Saint Francis and His Life of Prayer
St. Francis exhorts his Franciscan brothers and sisters to have “prayer and contemplation be the soul of all we are and all we do”. So how do we accomplish this?
St. Thomas of Celano, St. Bonaventure, and Julian of Speyer describe Francis’ great zeal for prayer and how Francis would go off to be alone in his prayer to a cave or other solitary place in the wilderness, just as Jesus often did during his ministry. And, Francis would pray without intermission to keep himself in the continual presence of Christ, his beloved in his desire to know and live totally within the Divine Providence of God.
The Franciscan brothers asked Francis to teach them how to pray, because at that time they had not learned the prayers of the Divine Office and did not own books from which they could pray. So, Francis told them, “ When you pray say, “ Our Father…”and he taught them the Lord’s Prayer, and he told them to pray this beautiful prayer we say during benediction and Good Friday services:
“We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches throughout the world , and we bless You, for by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.”
Thomas of Celano, the first biographer of St. Francis, said this about Francis and his life of prayer: “He does not so much pray, as he becomes himself a prayer”.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to follow the example of St. Francis in conforming ourselves to Jesus in such a way that we too may not only have a life of deep prayer, but become a living prayer. As we remember St. Francis in our intercession we can wear a beautiful St. Francis sterling silver medal.
