The
Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross and Stigmata of our Holy Father Francis
falls on 14th and 17th September respectively and today on occasion of Good Friday i would like to share my reflection. During my stay at Assisi in
1996, I fulfilled my strong yearning and desire to visit Mount La Verna. Every Capuchin
Franciscan dreams of visiting this place, where Francis our founder and Father
underwent the dramatic mystical experience of his life. He had a sweet painful
union with his crucified Saviour which left Francis with five wounds of Christ
on his hands, feet and side. La Verna, place for solitary prayer, becomes a
holy mountain of the Franciscan tradition with the event of stigmata. This
mountain becomes holy and place of inspiration for Francis, his followers. And
I feel strongly that it should also have the same effect on each one of us. The
spirit of stigmata should sweep up all sons of Francis into the mystery of
God’s overwhelming love for us and for humanity.
St.
Bonaventure, in his Life of St. Francis, describes Francis as being more
inflamed than usual with the love of God as he began a special time of solitary
prayer at La Verna in September, 1224. "His unquenchable fire of love for
the good Jesus," Bonaventure writes, "was fanned into such a blaze of
flames that many waters could not quench so powerful a love" (see Song of
Solomon 8:6-7).
Bonaventure
goes on to describe that he had the vision of the crucified Lord in the form of
a cross and fastened to a cross. When the vision disappeared, writes
Bonaventure, Francis was left with a "marvelous ardor" in his heart.
At the same time, there were "imprinted on his body markings that were no
less marvelous." These markings were the stigmata. Francis' receiving the stigmata at La Verna
was a confirmation that the holy man during his life had mirrored the
"poverty" of God. For Francis now bore in his own flesh the five
signs of God's total self-giving--the pierced hands, feet and side. For
Franciscans Capuchins, the self-sacrificing love of Jesus, as revealed in the
cross, is the shining summit of God's revelation. The richest revelation of
God's word and goodness peaks in Jesus, especially in his self-emptying death
and resurrection. "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's
life for one's friends" (John 15:13). This is why the cross has been
central for Franciscans Capuchins and, of course, for Christianity itself.
Every
day, all around the world, because Francis requested the practice, we pray the Adoramus
Te: "We adore you, O Lord, here and in all the churches throughout the
whole world, and we bless you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the
world." Those fraternities do not practice this I exhort all of them to
begin every hour of prayer with this prayer. The coat of arms, moreover, is a
cross with two arms crossing and nailed to it. One arm is that of Francis; the
other is Christ's. Both arms reveal a willingness to give all!
Although Francis is a many-sided
personality, a number of biographers are convinced that his love of the Cross
was at the heart of his relationship to God. Others may disagree, but there is
no denying that the Crucified One was an object of Francis special devotion all
of his life, and especially so since the day he found himself praying before
the crucifix at the church of San Damiano, just outside the city of Assisi.
Francis spoke and preached about
his devotion to the Crucified Lord and the response was tremendous as many were
willing to accept the call for conversion to Christ. We need to talk and preach
about the Cross which has its magic in attracting faithful to the life of
Christ.
The Cross of our Lord should lead
us to express our gratitude towards him as our Father Francis did in his life.
As Franciscan we need to express this gratitude because he put away sin by His
own sacrifice and it made us possible to be forgiven of our sins. The death of
Jesus on cross opened up the door which at one time separated us from God. The
cross of Jesus should stir our souls and should cause us to appreciate what our
Savior did for us and to respond with a deep sense of gratitude and
thankfulness.
The Cross of Christ should lead
us to Self-denial. If we are going to be true followers and disciples of Jesus,
we must deny ourselves as Our Father Francis did. What does this mean? Jesus and
Francis give us a definition of what it means to deny self. To deny self is to
mind the things of God and put God's will first in our lives. We must put our
own personal desires and wants secondary to what the Lord would want. What God
and the Capuchin Order wants must come first. When we look at the cross, we see
the supreme example of self-denial. Brethren, it is time for us to start
putting God's will ahead of our own will. We need to get our priorities back in
order.
The Cross of Christ should lead
us to Poverty of Spirit. The cross of Christ teaches that man cannot make it to
heaven by himself. We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and get
into heaven by our own efforts. If so, it would be as though one went to the
foot of the cross and told Jesus, "You don't need to die for my sins; I
can make it without your death. To be "poor in spirit" is to
acknowledge our spiritual poverty--our spiritual bankruptcy, before God. We
must admit to ourselves and to God that we are unworthy sinners who need God's forgiveness.
We are to have the same type of attitude that was demonstrated by the tax
collector in (Lk. 18:9-14).
Brothers, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross had a
compelling power for Francis and so it should have the same effect on us. This
demonstration of love on our behalf should compel us to do many things. It
should compel us to show gratitude, to deny ourselves and put God first, and to
have a heart that recognizes the need to have the Lord in our lives. Perhaps we
have been guilty of neglecting the love and power of the cross. Perhaps we have
failed to recognize that we need the cleansing power
( I have referred some books and articles for these reflection)
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