfection is shown through a thousand obstacles, surrounded by a crowd of illusions, my poor little mind quickly tires; I close the learned book that is breaking my head and drying up my heart, and I take up Holy Scripture. Then all seems luminous to me; a single word uncovers for my soul infinite horizons, perfection seems simple to me, I see it is sufficient to recognize one’s nothingness and to abandon oneself as a child into God’s arms. Leaving to great souls, to great minds the beautiful books I cannot understand, much less put into practice, I rejoice at being little since children alone and those who resemble them will be admitted to the heavenly banquet. — From a letter to Père Adolphe Roulland (member, Foreign Missions of Paris) | May 1897

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

I considered that I was born for glory, and when I searched out the means of attaining it, God inspired in me the sentiments I have just described. He made me understand my own glory would not be evident to the eyes of mortals, that it would consist in becoming a great saint! This desire could certainly appear daring if one were to consider how weak and imperfect I was, and how, after seven years in religious life, I am still weak and imperfect. I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint because I don’t count on my merits since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness. God alone, content with my weak efforts, will raise me to Himself and make me a saint, clothing me in His infinite merits.  —The Story of a Soul, chapter four

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster

Francis of Assisi wanted to be a “brother minor” so that he could humbly bend down in solidarity with all living creatures of the earth. We, too, are called to bend low in love, to find the humble love of God in the simple ordinary and oftentimes broken hearts of the world. To do so, however, we must be free to bend low in love. In Christ, God has set us free. It is up to us as Christians to live in the freedom of God’s humble love. Only by living in the freedom of love can we help transform the world into the fullness of Christ. It is possible. Francis did it in his own way and in his own time. Now we, too, must do the same.

—from the book The Humility of God: A Franciscan Perspective  by Ilia Delio, OSF

Oh! How I would like to be able to make you understand what I feel! It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love…Does not fear lead to justice? Since we see the way, let us run together. Yes, I feel it, Jesus gives to us the same graces, He wills to give us His heaven gratuitously…I am sure that God would not give you the desire to be POSSESSED by Him, by His Merciful Love if He were not reserving that favor for you…or rather He has already given it to you, since you have given yourself to Him, since you desire to be consumed by Him, and since God never gives desires that He cannot realize. —From a letter to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart (one of Thérèse’s novices) | September 1896

—from the book The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Therese of Lisieux by Father Gary Caster