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Season of Creation with Francis (Oct 3-4)

October 03, 2023

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

October 3

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22: 1-5)

Meditation

From these two first steps, by which we are led by the hand to look upon God through His imprints, in the manner of the two wings about the feet of the Seraph, we can gather that all created things in this perceivable world lead the soul of the one contemplating and tasting wisdom into eternal God. This is because that First Principle, most powerful, most wise and best, of eternal origin, light and fullness, whose activity is efficient, exemplary and consequent, has shadows, resonances and pictures, imprints, likenesses and images, signs given divinely to us, that we might look upon God. They are, I continue, exemplary - or, rather, exemplified: they are proposed to minds both rough and perceptive so that, through those things which they see, these exemplars might be transferred to those things which are intellectually grasped, which they do not see, in the same way that signs are signified.

Those things in this perceived world which are created signify the invisible things of God. This is partly because God is the origin, exemplar and finality of every created thing and because every effect is the sign of a cause, the example of an exemplar and the way towards the end to which it leads. It is also partly from its own representation, partly from a prophetic prefiguration, partly from angelic activity and partly from a further institution. For, by its nature, every created thing is a certain likeness and image of that eternal wisdom, but especially those ideas which have been employed in the Book of Scripture through the spirit of prophecy for the prefiguration of things of the spirit. This is especially the case with those created things in whose likeness God has chosen to appear though angelic ministry, more so that which He wished to institute as an indication - which term is not used only to delineate "sign" as in general speech, but also to delineate "sacrament".

It follows that the invisible things of God are clearly seen as understood by His creation, that is the created things of the world. Thus those who do not want to turn towards these things and to know, bless and love God in all of these are quite beyond the pale, so long as they do not want to move from the shadows into the wonderful light of God. But thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, who has taken us from the shadows into his wonderful light: through this light, shone outwardly, we set ourselves to reenter the mirror of our mind, in which the divine things glisten. (Journey 2:11-13)

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of your love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for you, may yearn for you and for your courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with you. Grant that my soul may hunger after you, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and supersubstantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.

May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon you, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of your savor; may it ever thirst for you, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God; may it ever compass you, seek you, find you, run to you, come up to you, meditate on you, speak of you, and do all for the praise and glory of your name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be you alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

October 4 (Feast of St. Francis of Assisi)

Brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)

Meditation

Letter of St. Francis of Assisi, to the Faithful

To all those who love the Lord with their whole heart, with their whole soul and mind, with their whole strength (cf. Mk 12:30) and love their neighbors as themselves (cf. Mt 22:39) and hate their bodies with their vices and sins, and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and produce worthy fruits of penance: Oh, how happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things and persevere in doing them, since the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon them (cf. Is 11:2) and He will make His home and dwelling among them (cf. Jn 14:23). They are children of the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:45) whose works they do, and they are spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 12:50).

We are spouses when the faithful soul is joined to our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are brothers to Him when we do the will of the Father Who is in Heaven (Mt 12:50); mothers, when we carry Him in our heart and body (cf. 1 Cor 6:20) through divine love and pure and sincere conscience and when we give birth to Him through a holy manner of working, which should shine before others as an example (cf. Mt 5:16). Oh, how glorious it is, how holy and great, to have a Father in Heaven! Oh, how holy, consoling, beautiful and wondrous it is to have such a Spouse! Oh, how holy and how loving, pleasing, humble, peaceful, sweet, lovable, and desirable above all things to have such a Brother and such a Son: our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave up His life for His sheep (cf. Jn 10:15) and Who prayed to the Father saying:

O Holy Father, protect those in your name (Jn 17:11) whom you have given to me in the world; they were yours and you have given them to me (Jn 17:6) and the words which you gave to me, I have given to them, and they have accepted them and have believed truly that I have come from you and they have known that you sent me (Jn 17:8). I pray for them and not for the world (cf. Jn 17:9). Bless and sanctify them and I sanctify myself for them (Jn 17:19). Not only for these do I pray, but for those who through their words will believe in me (Jn 17:20), so that they may be made holy in being one (Jn 17:23) as we are one (Jn 17:11). And I wish, Father, that where I am they also may be with me so that they may see my glory (Jn 17:24) in your kingdom (Mt 20:21). Amen.

To all those men and women who are not living in penance and do not receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; who practice vice and sin and follow wicked concupiscence (Col 3:5) and the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16); who do not observe what you have promised to the Lord, and bodily serve the world by the desires of the flesh (1 Pet 2:11), the anxieties of the world and the cares of this life; you who are held fast by the devil, whose children you are and whose works you perform (cf Jn 8:41): You are blind, since you do not see the true light, Our Lord Jesus Christ. You do not have spiritual wisdom, since you do not possess the Son of God, Who is the true wisdom of the Father. It is said of such people: Their wisdom has been swallowed up (Ps 106:27), and: Cursed are those who turn away from Your commands (Ps 118:21). You see, acknowledge, know and do evil deeds, and knowingly, you lose your souls.

See, you blind ones, you who are deceived by your enemies: by the flesh, the world, and the devil; because it is sweet to the body to commit sin and it is bitter for it to serve God; and because all vices and sins come forth and proceed from the heart of a man, as the Lord says in the Gospel (cf. Mk 7:21). And you have nothing in this world or in the one to come. And you think you posses the vanities of this world for a while, but you are deceived, since the day and the hour will come to which you give no thought, of which you have no knowledge, and of which you are ignorant (cf. Mt 25:13). The body becomes sick, death approaches, and this man dies a bitter death. And no matter where or when or how a man dies in the guilt of sin without doing penance and satisfaction, if he is able to perform some act of satisfaction and does not, the devil snatches up his soul from his body with so much anguish and tribulation that no one can know it unless he has experienced it.

And every talent and power and knowledge and wisdom (2 Chron.1:12) which they think they posses will be taken away from them (cf Lk 8:18; Mk 4:25). And they leave their substance to their relatives and friends, and these have taken and divided the inheritance among themselves and afterwards they have said: "May his soul be cursed since he could have acquired more and given more to us than he did!" Worms eat the body. And so they have lost body and soul in this passing world, and both will go down to hell where they will be tormented without end. In the love which is God (cf. Jn 4:16), we beg all those whom these letters reach to accept with kindness and a divine love the fragrant words of our Lord Jesus Christ which are written above. And those who do not know how to read should have them read to them frequently. And, since they are spirit and life (Jn 6:64), they should preserve them together with a holy manner of working even to the end.

And whoever shall not have done these things will be held accountable on the day of judgment (cf. Mt 12:36) before the tribunal of Our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rm 14:10).

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