St. Francis of Assisi - Oct 4th - Prophecy

 

Yesterday was the memorial of St. Francis of Assisi. Bishop Kemme invited Franciscans to open a friary in Wichita, which has now been opened for several months. For these reasons, I decided to preach on St. Francis of Assisi.

Is St. Francis of Assisi the patron of Global Warming and Population Control? NO! But, he is the patron of nature because he preached the Word of God to birds, who listened to him. St. Francis literally took the words of Jesus to heart, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”. (Mark 15:9) The birds, which landed on his shoulder would leave only after he made the sign of the Cross. God wants us to respect creation, and show us the power of God’s Word over creation.

Is there really climate change? Can the Church say there is or isn’t climate change? The short answer is its up to scientists to determine if there is climate change or not because the question deals with science. The Church has no authority to determine matters relating to science, but the Church has authority over faith and morals. This was true when Paul V in 1600’s wrongly condemned Galileo who believed the earth revolved around the sun. In 1992, Pope John Paul II, apologized for the error of Pope Paul V, 300 years earlier.

Some Globalists believe climate change is caused by an excessive number of people on earth, and to prevent it, they believe the world’s population must be reduced by lowering births through abortion, contraception and sterilization.

However, Cardinal Rigali, on Respect Life Sunday in 2009, said, “As used by population control advocates, the innocuous term ‘family planning’ includes abortifacient contraceptives, sterilization, and manual vacuum aspiration abortions. Death is not a solution to life’s problems. Only those who are blind to the transcendent reality and meaning of human life could support killing human beings to mitigate economic, social or environmental problems.”

Some have hijacked St. Francis Assisi’s love of nature, to make him the patron of the global movement, climate change and protecting “mother earth”, but this is really sacrilegious. “The Earth is, as St. Francis of Assisi explained, our Sister, not our Mother. That is, the earth is yet another part of God’s creation with no authority over us. It’s we who reign over the earth.” (National Catholic Register)

Who is the real St. Francis of Assisi? He is known as “the little beggar”. Born in 1182 in Assisi, Italy he received the baptismal name John, but his father renamed him Francesco, in honor of his love for France. The son of a wealthy merchant, Francis had time and money to host lavish banquets for young nobles. Parties and selling cloth left Francis little time for God. A charming and educated young man, he spent his early life leading young nobles to parties. He dreamed of knighthood and longed for the adventurous life of chivalry. In pursuit of that dream, he joined in the war between Assisi and Perugia at the age of 20. He was wounded and taken prisoner. While in a dungeon for a year, he contracted malaria. Ransomed by his father, a more reflective Francis returned to Assisi.

During his day, there was widespread confusion, scandals among the clergy and a decline in attendance threatened the Church.

One day, he walked inside San Damiano church falling down from old age. He knelt to pray, and asked God, what he wanted him to do, with his life. Jesus spoke to St. Francis from the cross, and said, “Build my Church, as you can see it is falling into ruin.” Francis thought the Lord wanted him to build the old church that was falling down, and so, he began to collect stones to repair it.

On the feast of St. Matthias, in 1209, he was revealed the way of life he was to follow. The Gospel of the Mass was Matthew 10: And going, preach, saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.... Freely have you received, freely give. Take neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses . . . nor two coats nor shoes nor a staff.... Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.... These words suddenly became Christ's command to him. His doubts over, he cast off shoes, staff, and leather girdle, but kept his rough woolen coat, which he tied about him with a rope. Francis begged for food, wore old clothes, and preached peace. He began to speak to the people he met on the shortness of life, the need of repentance, and the love of God. His salutation to those he passed on the road was, "Our Lord give you peace." He came to discover God wanted him to start a religious order of men to spiritually build and repair Holy Mother Church.

He began to attract followers, and in 1209 with the papal blessing he founded the Friars Minor (Franciscans). Then in 1212 with St. Clare of Assisi he founded the foundation of the cloistered nuns called the “Poor Ladies," now known as the "Poor Clares." He also founded the "Third Order of Penance" (the Third Order) which included lay people. Thousands of people throughout the world began to follow his way of life, which renewed the Church.

St. Francis had a tremendous devotion to the Passion of Christ. One day, while praying, on or about the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, he asked Jesus to allow himself to experience in a small way, what Our Lord experienced on the Cross. He then had a vision of a winged seraph, nailed to a cross, flying towards him; he also felt keen stabs of pain in hands, feet, and sides. When the vision vanished, he discovered on his body the stigmata of the crucified Christ. He is the first person (recorded) to receive the stigmata (the five wounds of Christ) in 1224. He believed his wounds were a sign of God’s love for him. The wounds given by God to St. Francis were an outward indication that St. Francis embraced his life of pain and suffering which he united to the Cross of Jesus for the salvation of souls.

One Christmas night, Francis created the first live Nativity scene, with an altar in which had real animals, a manger, and people dressed up like St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary. However, they didn’t have a child to play the baby Jesus. During the outdoor Mass, after the consecration, when the bread changed into the body of Christ, and when the priest raised the Eucharist, all present witnessed, the baby Jesus suddenly appear in the arms of St. Francis. Since then, nativity sets began to be created and placed in churches and homes.

Followers of St. Francis are also responsible for putting Stations of the Cross in churches. If it wasn’t for St. Francis, most likely churches wouldn’t have them today on their walls, nor have nativity sets at churches and in homes.

St. Francis and his followers lived a very poor life, not owning anything. He felt if he had any material objects, they would take his heart and mind away from Jesus. He had a nickname for poverty, he called it, Lady Poverty because he respected poverty as though it were a lady, who deserved respect. St. Francis saw his new way of life as rejecting riches, worldliness, and pride by living a life of poverty, penance and humility, preaching peace, conversion and repentance.

He had a great devotion to Mary. Here is one of his prayers: “Holy Virgin Mary, among women, there is no one like you born into the world, you are the daughter and the servant of the most high, and supreme King and Father of heaven, you are the Mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ, you are the spouse of the Holy Spirit. Pray for us, with St. Michael the archangel, and all the powers of heaven and all the saints, to your most holy and beloved Son, our Lord and Master, Amen.”

Because of Saint Francis’ devotion to the Eucharist, he wanted churches to be clean, in good repair, and beautiful to honor Jesus. He spent much of his time in prayer in the Church of San Damiano, and one of his early works of charity was to repair churches. Although he greatly valued poverty and did not spend money on himself, he wanted the best, most beautiful sacred vessels to be used in churches. He wrote, “Above everything else, I want this most Holy Sacrament to be honored and venerated and reserved in places which are richly ornamented.”

Highlighting his respect for priests, the Mass, and the Eucharist, he said, “Let the whole of mankind tremble, the whole world shake, and the heavens exalt, when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar, in the hands of the priest. O admirable heights, and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation, He hides Himself under the little form of bread! Look brothers at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him!”

Besides introducing devotions to Catholicism, like the Nativity scene, the stations of the Cross, devotion to Mary, devotion to Christ’s Passion, he is also know for introducing Eucharistic Adoration, which began to blossom throughout the world because of him.

St. Francis is known for a prophecy. He said, “The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavor to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Those who preserve in their fervor and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and, persecutions as rebels and schismatics. Choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. The sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Jesus Christ will send them not a true pastor, but a destroyer."

Francis died at the age of 44 on October 3rd, 1226 at Assisi in church of Our Lady of the Angels called the Portiuncula. He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX less than two years later.

Today, let us grow in our devotion and love of St. Francis of Assisi. The next time you see a bird bath with St. Francis, don’t think of him as merely a nature lover, but think of him as one who repaired the Church, by living and preaching the Gospel, accepting suffering, meditating on the Passion of Christ, his devotion Mary and Jesus in the Eucharist and his life of penance, humility, conversion and peace, rejecting the world with its riches and pride.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us, and please help us repair the Church today, who as you can see is falling into ruin.