Friday 4 October

St Francis of Assisi (M)

Galatians 6:14-18; Psalm 16; Matthew 11:25-30

The wounds of Jesus

St Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), the son of a wealthy merchant, fell out with his father because he’d used his father’s money to repair a church. The bishop insisted Francis repay the money. This was Francis’ moment of conversion. He renounced home and inheritance, and embraced Jesus crucified so radically that he received Jesus’ wounds (stigmata) in his own body. Francis’ solitary boast was in “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”.

Ask Jesus crucified to touch and heal your wounds.