Expensive brothers, welcome!

I greet the bishop of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro – three dioceses – who’s accompanying you, and all of you. I’m pleased to satisfy you, within the 12 months wherein we commemorate the eighth centenary of the present of the stigmata, which Saint Francis obtained in Verna on 14 September 1224, two years earlier than his demise. Thanks for bringing right here the relic of his blood, which is making a protracted pilgrimage in varied communities, to remind us of the significance of conformation to “poor and crucified Christ” (Thomas of Celano, Second Life, no. 105).

And it’s exactly of this conformation that the stigmata are some of the eloquent indicators the Lord has granted over the course of the centuries, to brothers and sisters in religion of assorted circumstances, states and provenances. They remind everybody within the holy Folks of God of the ache suffered by Jesus in His personal flesh for our love and salvation; however they’re additionally an indication of the Paschal victory: it’s certainly by means of the injuries that the mercy of the Crucified and Risen One, as if by means of channels, flows in the direction of us. Allow us to pause to mirror on the which means of the stigmata, first within the lifetime of the Christian after which within the lifetime of the Franciscan.

The stigmata within the lifetime of the Christian. Jesus’ disciple finds within the stigmatized Saint Francis a mirror of his id. Certainly, the believer doesn’t belong to a gaggle primarily based on thought or motion, held collectively solely by human forces, however to a dwelling Physique, the Physique of Christ that’s the Church. And this belonging just isn’t nominal, however actual: it was impressed within the Christian by Baptism, which has marked us with the Pasch of the Lord. On this manner, within the communion of affection of the Church, every one in all us rediscovers who she or he is: a beloved, blessed, reconciled baby, despatched to witness the wonders of the grace of being an artisan of fraternity. Subsequently, Christians are referred to as to deal with themselves in a particular technique to the “stigmatized” they encounter: to those that are “marked” in life, who bear the scars of the sufferings and injustices they’ve endured or the errors they’ve made. And on this mission, the Saint of La Verna is a companion on the journey, who helps us and helps us to not be crushed by difficulties, fears and contradictions, ours and people of others. That is what Francis did day by day, from the encounter with the leper onwards, forgetting himself in giving and in service, even going to date, in his final years, as to “disappropriate” himself – this phrase is vital – to disappropriate himself in a sure sense of what he had initiated, opening up with braveness and humility to new methods, docile to the Lord and to his brethren. In his poverty of spirit – allow us to emphasize this: Francis, poverty of spirit – and in his entrustment to the Father he left us all an ever-timely testimony to the Gospel.

If you wish to know the struggling Christ nicely, search for a Franciscan. And also you, suppose that you’re witnesses of this…

And so, we come to the second level: the stigmata within the lifetime of the Franciscan. Your founder Saint affords you a robust name to unity amongst yourselves and in your historical past. Certainly, the picture of Christ within the crucifix that seems to him in La Verna, marking his physique, is similar because the one which had impressed itself upon his coronary heart initially of his “conversion”, and which had indicated to him the mission of “repairing his home”. On this level of “repairing”, I wish to say the capability for forgiveness. You’re good confessors: the Franciscans are well-known for this. You forgive the whole lot. You forgive at all times. God by no means tires of forgiving: we tire of asking for forgiveness. The Lord forgives the whole lot. [Resumes] Your founder Saint affords you a robust name to unity amongst yourselves and in your historical past. Certainly, the picture of Christ within the crucifix that seems to him in La Verna, marking his physique, is similar because the one which had impressed itself upon his coronary heart initially of his “conversion”, and which had indicated to him the mission of “repairing his home”. In Francis, a person pacified within the signal of the cross, with which he blessed his brethren, the stigmata characterize the seal of the important. This calls you too to return to the important within the varied points of your life: in formative paths, in apostolic actions and in your presence within the midst of the individuals; to be forgiven bears of forgiveness, healed bearers of therapeutic, joyful and easy in fraternity; with the power of the love that flows from the facet of Christ and that’s nourished in your private encounter with Him, to be renewed day by day with a seraphic passion that burns the guts.

It’s good that you simply begin out once more from right here, pricey Franciscan brothers, on this jubilee 12 months: begin once more from right here, particularly you, custodians of La Verna. Hear that you’re referred to as to carry, in your communities and fraternity, within the Church and on the earth, a little bit of that immense love that drove Christ to die on the cross for us. Intimacy with Him, because it was for Francis, will make you ever humbler, extra united, extra joyful and important, lovers of the cross and caring in the direction of the poor, witnesses of peace and prophets of hope on this time of ours that finds it so troublesome to acknowledge the presence of the Lord. Could you more and more be an indication and witness, together with your consecrated life, of the Kingdom of God that lives and grows amongst males.

And one factor I wish to say to you: I consider my homeland. There are some anticlerical individuals who, when a priest comes alongside, contact iron, as a result of he brings dangerous luck. However that is by no means, by no means performed when one sees a Franciscan behavior. It’s curious. A Franciscan is rarely insulted. Why, I don’t know. However your behavior makes one consider Saint Francis and the graces obtained. Go forth on this manner, and it doesn’t matter if beneath the behavior there are blue denims: there is no such thing as a downside. However maintain going.

And exactly to ask for this grace of steady and beneficent conversion, I wish to conclude by invoking your Seraphic Father with this prayer I entrust to you, asking you additionally to recollect me earlier than the Lord:

Saint Francis,
man wounded by love, Crucified in physique and in spirit,
we glance to you, adorned with the holy stigmata,
to learn to love the Lord Jesus,
brothers and sisters together with your love, together with your ardour.
With you it’s simpler to ponder and observe
Christ, poor and Crucified.
Give us, Francis,
the freshness of your religion,
the understanding of your hope,
the gentleness of your charity.
Intercede for us,
in order that it might be candy for us to bear the burdens of life,
and in trials we could expertise
the tenderness of the Father and the balm of the Spirit.
Could our wounds be healed by the Coronary heart of Christ,
to grow to be, such as you, witnesses of His mercy,
which continues to heal and renew the life
of those that search Him with a honest coronary heart.
O Francis, made to resemble the Crucified One,
let your stigmata be for us and for the world
resplendent indicators of life and resurrection,
to indicate new methods of peace and reconciliation. Amen.

And now I wish to provide the blessing, with the relic of Saint Francis.

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Holy See Press Workplace Bulletin, 5 April 2024

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