The Presence of Jesus

Dear Friend,

It’s clear from his writings that St. Francis of Assisi had a very strong sense of the presence of Jesus, especially at the key turning points in his life. “The Lord gave me some brothers…”, he writes, and “”The Lord revealed a greeting to me that we should say: ‘May the Lord give you peace…’”

In this Sunday’s Gospel we see the background of this greeting and indications of how Jesus was present to St. Francis. Jesus shows himself to his disciples on the evening after his crucifixion and tells them, “Peace be with you,” just as he did in the Gospel last Sunday. As with Thomas and the others last week, Jesus shows his disciples his wound. Note: the peace of Christ does not remove the problems from without, but is meant to infuse a deep trust within.

This same combination of peace and trust became real at the end of St. Francis’s life as he prayed on the mountaintop of La Verna. There, as he considered the problems taking shape around the very brothers the Lord had “given” him, the wounds of Jesus Christ began to appear in his hands. Here was the presence of the Lord, felt intensely, bodily.

My own Franciscan life has roots in the sense of the real presence of the Lord I felt at Mass, as a boy. Now I’m with you on the hilltop of the Mission. Here the wounds of many years are real to us, as are current accounts of violence and injustice throughout our nation. The Lord has given us one another. “As once for his disciples, so now for us, he opens the scriptures and breaks the bread.” He gives us himself.

May the Lord give you peace!

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm