Franciscan Spirituality

St. Francis lived the spirituality of subtraction. He let go not only of his property, but also of his status, his pride, his ambition, his ego, and his need to be right.

Easter is a beginning, not an ending. And this Easter story from Thomas of Celano reminds us that for Francis, the challenge to remain true to the Gospel was one that needed to be renewed again and again.

As we come now to the celebration of Easter, we recall that one of the hallmarks of Francis’s life was a deep joy in the love of Christ and the glories of creation.

For St. Francis, meditating on the Passion was not some medieval exercise in masochism but a means of uniting himself completely to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, a way of living so thoroughly into the mystery of Christ ...

St. Francis was absolutely devoted to the Eucharist. It’s one of the reasons he was so concerned about rebuilding and cleaning local churches, making them suitable homes for the Eucharist.

Do we always end up betraying Jesus at some point? We are all sinners. We all need salvation, again and again and again. And so we come to the paschal mystery, the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus.