Communion and Communication 64 is being released on the threshold of the eighth centenary of the Canticle of Brother Sun and of Audite Poverelle, the two vernacular texts by Francis of Assisi and set to music by him, both written in San Damiano for the consolation of himself and the poor ladies who lived there.
In this issue, the ‘song’ of vv. 5-8 is made for us to listen to in depth by Br. Fábio Gomes, OFM, our General Delegate, who again urges us to bring the words of exhortation that Francis addresses to us into dialogue with each other and to verify the authenticity of our living by their light.
Stories of life and reflections follow: listening to them, we realize how that consoling experience continues today, in different latitudes, which springs from the certainty of faith that “the kingdom of God is among us” (cf. Lk 17:21); we are simultaneously participants and collaborators, as Holy Mother Clare sees us: “I judge you to be a coworker of God Himself and a support for the weak members of His ineffably Body (3LAg, 8; CA:ED, 50).”
From Central America (Mexico and Nicaragua) to West Africa (Togo), from Central-Eastern Europe (Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) to North America (United States), from Mediterranean Africa (Morocco) to Northern Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige), the words of our sisters communicate “the better life of the spirit,” strengthening in us the awareness that supports our vocational response, that of the primacy of the Spirit of the Lord and of his holy manner of working.
Could not this also be the contribution we offer to the people of God, to every man and woman that the Holy Year calls to become pilgrims of hope?
At the conclusion of this issue, and of the centenary year of the Stigmata of Francis, we linger again to look at that event, with the gaze of St. Clare.
Finally, we accept the invitation of Br. Pietro Messa, OFM to remember Isabella of France, the eighth centenary of whose birth will be celebrated in 2025.
Happy reading!
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