ข้าแต่พระบิดา ขอพระองค์ทรงกระทำให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นเครื่องมือของพระองค์
เพื่อสร้างสันติ
- ที่ใดมีความเกลียดชัย |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความรัก |
- ที่ใดมีความเจ็บแค้น |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำการอภัย |
- ที่ใดมีการแตกแยกกัน |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความสามัคคี |
- ที่ใดมีความเท็จ |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความจริง |
- ที่ใดมีความสงสัย |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความเชื่อ |
- ที่ใดมีความสิ้นหวัง |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความหวัง |
- ที่ใดเป็นที่มืด |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความสว่าง |
- ที่ใดมีความเศร้าโศก |
ให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้นำความยินดีเบิกบานใจ |
ข้าแต่พระเป็นเจ้า โปรดให้ข้าพเจ้าเป็นผู้ช่วยบรรเทา มากกว่าที่จะรับการบรรเทา
- เห็นใจผู้อื่นมากกว่าที่จะรับความเห็นใจ
- รักผู้อื่นก่อนและมากกว่าที่จะให้คนอื่นรักข้าพเจ้า
เหตุว่า
- ผู้ที่ให้เท่านั้น จะได้รับความอิ่มเอิบยินดี ผู้ที่ลืมตนเองเท่านั้น
จะพบตนเองในทางสันติ
- ผู้ที่ยกโทษเท่านั้น จะได้รับการอภัยโทษจากพระ และดังนี้ เมื่อเราตายจะได้ไปสู่พระราชัยของพระองค์ชั่วนิรันดร....
Francis of Assisi
Also known as
Francis Bernardone; il Poverello
Memorial
4 October
Profile
Son of Pietro Bernadone, a rich cloth merchant. Though he
had a good education and became part of his father's business, he also had
a somewhat misspent youth. Street brawler and some-time soldier. Captured
during a conflict between Assisi and Perugia, he spent over a year as a prisoner
of war. During this time he had a conversion experience, including a reported
message from Christ calling him to leave this worldly life. Upon release,
Francis began taking his religion seriously.
He took the Gospels as the rule of his life, Jesus Christ
as his literal example. He dressed in rough clothes, begged for his sustenance,
and preached purity and peace. His family disapproved, and his father disinherited
him; Francis formally renounced his wealth and inheritance. He visited hospitals,
served the sick, preached in the streets, and took all men and women as siblings.
He began to attract followers in 1209, and with papal blessing, founded the
Franciscans based on a simple statment by Jesus: "Leave all and follow
me." In 1212 Clare of Assisi became his spiritual student, which led
to the founding of the Poor Clares. Visited and preached to the Saracens.
Composed songs and hymns to God and nature. Lived with animals, worked with
his hands, cared for lepers, cleaned churches, and sent food to thieves. In
1221 he resigned direction of the Franciscans.
While in meditation on Mount Alvernia in the Apennines in
September 1224, Francis received the stigmata, which periodically bled during
the remaining two years of his life. This miracle has a separate memorial
on 17 September.
In the Middle Ages people who believed to be possessed by
Beelzebub especially called upon the intercession of Saint Francis, the theory
being that he was the demon's opposite number in heaven.
Born
1181 at Assisi, Umbria, Italy as Francis Bernardone
Died
4 October 1226 at Portiuncula, Italy of natural causes; relics in Assisi,
Italy
Canonized
16 July 1228 by Pope Gregory IX
Patronage
against dying alone; against fire; animal welfare societies;
animals; Assisi Italy; birds; Catholic Action; Colorado; archdiocese of Denver
Colorado; dying alone; ecologists; ecology; environment; environmentalism;
environmentalists; families; fire; Franciscan Order; Freising, Germany; Italy;
diocese of Kottapuram, India; lacemakers; laceworkers; diocese of Lancaster,
England; merchants; diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey; Nambe Indian Pueblo;
needle workers; peace; diocese of Salina, Kansas; archdiocese of San Francisco
California; Sante Fe New Mexico; archdiocese of Sante Fe New Mexico; tapestry
workers; zoos
Readings
Alms are an inheritance and a justice which is due to the poor and which Jesus
has levied upon us.
- Saint Francis of Assisi
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Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.
- Saint Francis of Assisi
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It was through his archangel, Saint Gabriel, that the Father above made known
to the the holy and glorious Virgin Mary that the worthy, holy and glorious
Word of the Father would come from heaven and take from her womb the real
flesh of our human frailty. Though he was wealthy beyond reckoning, he still
willingly chose to be poor with his blessed mother. And shortly before his
passion he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. Then he prayed to his
Father saying: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup be taken from
me."
Nevertheless, he reposed his will in the will of his Father.
The Father willed that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and
who was born for us, should through his own blood offer himself as a sacrificial
victim on the altar of the cross. This was to be done not for himself through
whom all things were made, but for our sins. It was intended to leave us an
example of how to follow in his footsteps. And he desires all of us to be
saved through him, and to receive him with pure heart and chaste body.
Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us have charity
and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains
of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world,
but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give.
For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve.
We must not be wise according to the flesh. Rather we must be simple, humble
and pure. We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be
servants who are submissive to every human being for God's sake. The Spirit
of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the
end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father's children
who do his work.
- from a letter written to all the faithful by Saint Francis
of Assisi
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Jesus is happy to come with us, as truth is happy to be spoken, as life to
be lived, as light to be lit, as love is to be loved, as joy to be given,
as peace to be spread.
- Saint Francis of Assisi