October 2019 - First Friday Holy Hour - St. Francis and the Eucharist

St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast is today, had an intense reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. He believed it important for members of the Christian faithful to visit often places where the Eucharist was reserved, to venerate the Blessed Sacrament. When the Blessed Sacrament was carried as viaticum for the dying, he instructed his friars to “glorify and honor on bended knee Lord God living and true” as the Eucharist passed by.

Francis believed with Catholic faith that the Lord is truly present in the Eucharist, and for Francis the Eucharist was especially a sign of the complete self-emptying of Christ, which Francis sought to imitate through poverty and humility. Francis wrote: “…Behold, each day he humbles Himself as when he came from the royal throne into the Virgin’s womb; each day He himself comes down to us, appearing humbly; each day He comes down from the bosom of the Father upon the altar in the hands of the priest. As he revealed himself to the holy apostles in true flesh, so He reveals himself to us now in sacred bread.”

In a letter written to the Friars of His Order, he exhorts ““Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble, and let the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest! O wonderful loftiness and stupendous dignity! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! The lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that for our salvation he hides himself under an ordinary piece of bread! Brothers, look at the humility of God, and pour out your hearts before him! Humble yourselves that you may be exalted by him! Hold nothing back of yourselves for yourselves, that he who gives himself totally to you may receive you totally!”

The Eucharist was truly a sign of Christ’s own poverty, which he sought to imitate—Christ who holds nothing of himself back, but pours himself out totally in saving and redeeming grace to us. And yet the Sacrament is also the means by which we may return all that we are and have to Christ – what Francis saw as the holy exchange. In the Eucharist, Francis saw the expression of Christ’s pattern of living through dying, a pattern that we are also called to make our own.

Tonight, we come before the same Lord worshiped and adored by Francis and the saints. We come perhaps, tired from the weeks challenges, burdened by our share in the Cross. But Jesus says to us, as he said to Francis, come to me, I will refresh you, learn from, from my gentleness and humility.
In the presence of the Eucharist, may we become childlike, like Francis, trusting that the Lord gives us everything we need for our share in the Gospel mission, all we need to imitate Him in self-emptying self-sacrificial love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.