Saint Francis of Assisi

It will soon be 15 years ago that a group of seminarians, myself included, made a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy and some of the surrounding areas. One of the places that we visited was Assisi, the home of Saint Francis and Saint Clare. Today the church remembers Saint Francis of Assisi. Our group traveled to Italy from the end of December 1995 through most of January 1996. In fact, it was the year before the earthquake that hit the area around Assisi and damaged some of the frescoes in the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. I remember that pilgrimage to Assisi fondly. We saw the Basilica of Saint Francis, the Church of Saint Clare, where the San Damiano cross is kept, which was the cross that spoke to Saint Francis and told him to go and rebuild my church. Saint Francis thought that our Lord was talking about the physical building but instead He was talking about the faith of the people. This is important because we need to nurture our faith and keep it growing. God has blessed us with a beautiful gift and we need to live it each day. Saint Francis was known for his gentleness, simplicity, faith, love of animals, and so much more. As we think about the faith that we have and share, let us pray that Saint Francis will intercede for us and help us to always live our faith to the fullest. God Bless!!!