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Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Feast date: Apr 02
Catholics will remember St. Francis of Paola on April 2. The saint founded a religious order at a young age and sought to revive the practices of the earliest monks during a period of corruption in the Church.
Francis was born in the Southern Italian region of Calabria during 1416. His parents, who maintained a strong devotion to St. Francis of Assisi, named their son after him. The boy’s father and mother had little in the way of wealth, but they passed on a rich spiritual heritage to their son, with the hope that he would imitate his namesake.
The young Francis showed signs of a remarkable spiritual life, following his parents’ lead in accepting poverty as a path to holiness. When his father placed him in the care of a group of Franciscan friars to be educated at the age of 13, Francis made a personal decision to live strictly according to the rule of their religious order.
After a year with the friars, Francis rejoined his parents as they made a pilgrimage to Assisi, Rome, and the historic Franciscan church known as the Portiuncula. When the family returned to their hometown of Paola, Francis – at the age of only 15 – asked his parents’ permission to live as a hermit,
in the manner of the earliest desert fathers such as St. Anthony of Egypt.
The young monk slept in a cave, and ate what he could gather in the wild, along with occasional offerings of food from his friends in the town. Within four years, two companions had joined him, and the townspeople assisted in building three individual cells for the hermits, as well as a chapel where a priest would offer Mass.
With approval from the local archbishop, this small group continued to grow into a larger religious order, without compromising the young founder’s insistence on penitential and primitive living conditions. They were first known as the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi, but later renamed the “Minimi” (or “Minims”), meaning “the least,” and signifying their commitment to humility.
Francis and his monks were notable not only for their austere lifestyle, but also for their strict diet, which not only eliminated meat and fish, but also excluded eggs, dairy products, and other foods derived from animals.
Abstinence from meat and other animal products became a “fourth vow” of his religious order, along with the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Francis instituted the continual, year-round observance of this diet in an effort to revive the tradition of fasting during Lent, which many Roman Catholics had ceased to practice by the 15th century.
Ironically, Francis’ pursuit of solitary communion with God attracted attention from a range of important figures, including several European kings and other nobility along with Popes and bishops. Some of these men regarded Francis as a spiritual leader in a corrupt age, while others may have been more interested in his gifts of prophecy and miraculous healing.
Francis traveled to France at the request of Pope Sixtus IV, taking with him his nephew Nicholas, whom he had raised from the dead. There, the notoriously power-hungry King Louis XI was approaching the point of death himself, and hoped that Francis would perform a miracle and restore his health.
Francis told the king bluntly that he should not fear the end of his earthly life, but the loss of eternal life. From that time, the hermit became a close spiritual adviser to the king. He discussed the reality of death and eternity with him, and urged him to surrender his heart and soul to God before it was too late.
The king died in Francis’ arms in 1483.
Louis XI’s son and successor, Charles VIII, maintained the monk as a close adviser, in spiritual and even political affairs. Nonetheless, Francis persisted in following the monastic rule he had developed while living in his hermitage outside of Paola. He continued as superior general of the Minim order, and founded new monasteries in France.
Francis sensed that his death was approaching at the age of 91, and returned to living in complete solitude for three months to prepare himself. When he emerged, he gathered a group of the Minim brothers and gave them final instructions for the future of the order. He received Holy Communion for the last time and died on April 2, Good Friday of 1507.
Pope Leo X canonized St. Francis of Paola 12 years after his death, in 1519. Although the Minim order lost many of its monasteries in the 18th century during the French Revolution, it continues to exist, primarily in Italy.
In our first reading, God speaks soothing words to His people. He promises to restore Israel, free the prisoners, and lead them to a temperate pasture. He calls for rejoicing. Zion’s response is tone-deaf: “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14). They don’t seem to notice Him, even though He has been calling out with good news.
The listeners in the Gospel have a similar issue. They have heard Jesus say that He is the Son of God and have seen Him exercise His authority over the Sabbath, but they don’t accept Him as God. They try to kill Him, while He explains to them that He will do still greater works and will judge the world, giving those who believe in Him eternal life.
This response of Israel and of Jesus’ listeners is typical of those who listen more to their own negative self-talk than to the encouraging words of others. When we are of the mindset to constantly shut down the ideas of ourselves and others, having an internal monologue of “I can’t,” “I don’t know,” or “It’s so difficult,” nothing that anyone else says will convince us.
This is a crippling attitude. It keeps us from taking healthy risks and from trusting others when they tell us things that are both true and encouraging. We think that certain situations are just too difficult, and that no one can truly understand the pointlessness of our struggles like we do. The work of conquering limiting beliefs and trusting ourselves and others has to be done first. We have to accept that things can be different. But sometimes it’s easier to say, “I don’t know how,” or “Things are so hard” than to say, “I know what to do, but there are some things that I don’t understand yet,” or “I know the way, but I feel nervous about taking the first step.”
The reality, in the ordinary world as in the spiritual life, is that we both know the way and we know the Way. Our intuition and conscience, properly cultivated and with the right formation, are gifts from God that steer us straight. God gave us human nature, and He made us to act in tune with our unique design without second-guessing whether or not He did a good job creating us. He gave us very clear teaching and encouragement in both the Old Testament and in His own words as the Son on earth. He came as the Way, and He told us that if we follow Him we will have eternal life.
I encourage you to stop letting your own limiting beliefs about God keep Him from doing the work He has already promised to do and instead trust Him when He says that He is at work. Allow Him to work in you.
En la primera lectura, Dios dirige palabras de consuelo a su pueblo. Promete restaurar a Israel, liberar a los prisioneros y conducirlos a un pasto tranquilo. Los invita a regocijarse. La respuesta de Sión es de sordos: “El Señor me ha abandonado, mi Señor se tiene en el olvido” (Isaías 49,14). Parece que no se dan cuenta de Él, a pesar de que ha estado gritando buenas noticias.
Los oyentes del Evangelio tienen un problema semejante. Han oído a Jesús decir que es el Hijo de Dios y lo han visto ejercer su autoridad sobre el sábado, pero no lo aceptan como Dios. Intentan matarlo, mientras les explica que hará obras aún mayores y juzgará al mundo, dando a los que creen en Él la vida eterna.
Esta respuesta de Israel y de los oyentes de Jesús es típica de los que escuchan más su propio diálogo interno negativo que las palabras de aliento de los demás. Cuando tenemos la mentalidad de cerrar constantemente las ideas sobre nosotros mismos y los demás, manteniendo un monólogo interno de “no puedo”, “no sé” o “es tan difícil”, nada de lo que digan los demás nos convencerá.
Esta es una actitud paralizante. Nos impide tomar riesgos saludables y confiar en los demás cuando nos dicen cosas que son verdaderas y alentadoras. Pensamos que ciertas situaciones son demasiado difíciles y que nadie puede comprender verdaderamente la inutilidad de nuestras batallas como nosotros. El trabajo de vencer las creencias limitantes y confiar en nosotros mismos y en los demás tiene que venir primero. Tenemos que aceptar que las cosas pueden ser diferentes. Pero a veces es más fácil decir “no sé cómo” o “las cosas son tan difíciles” que decir “sé qué hacer, pero hay algunas cosas que aún no entiendo” o “conozco el camino, pero me da nervios dar el primer paso”.
La realidad, en el mundo ordinario como en la vida espiritual, es que conocemos el camino y conocemos el Camino. Nuestra intuición y conciencia, debidamente cultivadas y con la formación adecuada, son dones de Dios que nos guían en el camino correcto. Dios nos dio la naturaleza humana y nos hizo para que actuáramos en sintonía con nuestro diseño único sin cuestionar si hizo un buen trabajo o no al crearnos. Nos dio enseñanzas y aliento muy claros tanto en el Antiguo Testamento como en sus propias palabras como Hijo de Dios en la tierra. Vino como el Camino y nos dijo que si lo seguimos tendremos vida eterna.
Te animo a que dejes de permitir que tus propias creencias limitantes sobre Dios te impidan hacer la obra que ya ha prometido hacer y, en cambio, confíes en Él cuando dice que está obrando. Permítele que obra dentro de ti.
David Dashiell is a freelance author and editor in the Nashville, Tennessee area. He has three children, a degree in theology, and enjoys writing about philosophy, theology, culture, music, and comedy. You can find his personal blog, Serious Daydreams, on Substack. He is also the editor of the anthology Ever Ancient, Ever New: Why Younger Generations Are Embracing Traditional Catholicism, available through TAN Books.
Feature Image Credit: AlNo, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RouteDeCampagneEnFrance.JPG
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