From the Desk of Deacon Dave, O.F.S.

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

May the Lord give you His peace!

On December 17th, the Third Sunday of Advent, the Secular Franciscans of our parish were very happy to sponsor a display of Christmas creches in our parish center after the Sunday morning Masses. You see, the entire Franciscan Family worldwide is in the midst of “the Centenaries,” a multi-year celebration marking the 800th anniversaries of significant events in the life of our founder, Saint Francis of Assisi. This year we observe the Church’s official approval of the Rule of Life of the Order of Friars Minor by Pope Honorius III on November 29, 1223 as well as the first enactment of the Nativity scene by Saint Francis at Christmas Midnight Mass on December 24, 1223 in the little town of Greccio, Italy.

Saint Francis and those who follow his way of following the Lord Jesus and living the Gospel always have a special place deep in our hearts for the Nativity of our Lord. Imagine – the very Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, through whom all things were created and remain in existence, condescends to take on flesh and be born as a human infant – to show us how much God loves us! Such is the love of God for us!

What follows is an excerpt from a work entitled The Little Flowers of St. Francis (Fioretti in Italian) which relates the story of how Jesus showed His love for Saint Clare of Assisi, the first Franciscan woman. This episode in St. Clare’s life caused Venerable Pope Pius XII to declare St. Clare the heavenly patroness of television in 1958.

Chapter XXXV: HOW ST. CLARE, BEING ILL, WAS MIRACULOUSLY CARRIED, ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT, TO THE CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS, WHERE SHE ASSISTED AT THE OFFICE
St. Clare was at one time so dangerously ill that she could not go to church with the other nuns to say the Office on the night of the Nativity of Christ. All the other sisters went to Matins; but she remained in bed, very sorrowful because she could not go with her sisters to receive spiritual consolation. But Jesus Christ, her Spouse, unwilling to leave her comfortless, carried her miraculously to the church of St. Francis, so that she was present at Matins, assisted at the Midnight Mass, and received Holy Communion, after which she was carried back to her bed.

When the nuns returned to their convent, the ceremonies being ended at San Damiano, they went to St. Clare and said to her: “O Sister Clare, our Mother, what great consolations we have experienced at this feast of the Holy Nativity! Oh, if it had but pleased God that you should have been with us!” To this St. Clare answered: “Praise and glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed one, my beloved sisters and daughters; for I have not only assisted at all the solemnities of this most holy night, but I have experienced in my soul even greater consolations than those which have been your share; for by the intercession of my father, St. Francis, and through the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ I have been personally present in the church of my venerable father, St. Francis, and with the ears of my body and those of my spirit have heard all the Office, and the sounds of the organ, and the singing, and have likewise received there the most Holy Communion. Rejoice, then, because of these graces which I have received, and return to thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ.
(This text is in the public domain.)

With a brother’s love in the Lord and Mary Immaculate,    
Deacon Dave, O.F.S. T    In Persona Christi Servi