Nuestro Padre San Francisco de Asis

Nuestro Padre San Francisco de Asis

It�s no exaggeration to say that Francis was probably one of the few true fundamentalists that have ever lived. Once he was converted at age 25 he looked to the Gospels for every step of his way. If Jesus said � Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me ...� then Francis named his group the Frati Minori ...the Least Brothers.
Francis only lived to be 44 but two years before he died, he felt like a failure.
His least brothers had grown from 12 to over 3,000 and he could no longer guide or control them. So he had a dream that he was a black mother hen with pink feet surrounded by chicks that were running everywhere. He interpreted the dream to mean he must surrender his order to the Pope and go to Mt La Verna, north of Assisi, to bemoan his sins of failure. He left on August 15, the feast of the Assumption, to make what he called �St Michael�s Lent� until the feast of the Archangel on September 29 th.
Francis had asked for two graces of Jesus to complete his following the Gospels.One, that he feel in his whole being the feelings and pain of Jesus as He died on Mt Calvary. Two, that he experience the love of Christ that could forgive even from the Cross. Somewhere around the 14th the feast of the Holy Cross and the 17th (the church used to have a feast of the Holy Stigmata on the 17th.) of September Francis saw something no one has ever seen before or since. Out of the sky came a figure of Christ Crucified bearing the six wings of a Seraph. It was the answer to his prayer for the two graces. He felt the pain of Christ and also the Seraphic love of Christ. Francis would live two more years until 3 October 1226, seared with the Stigmata. He was the first person ever to receive them. During those brief years he would continue to heal with his wounds. When the brothers would wash out the bandages, they would use the water to heal sick animals and people. This for me, is the most beautiful part of the story as we are all asked to continue to work with and heal with our wounds; they don�t disappear.
After the Resurrection the Lord Himself shows His disciples His wounds. God could have easily removed them as He did the flagellation marks and all the horrific damage to Jesus� body. In the great legend of St Martin of Tours (San Martin Caballero) Martin has an apparition of a figure who says he is Christ the King, but Martin knows better because the figure has no wounds. It angrily vanishes in a whiff of sulphur.
I�ve lost count of how many times I�ve drawn, painted or created icons of the love of Francis for and with, his Seraphic Lord Jesus. It�s a meditation/contemplation I never tire of bringing to life; these wounds so ever present in all of us that Pope Francis has referred to the Church as a �Field Hospital� where we tend to one another as Church, as if on a field of continuing battles.
I hope this image brings you hours of meditation, seraphic joy and sends you back into the world to share in Jesus� Healing Gifts.

Fr William Hart McNichols
A happy feast of St. Francis and happy name day to Pope Francis!
October 4, 2016