Archbishop Chaput - Without Gloss: Francis of Assisi and Western Catholicism

I regret experiencing somewhat of a setback on the gut problems that halted my attempts to finish the Triduum and Easter Sunday posts.  I got a little too aggressive with trying to resume a normal diet and that was a mistake.  I will try to catch up on posting photos and homilies later tonight, so check back.

This morning I read an address recently given by Archbishop Chaput on Saint Francis of Assisi.  I don't know if there is any saint more broadly misunderstood and whose life is more perverted by people today.  Francis embraced the Eucharist and the Cross in ways many today do not understand.


Archbishop Chaput  begins his April 25th talk by discussing Pope Francis and ends with discussion of the beloved Saint Francis. Here is one snippet.

In his biography of Francis, Augustine Thompson — the Dominican author — notes that Francis had a passionate devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.  It was the heart of his life.  The Mass was the grounding for all his work.  There’s no way of reinterpreting Francis in generically do-gooder or humanitarian terms.  He had hard words for those who oppressed the poor, but even harsher words for those who ignored the Eucharistic presence.

Francis had a special horror of “the cheap and tarnished chalices and filthy linens that [many priests of his time] considered good enough for use in worship.  Francis’ sense of beauty and decency, which he had mortified by choosing to live amid poverty and outcasts, had not been deadened.  Its object was no longer fine garments and meals for himself, but items dedicated to the Lord who died for him.”[iv]

Read the whole thing at Catholic Philly:

• Without Gloss: Francis of Assisi and Western Catholicism. 

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church;
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