One of the most beautiful writings within the canon of our Franciscan tradition is the Encyclical Letter of Brother Elias. This letter is meaningful for two reasons. First, in this letter, Elias announces to the Order the difficult news that the beloved founder has died. He begins with such emotion at the news that he writes, "Before I begin to speak, I sigh." 

The second truly notable part of this letter is that, in it, Elias also announces to the world something that, until then, had only been known by St. Francis closest brothers and confidants. He writes, "I announce to you a great joy and a new miracle.  It is a sign which has been unheard of from the very beginning of time except in the Son of God, Christ the Lord. Not long before his death, our brother and our father was seen to resemble the crucified Lord, bearing in his body the five wounds which are the marks of Christ."

It is this "great joy and new miracle" that we celebrate today throughout the Franciscan world on the feast of the Stigmata. I am always reminded on this feast above all, though, that what we celebrate today is not meant to be unique. It is, in fact, the common call of each of us who are the sons of St. Francis. Now true, there are indeed very few who will receive the physical, visible wounds of Christ in their body. But those wounds on St. Francis were only the visible sign of the prayer and goal of his life - to live a life conformed to the life of Christ. This is something that we are all called to. 

On this great feast day, I send to each of you, my brothers, a greeting as your Provincial Minister, and the prayers that come from the depths of my heart for you and for our beloved Province. But, I also send this hope - that each of us may ask the Lord, as our Holy Father Saint Francis did, to conform our lives more perfectly to the life of Jesus who we strive to follow. That the lives we live externally may be a physical witness of the conversion of life we have embraced internally. 

As Elias says in his letter, "In truth, in very truth, the presence of Francis, our brother and our father, was a light not only to us who were close to him, but also to those who were more removed from us in calling and in life. He was a light sent forth from the true Light to enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, that he might guide their feet into the way of peace."

Buona festa! Happy Feast!

 

Primo P. Piscitello, OFM