LOVE ACCORDING BIBLE

The Power of Love And  Bible Verses About Love

This article will serve as a follow up to our article titled, The 9 Fruits of The Holy Spirit.  In that article, I gave you the verse from Galatians where the Lord is telling us there are 9 specific fruits that He can transmit up into our personalities through His Holy Spirit. In this verse from Galatians, the very first quality that is listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit is the quality of love – and I do not think this was by accident!

As you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below, there is no doubt in my mind that the quality of love is the #1 quality that God would like to get worked into our souls and personalities. Even nonbelievers, atheists, and agnostics can see the power of love and how it has the ability to change people and their lives when it is properly handled and walked out.

Hollywood has made tons of movies just on the power of love – especially the special love that can occur between a man and woman in a romantic relationship. Even hard, tough, grown men can be brought to tears when watching a real well made movie made about the power of love.

The quality of love is truly universal – as it literally transcends peoples, nations, and religions. Love is truly the universal language of this world, and people from all different walks of life recognize it for what it truly is and understand the power that is in it.

Then when you read and study the Bible – you see the major emphasis God the Father is placing on it when He tells us that He wants us to love Him, love ourselves, and to love one another.
So if the quality of love is recognized by all peoples and all nations, then why is it that throughout the course of human history there has been so many wars, so much hatred, so much crime, and so much inhumanity done to our fellow man? If everyone knows what love is, then how could so many people throughout the course of our human history commit the evil and atrocious acts they have committed?
Even in our present day and age people still have not learned from the past, as there is just as much hatred and evil operating in this world today as there has ever been. The Bible even tells us that the love of many will grow cold in the latter days, which means things are going to actually go from bad to worst in the coming years.
If man really knows what love is, then why can’t more people act, operate, and walk in that love so we can all live in peace and harmony with one another? Why do so many people have to rob, rape, kill, plunder, and steal from one another? No matter what one’s religious beliefs and ideologies may be – there is simply no excuse for some of the horrible barbaric acts of murder, assaults, abductions, robberies, and rapes that we see on an everyday basis.
As Christians, we all know that part of the answer as to why men cannot love one another in the way that God would really like from us is due to the fallen sin natures that we have all been born into this world with as a result of the curse of Adam and Eve. The Bible tells us that every single one of us has been born into this world in sin and iniquity. This is why Jesus had to come to die for all of us – because we have all sinned and have fallen way short of the glory of our God.
However, even born-again believers have problems in being able to walk in love to the degree that God would really like in our everyday lives. We all know that God is expecting us to be able to walk in His love – but we still have problems in being able to love God, our families, our friends, and even own selves to the degree and intensity that He would really like from all of us.
We read in the Bible about all of the verses that God wants us to walk very strongly in this quality, but we still seem to fall way short of being able to actually do it in our real lives. If we all have the Holy Spirit living and operating on the inside of us, then why is it that we cannot seem to draw more of His love up into our personalities so that we can all walk with more of this quality operating in our lives?
I believe the answer lies in the last article I did under this section titled, “The 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit.”
Too many Christians are trying to walk in the quality of love operating out of their own strength, out of their own emotions, and out of their own flesh. Granted, God the Father wants us to do the best we can to try and put this quality into the core of our personalities. But our best is not going to be good enough in this area to get the job done with the way God would really like.
The reason for this is that we have all been born with these fallen, imperfect, and sinful natures. This means that we are not capable of walking in perfect love, no matter how hard we may try in our own natural strength. So what is the answer if we are not capable of walking in perfect love in the way that our Lord would really like for us to be able to do?

To those believers who are really wanting to learn how to walk in the real love of God in their lives – there is only one way to be able to do this – and that is to learn how to draw that love from the Holy Spirit.
And the only way that you can get the Holy Spirit to release His love into you as one of His 9 fruits is that you have to be willing to enter into a true sanctification process with the Lord where He can then begin to start the process of transforming you into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ.
There is no other way! There are no other shortcuts that you can take to get this accomplished. It is only when the very love of God Himself starts to flow into your personality can you even begin to love God, love yourself, and love other people to the degree and intensity that He would really like from you.

Once the Holy Spirit begins this sanctification process in your life – your job will be to learn how to live, walk, and operate in the divine qualities and attributes He will start to transmit into your personality.

Once the Holy Spirit starts to transmit His quality of love into the very core of your personality, your job will then be to learn how to walk in that love in your words and actions with others. Actually, once the Holy Spirit starts to transmit and impart His divine love into you, it will then become much easier for you to be able to love others in the way God wants you to be able to love them.
Once you start to feel God’s love for His people, you won’t be able to help yourself in feeling that same love for them since God’s love will start to mesh with your own natural love. Once God’s love starts to flow and mesh into what limited love you already have in your personality – then you will be able to start to love other people in the way that God had initially intended for all of us to be able to do.
The missing ingredient in all of this is obviously the love of the Holy Spirit. It is only when the Holy Spirit starts to release His love into your personality as one of His 9 fruits can you truly begin to love God, love yourself, and love other people in the way God intended.

Trying to love others with what limited imperfect love you may already have operating in you will never get the job done – either to your own satisfaction or to the satisfaction of God Himself. This is why Jesus has told us that without Him we can do nothing, especially in the area of being able to get properly sanctified in Him.
In this article, I will give you some of the best verses from Scripture on the quality of love, and why God the Father is placing such a strong emphasis that we learn how to walk in it in our personal relationship with Him, with ourselves, and with the other people in our lives.
God the Father is really raising the bar on this one specific quality as you will be able to see with the way that He has worded some of these verses. He is making some extreme and radical statements with what He is expecting from all of us with just this one quality.
When you first read what these verses are telling us to do in reference to this particular quality, you will really be able to feel and sense your own shortcomings in this area. But again, realize this is where the Holy Spirit will be coming in big time. Just realize that God knows you cannot reach the level that He is really looking for – and that it will only be possible for you to reach this level only if the love of the Holy Spirit Himself is operating and flowing through you.
When you really study and meditate on the verses I will list below, you can sum all of them up in one simple statement. God is looking for you to be able to love in 6 different areas – all with the love of the Holy Spirit being available to you to help you out in each one of these areas. God wants you to be able to fully love in all 6 of these realms. You are to learn how to:

1. Love God
2. Love yourself
3. Love your family
4. Love your friends
5. Love your neighbors
6. Love your enemies

You will notice there are 6 specific areas that God will want you to really be able to love in. Bottom line – God will want you to love right across the board – from loving Him down to being able to love the worst of your enemies. The first 4 areas are much easier to learn how to do than the last two areas – especially the last one in being able to love your enemies and those who will try and hurt you in this life.
Loving most of your family and friends is very easy because of the strong natural bonds that we have already established with them. But learning how to love some of your neighbors who you have no real special bond with, or complete total strangers will be much harder for you to do, especially with the way that our world has become with so many more people keeping to themselves and being afraid to trust anyone.
However, this can be done with the help of the Holy Spirit. Once you start to feel the love of God Himself for some of these people, it will then become much easier for you to befriend some of these people and help them out when the need may arise.
Again, Jesus is the perfect example of someone who was always helping total strangers. When you study what He did as He was walking on our earth, He was always stopping and talking to people, along with helping, teaching, saving, healing and delivering some of these people when the need would arise. He was always there to meet their needs, especially their spiritual needs.

Just as Jesus was able to walk in perfect love in His words and actions with other people – so too can we learn how to walk in that same godly love if we will allow the Holy Spirit to enter us into this sanctification process where God the Father can then begin to work all 9 fruits of His Holy Spirit up into the very cores of our personalities.

Though we will never be able to love in the perfect way that Jesus can since none of us will ever become the fourth person of the Holy Trinity – we can still try to do the best we can in our dealings and relationships with other people.
Now I will give you some of the best and most profound verses from the Bible on the quality of love, how powerful of a thing it really is, and exactly what God the Father is looking for from each one of us in this area. I will break these Scripture verses down under their appropriate captions so you can fully grasp the revelation the Lord is trying to give you in this area.

Be Doers of the Word

Now that you know from the above Scripture verses that God is wanting you to love Him, love yourself, and love everyone else across the board of your life – including any enemies you may have – now God wants you to be able to show that love in your actions to others.
There are a ton of verses in the Bible about how God wants you to act towards others. I will leave you with a few good verses showing you the importance that we all learn how to be actual doers of the Word and not just hearers in reference to being able to show love to others in our words and actions.

1. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)
   
2. “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:17)
3. “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.” (Romans 13:10)
4. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17)
   
5. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16)
6. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

All of these verses are perfectly showing us what true love can really do in our relations with others. Just as Jesus was willing to lay down His entire life for all of us in order that we be able to be brought back to Him and His Father – God and Jesus are wanting all of us to love others with that same kind of intensity and loyalty – even to the point of being willing to sacrifice our life to save someone else’s life if that kind of need should ever arise.

Conclusion

When you really study and meditate on all of the above verses one right after the other – the message is coming through loud and clear from God the Father. God has purposely made the quality of love the #1 quality that all born-again believers have to seek to get worked into their personalities.

The quality of love operating in our lives is the only common thread that will bind all of us together with God and one another. Without the quality of love bonding and uniting all of us together, there can never be any true peace and harmony between men and countries.

The main reason there has been so much death, destruction, hate, and wars in our past, and currently in our present, is because man has never really learned how to love one another in the way that God had initially intended. And the sad part about this whole saga is that the Bible tells us exactly how it is all going to end up. Man is not going to learn from his past, and thus wars, murders, and evil acts will continue unabated until Jesus comes back to our earth to set up His 1000 year Millennium Kingdom.
And until that final and glorious event happens, each Christian will have to do the best they can to walk in the calls and divine assignments that the Lord has given to each one of us. The Bible says that Jesus will be coming back for a bride that will be without spot or blemish. This will be a sanctified bride.
Let God the Father start the process of getting you cleaned up and sanctified to the degree that He would really like to be able to do with you in this life. If you do, then you will be ready for the rapture if the rapture should occur in our lifetime. You will then be a part of the Bride that will be without spot or blemish – fully ready for our Lord’s visible return.

CATHOLIC PRAYER

CATHOLIC PRAYER

Catholic prayers are a wonderful resource to help us to grow in love with God and with each other! How's your prayer life? Could it be better? Does life give you more stress than you can handle? Good news: You're not alone! There are over 2000 years of Catholic prayers to help save the day and enrich your life!

Perhaps you’d just like to know more prayers (for all sorts of needs and occasions) or learn more about them. This collection features those important to every Catholic, daily prayers such as the Our Father, the Rosary, and the Act of Contrition. There are also some lesser known ones here that are quite beautiful and inspiring, along with many prayers to and from the Saints.

We’ve also included Catholic prayers for various times in the liturgical year, such as Lent and Pentecost. In addition, you'll find thoughts in these pages to inspire you in your prayer life (and to help you deal with distractions!) written by Saints and other well known religious figures. For example, as St. Pio of Pietrelecina would say, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry”.

GOD IS CALLING! ARE YOU LISTENING?

Remember that God is never “too busy” to hear from you. Don’t be “too busy” for him! There are some daily Catholic prayers such as the Our Father and the Rosary that take only minutes to say, yet their benefits can last a lifetime!

Catholic prayers can do wonders for your soul. God gives us joy and strength though prayer. You can get a great sense of peace in good times and consolation in bad from them. Our Lord wants to give us the good things we ask for in accordance with His will. The more we pray the more we can grow in His grace.

GROW WITH GOD

Grace is a gift from God that enables us to live more fully in union with Him. It strengthens our desire to choose good over evil. It also helps us to manage difficulties in our lives better. When we feel humility, compassion, forgiveness we’re putting others’ needs before our own. These are signs of God’s graces working within us.

When we let Him work through us, we help Him to do the same for others. We can show His love for others in how we treat them and in how we pray for them.

LET GO WITH GOD

Still, God hasn’t promised any of us a “Rose Garden” in this life. Sometimes we feel more like we’re in the Garden of Gethsemane where Our Lord prayed in deep agony the night before His Passion. Remember though that when misfortunes or tragedies hit us, we can withstand them better with God’s help. And with day-to day problems, Catholic prayers can help turn mountains back into molehills.

Our Lord taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation,” so that we can resist temptations against His will when they hit us. Through prayer we are better able to resist the every day temptations such as envy, hatred, bearing grudges, greed, lust, and selfishness. These negative emotions don’t bring us any real joy or peace of mind.

For those people in your life who continually rub you the wrong way (and we all have them! Bosses, co-workers, family members, etc.), prayer can give you the grace to deal with them better.

Also, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Pray for those who persecute and slander you” (Matthew 5:44). God wants us to pray for others, however we may feel about them (or even if we don't personally know them). Such prayers remind us that one way or another, we are all in this journey towards holieness together. Your prayers can do a world of good for others, just as their prayers can help you!

KEEP GOING WITH GOD

The most important thing is to persevere in your prayer life on your journey with God. St. Hilary once said that “grace depends mostly on perseverance in prayer.”

There are times you might feel you just can’t concentrate, that there are too many distractions. Or perhaps you feel God’s not there. Pray anyway!! God allows us to experience these times of “dryness” for us to grow spiritually. Many great religious scholars and saints went though the same things.

Remember as Our Lord says in John’s Gospel (Chapter 14, verse 2) “In my Father’s house[in heaven] there are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you.” Our Catholic prayers can help you prepare to “move in” to your true home in heaven, “that blessed fatherland from which we are all exiles,” according to St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

So come and explore the rich heritage of our Catholic prayers. If at times you feel too intimidated or too distracted remember God is always there and ready to help. He’ll help you find the grace you need to deal with the pressures and problems of daily life and to grow in His love. A love this good is meant to be shared. These prayers are for all of us. They are our Catholic prayers.

 ASPIRATIONS

Do you feel too pressed for time to pray? These short prayers (also known as aspirations) can help! They're are easy to learn. A good many of them are easy to memorize as well! They can provide you with a great way to stay in touch with our Lord and our Blessed Mother, especially for those times you feel most at your wits end! 

At times like these when it seems like nothing is going right don’t lose hope! You can stay close to Jesus and Mary with these aspirations, many of which come from old prayer books. (These prayers are great in good times or bad!)

Be inspired by with these short prayers by our Lord’s words: “pray always” (Luke 21:36) and by St. Paul’s as well: “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17)!

Here’s a good one to both our Lord and his Blessed Mother, for starters:  

Jesus, Mary, I love you. Save souls!

Here’s a good one to the Holy Spirit. This one is especially good when said with any prayer to the Holy Spirit, but is good all on its own, especially in those times you feel most in need of His counsel, comfort, and strength! 

O Holy Spirit, sweet Guest of my soul, abide in me and grant that I may ever abide in Thee.

This one is also very powerful:

Holy Spirit, command me to do Your will 

This next one comes especially recommended by Jesus Himself!
He once told Sister Mary of St. Peter, a French Carmelite nun in 1844
"Oh, if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying evening once'Admirable is the name of God' in the spirit of reparation for blasphemy!" 

We’ve grouped these other aspirations into the following categories: 

ASPIRATIONS (SHORT PRAYERS) TO OUR LORD
(It has been noted, incidentally, that a very good effective prayer is just to say the name of Jesus!)


Blessed be God!

Blessed be the name of the Lord! 

Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying, deliver the holy souls in purgatory. 

Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, increase in us our Faith, Hope and Charity. 

Good Jesus, give me a deep love for Thee, that nothing may be too hard for me to bear from Thee. 

Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, set our hearts on fire with love of Thee. 

Heart of Jesus, I put my trust in Thee! 

Jesus I trust in You! 

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our heart like unto Thine. 

Jesus, my God, I love Thee above all things! 

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! 

May the most just, most high, and most adorable will of God be done in all things, praised and magnified forever. 

My God and my all. 

My Jesus, mercy! 

My Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of Thy sufferings, grant me such faith, hope, charity, sorrow for my sins, and love of prayer as will save and sanctify my soul. 

My Lord, grant that I may love Thee, and that the reward of my love may be to love Thee ever more and more. 

My sweetest Jesus, be not my Judge, but my Savior. 

O Good Jesus, shelter me from the evil one, shed Thy dew upon me to calm my soul, and dwell in me fully, that I may wholly love Thee. 

O Good Jesus, my God and my All, keep me ever near Thee, let nothing for a moment separate me from Thee. 

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forevermore. 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! 

Savior of the world, have mercy on us. 

Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my love! 

Sweet Heart of my Jesus, grant that I may ever love Thee more. 

We adore and praise Thee, most holy Lord Jesus Christ, because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world. 

ASPIRATIONS TO OUR LORD IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Jesus, my God, here present in the Sacrament of Thy love, I adore Thee. 

O Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on us. 

O Jesus, in the most holy Sacrament, have mercy on us. 

Praised and adored forever be the most holy Sacrament. 

We adore Thee, thou true Bread of angels. 

ASPIRATIONS TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Mary, Virgin Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me. 

Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation! 

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us! 

Mary, our hope, have pity on us! 

Mary, most sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us. 

O Mary, virgin Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me. 

My Queen! my Mother! remember I am thine own. Keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession. 

O Mary, thou didst enter the world without stain; do thou obtain for me from God, that I may leave it without sin.

ASPIRATIONS TO THE HOLY FAMILY

Jesus, Mary, Joseph! 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, bless us now and at the hour of our death. 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give You my heart and my soul. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I breathe out my soul in peace with You.

ASPIRATIONS BEFORE OR AFTER CONFESSION

O Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins which we have committed, nor according to our wickedness.

O Lord, do not remember our former wickedness, and be merciful and forgive our sins for the sake of Your holy Name.

O merciful Lord, You are never weary of speaking to my poor heart. Grant me grace that, if today I hear Your voice, my heart may not be hardened.

From all sin, deliver me, O Lord.

Lord, I fear Your justice; I implore Your mercy. Do not deliver me to everlasting pains, but grant that I may possess You in eternal joys.

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

O God, be merciful to me a sinner.

My Jesus, mercy.

Sweetest Jesus, be not my Judge, but my Saviour.

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

My Mother, my hope.

Mother of mercy, pray for us.

Virgin Mother of God, when you stand before the face of the Lord, remember to speak favorable things in our behalf that He may turn away His just anger from us.

Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies.

Lord, I am my own enemy when I seek my peace apart from You.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us Your peace.

Sweetest Jesus, hide me in your Sacred Heart. Do not permit me ever to be separated from You.  Defend me from the evil foe.

Lord Jesus, through Your infant cries when You were born for me in the manger; through Your tears when You died for me on the Cross; through Your love as You live for me in the tabernacle, have mercy on me and save me.

Lord Jesus Christ, deliver me from all my sins and from every evil. Make me ever keep Your commandments and never allow me to be separated from You.

SPIRITUAL IDOL: ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, butnicknamed Francesco ("the Frenchman") by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)^[1][3] was anItalian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares.^[1] Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.^[1]

Francis' father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant. He lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi.^[4] While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life.^[4] On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica.^[4] The experience moved him to live in poverty.^[4] Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious order for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order).

In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of theCrusades.^[5] By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas manger scene.^[4] In 1224, he received the stigmata,^[4] making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion.^[6] He died during the evening hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 140.

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint ofanimals, the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4.^[7] He is also known for his love of the Eucharist,^[8] his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas creche or Nativity Scene.^[9]

Early life[edit]

Francis of Assisi was one of seven children born to Pietro, and his wife Pica de Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was a noblewoman originally from Provence, France.^[10] Pietro was in France on business while Francis was born in Assisi, and Pica had him baptized as Giovanni.^[7][11] When his father returned to Assisi, he took to calling him Francesco ("the Frenchman"), possibly in honour of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French.^[12] Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought.^[3]

As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine.^[3][12] Although many hagiographers remark about his bright clothing, rich friends, and love of pleasures,^[10] his displays of disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early in his life, as is shown in the "story of the beggar." In this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for his act ofcharity. When he got home, his father scolded him in rage.^[13]

In 1201, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada, spending a year as a captive.^[14] It is possible that his spiritual conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life and in 1204, a serious illness led to a spiritual crisis. In 1205, Francis left for Puglia to enlist in the army of the Count of Brienne. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening.^[3]

According to the hagiographic legend, thereafter he began to avoid the sports and the feasts of his former companions. In response, they asked him laughingly whether he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered, "yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen," meaning his "Lady Poverty". He spent much time in lonely places, asking God for enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most repulsive victims in the lazar houses near Assisi. After a pilgrimage to Rome, where he joined the poor in begging at the doors of the churches, he said he had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He took this to mean the ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so he sold some cloth from his father's store to assist the priest there for this purpose.^[3][15]

His father, Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to change his mind, first with threats and then with beatings. In the midst of legal proceedings before the Bishop of Assisi, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he had received from him in front of the public. For the next couple of months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the countryside around the town for two years, he embraced the life of a penitent, during which he restored several ruined chapels in the countryside around Assisi, among them the Porziuncola, the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels just outside the town, which later became his favorite abode.^[15]

Founding of the Franciscan Order[edit]

Francis considered his stigmatapart of the imitation of Christ.^[16][17]

At the end of this period (on February 24, 1209, according to Jordan of Giano), Francis heard a sermon that changed his life forever. The sermon was about Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty.^[3]

Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Gospel precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance.^[3] He was soon joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, thejurist Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. Within a year Francis had eleven followers. Francis chose never to be ordained a priest and the community lived as "lesser brothers," fratres minores in Latin.^[3] The brothers lived asimple life in the deserted lazar house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression upon their hearers by their earnest exhortations.^[3]

Francis' preaching to ordinary people was unusual since he had no license to do so.^[1] In 1209 he composed a simple rule for his followers ("friars"), (the Regula primitiva or “Primitive Rule”) which came from verses in the Bible. The rule was “To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps.” In 1209, Francis led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious Order.^[18] Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi, who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo, the Cardinal Bishop of Sabina. The Cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and the brothers the next day. After several days, the pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance. The group was tonsured.^[19] This was important in part because it recognized Church authority and prevented his following from possible accusations of heresy, as had happened to the Waldensiansdecades earlier. Though Pope Innocent initially had his doubts, following a dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Basilica of St. John Lateran (the cathedral of Rome, thus the 'home church' of all Christendom), he decided to endorse Francis' Order. This occurred, according to tradition, on April 16, 1210, and constituted the official founding of the Franciscan Order.^[1] The group, then the "Lesser Brothers" (Friars Minor or Franciscan Order), preached on the streets and had no possessions. They were centered in Porziuncola, and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout Italy.^[1]

Missions work[edit]

From then on, his new Order grew quickly with new vocations.^[20] When hearing Francis preaching in the church of San Rufino in Assisi in 1209, Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and she realized her calling.^[20] Her cousin Rufino, the only male member of the family in their generation, also joined the new Order.

Pope Innocent III has a dream of St. Francis of Assisi supporting the tilting church (attributed to Giotto)

On the night of Palm Sunday, March 28, 1211, Clare sneaked out of her family's palace. Francis received Clare at the Porziuncola and hereby established the Order of Poor Ladies, later calledPoor Clares.^[20] This was an Order for women, and he gave a religious habit, or dress, similar to his own to the noblewoman later known as St. Clare of Assisi, before he then lodged her and a few companions in a nearby monastery of Benedictine nuns. Later he transferred them to San Damiano.^[1] There they were joined by many other women of Assisi. For those who could not leave their homes, he later formed the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance. This was a fraternity composed of eitherlaity or clergy whose members neither withdrew from the world nor took religious vows. Instead, they carried out the principles of Franciscan life in their daily lives.^[1] Before long this Order grew beyond Italy.

Determined to bring the Gospel to all God's creatures, Francis sought on several occasions to take his message out of Italy. In the late spring of 1212, he set out for Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked by a storm on the Dalmatian coast, forcing him to return to Italy. On May 8, 1213, he was given the use of the mountain of La Verna (Alverna) as a gift from Count Orlando di Chiusi, who described it as “eminently suitable for whoever wishes to do penance in a place remote from mankind.”^[21][22] The mountain would become one of his favorite retreats for prayer.^[22] In the same year, Francis sailed for Morocco, but this time an illness forced him to break off his journey in Spain. Back in Assisi, several noblemen (among them Tommaso da Celano, who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some well-educated men joined his Order. In 1215, Francis went again to Rome for the Fourth Lateran Council. During this time, he probably met a canon, Dominic de Guzman^[2] (later to be Saint Dominic, the founder of the Friars Preachers, another Catholic religious order). In 1217, he offered to go to France. Cardinal Ugolino of Segni (the future Pope Gregory IX), an early and important supporter of Francis, advised him against this and said that he was still needed in Italy.

St. Francis before the Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt witnessing the trial by fire (wall fresco, Giotto.)

In 1219, accompanied by another friar and hoping to convert the Sultan of Egypt or win martyrdom in the attempt, Francis went to Egypt where a Crusader army had been encamped for over a year besieging the walled city of Damietta two miles (3.2 kilometers) upstream from the mouth of one of the main channels of the Nile. The Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, had succeeded his father as Sultan of Egypt in 1218 and was encamped upstream of Damietta, unable to relieve it. A bloody and futile attack on the city was launched by the Christians on August 29, 1219, following which both sides agreed to a ceasefire which lasted four weeks.^[23] It was most probably during this interlude that Francis and his companion crossed the Saracen lines and were brought before the Sultan, remaining in his camp for a few days.^[24] The visit is reported in contemporary Crusader sources and in the earliest biographies of Francis, but they give no information about what transpired during the encounter beyond noting that the Sultan received Francis graciously and that Francis preached to the Saracens without effect, returning unharmed to the Crusader camp.^[25] No contemporary Arab source mentions the visit.^[26] One detail, added by Bonaventure in the official life of Francis (written forty years after the event), concerns an alleged challenge by Francis offering trial-by-fire in order to prove the veracity of the Christian Gospel.^[27] Although Bonaventure does not suggest as much, subsequent biographies went further, claiming that a fire was kindled which Francis unhesitatingly entered without suffering burns. Such an incident is depicted in the late 13th-century fresco cycle, attributed to Giotto, in the upper basilica at Assisi (see accompanying illustration).^[28] According to some late sources, the Sultan gave Francis permission to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land and even to preach there. All that can safely be asserted is that Francis and his companion left the Crusader camp for Acre, from where they embarked for Italy in the latter half of 1220. Drawing on a 1267 sermon by Bonaventure, later sources report that the Sultan secretly converted or accepted a death-bed baptism as a result of the encounter with Francis.^[29] The Franciscan Order has been present in the Holy Land almost uninterruptedly since 1217 when Brother Elias arrived at Acre. It received concessions from theMameluke Sultan in 1333 with regard to certain Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and (so far as concerns the Catholic Church) jurisdictional privileges from Pope Clement VI in 1342.^[30]

At Greccio near Assisi, around 1220, Francis celebrated Christmas by setting up the first knownpresepio or crèche (Nativity scene).^[31] His nativity imagery reflected the scene in traditional paintings. He used real animals to create a living scene so that the worshipers could contemplate the birth of the child Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight.^[31] Thomas of Celano, a biographer of Francis and Saint Bonaventure both, tell how he only used a straw-filled manger (feeding trough) set between a real ox and donkey.^[31] According to Thomas, it was beautiful in its simplicity with the manger acting as the altar for the Christmas Mass.

Reorganization of the Franciscan Order and death[edit]

Saint Francis of Assisi with the Sultan al-Kamil (15th century)

By this time, the growing Order of friars was divided intoprovinces and groups were sent to France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and to the East. When receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco, Francis returned to Italy via Venice.^[32] Cardinal Ugolino di Conti was then nominated by the Pope as the protector of the Order. The friars in Italy at this time were causing problems, and as such, Francis had to return in order to correct these problems. The Franciscan Order had grown at an unprecedented rate, when compared to prior religious orders, but its organizational sophistication had not kept up with this growth and had little more to govern it than Francis' example and simple rule.^[1] To address this problem, Francis prepared a new and more detailed Rule, the "First Rule" or "Rule Without a Papal Bull" (Regula prima Regula non bullata) which again asserted devotion to poverty and the apostolic life. However, it introduced greater institutional structure, although this was never officially endorsed by the pope.^[1]

On September 29, 1220, Francis handed over the governance of the Order to Brother Peter Catani at the Porziuncola. However, Brother Peter died only five months later, on March 10, 1221, and was buried in the Porziuncola. When numerous miracles were attributed to the deceased brother, people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the daily life of the Franciscans. Francis then prayed, asking Peter to stop the miracles and to obey in death as he had obeyed during his life. The reports of miracles ceased. Brother Peter was succeeded by Brother Elias as Vicar of Francis. Two years later, Francis modified the "First Rule" (creating the "Second Rule" or "Rule With a Bull"), and Pope Honorius III approved it on November 29, 1223.^[1] As the official Rule of the order, it called on the friars "to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience without anything of our own and in chastity." In addition, it set regulations for discipline, preaching, and entry into the order.^[1] Once the Rule was endorsed by the Pope, Francis withdrew increasingly from external affairs.^[1] During 1221 and 1222, Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as Catania in Sicily and afterwards as far north as Bologna.

St. Francis receives the Stigmata (fresco attributed to Giotto)

While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas (September 29), Francis is said to have had a vision on or about September 14, 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata.^[33] Brother Leo, who had been with Francis at the time, left a clear and simple account of the event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata.^[3][33]"Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ."^[33] Suffering from these stigmata and from trachoma, Francis received care in several cities (Siena, Cortona, Nocera) to no avail. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of October 3, 1226, singing Psalm 142(141) – "Voce mea ad Dominum".

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend of St Francis and Cardinal Protector of the Order). The next day, the Pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. He was buried on May 25, 1230, under the Lower Basilica, but his tomb was soon hidden on orders of Brother Elias to protect it from Saracen invaders. His burial place remained unknown until it was discovered in 1818. Pasquale Belli then constructed for his remains a crypt in neo-classical style in the Lower Basilica. It was refashioned between 1927 and 1930 into its present form by Ugo Tarchi, stripping the wall of its marble decorations. In 1978, the remains of St. Francis were examined and confirmed by a commission of scholars appointed by Pope Paul VI, and put in a glass urn in the ancient stone tomb. Saint Francis is considered the first Italian poet by literary critics.^{[citation needed]} He believed commoners should be able to pray to God in their own language, and he wrote often in the dialect of Umbria instead of Latin. His writings are considered to have great literary and religious value.^[34]

Character and legacy[edit]

Habit of Francis of Assisi

It has been argued that no one in history was as dedicated as Francis to imitate the life, and carry out the work of Christ, in Christ’s own way.^[1] This is important in understanding Francis' character and his affinity for the Eucharist and respect for the priests who carried out the sacrament.^[1] He and his followers celebrated and even venerated poverty. Poverty was so central to his character that in his last written work, the Testament, he said that absolute personal and corporate poverty was the essential lifestyle for the members of his order.^[1] He believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters,” and even preached to the birds and supposedly persuaded a wolf to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf. In his “Canticle of the Creatures” (“Praises of Creatures” or “Canticle of the Sun”), he mentioned the “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon,” the wind and water, and “Sister Death.” He referred to his chronic illnesses as his “sisters." His deep sense of brotherhood under God embraced others, and declared that “he considered himself no friend of Christ if he did not cherish those for whom Christ died.”^[1] Francis's visit to Egypt and attempted rapprochement with the Muslim world had far-reaching consequences, long past his own death, since after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who would be allowed to stay on in the Holy Land and be recognized as "Custodians of the Holy Land" on behalf of the Catholic Church.

Nature and the environment[edit]

A garden statue of Francis of Assisi with birds

Many of the stories that surround the life of St. Francis say that he had a great love for animals and the environment.^[35]Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint's humility towards nature is recounted in the "Fioretti" ("Little Flowers"), a collection of legends and folklore that sprang up after the Saint's death. It is said that, one day, while Francis was travelling with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to "wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds."^[35] The birds surrounded him, intrigued by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. He is often portrayed with a bird, typically in his hand.

Another legend from the Fioretti tells that in the city of Gubbio, where Francis lived for some time, was a wolf "terrifying and ferocious, who devoured men as well as animals." Francis had compassion upon the townsfolk, and so he went up into the hills to find the wolf. Soon, fear of the animal had caused all his companions to flee, though the saint pressed on. When he found the wolf, he made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one. Miraculously the wolf closed his jaws and lay down at the feet of St. Francis. "Brother Wolf, you do much harm in these parts and you have done great evil," said Francis. "All these people accuse you and curse you...But brother wolf, I would like to make peace between you and the people." Then Francis led the wolf into the town, and surrounded by startled citizens made a pact between them and the wolf. Because the wolf had “done evil out of hunger, the townsfolk were to feed the wolf regularly. In return, the wolf would no longer prey upon them or their flocks. In this mannerGubbio was freed from the menace of the predator. Francis even made a pact on behalf of the town dogs, that they would not bother the wolf again. Finally, to show the townspeople that they would not be harmed, Francis blessed the wolf.

Francis preached the teaching of the Catholic Church, that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached to man and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God's creation and as creatures ourselves.^[35]

On November 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II declared St. Francis to be the Patron of Ecology.^[36]

Then during the World Environment Day 1982, he said that St. Francis' love and care for creation was a challenge for contemporary Catholics and a reminder "not to behave like dissident predators where nature is concerned, but to assume responsibility for it, taking all care so that everything stays healthy and integrated, so as to offer a welcoming and friendly environment even to those who succeed us." The same Pope wrote on the occasion of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 1990, the saint of Assisi "offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation..." He went on to make the point that St Francis: "As a friend of the poor who was loved by God's creatures, Saint Francis invited all of creation – animals, plants, natural forces, even Brother Sun and Sister Moon – to give honor and praise to the Lord. The poor man of Assisi gives us striking witness that when we are at peace with God we are better able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is inseparable from peace among all peoples."^[37]

Pope John Paul II concluded that section of the document with these words, "It is my hope that the inspiration of Saint Francis will help us to keep ever alive a sense of 'fraternity' with all those good and beautiful things which Almighty God has created."

Feast day

Saint Francis's feast day is observed on October 4. A secondary feast in honor of the stigmata received by St Francis, celebrated on September 17, was inserted in the General Roman Calendar in 1585 (later than the Tridentine Calendar) and suppressed in 1604, but was restored in 1615. In the New Roman Missal of 1969, it was removed, as something of a duplication of the main feast on October 4, from the General Calendar and left to the calendars of certain localities and of the Franciscan Order.^[38]Wherever the traditional Roman Missal is used, however, the feast of the Stigmata remains in the General Calendar.

On June 18, 1939, Pope Pius XII named Francis a joint Patron Saint of Italy along with Saint Catherine of Siena with the apostolic letter "Licet Commissa", AAS XXXI (1939), 256–257. Pope Pius mentioned the two saints in the laudative discourse he pronounced on May 5, 1949, in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

St. Francis is honored in the Church of England, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church USA, the Old Catholic Churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and other churches and religious communities on October 4. The Evangelical Church in Germany, however, commemorates St. Francis' feast day on his death day, October 3.

Pope Francis

On 13 March 2013, upon his election as Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, becoming Pope Francis

FROM WIKIPEDIA