Today is the day on which we celebrate the feast of all the saints of the Franciscan Order, which as we well know thanks to the Franciscan Centenaries that we are celebrating, because on the 29th November, 801 years ago, Pope Honorius III solemnly confirmed the Rule of St. Francis, which had already been verbally approved in 1209 by Innocent III. It is a propitious moment for the example of St. Francis to seek to be living Gospel as witnesses and witnesses of Christ, recalling the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his address of the 18th April, 2009 to the Franciscan family:
«The saints repropose the fruitfulness of Christ. Like St Francis and St Clare of Assisi, you too should always strive to follow the same logic: to lose your life for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, in order to save it and make it fruitful in abundant fruits. As you praise and thank the Lord, who has called you to be part of such a large and beautiful 'family', remain in listening to what the Spirit is saying to you today, in each of its components, in order to continue to proclaim with passion the Kingdom of God, in the footsteps of our seraphic Father».
Thus we are invited as Friars Minor, Poor Clares, professed of the OFS and parishioners in favour of the Franciscan charism, to continue on the path begun by all these people who have been faithful to the Gospel and whom we celebrate today, in order to bear fruit in heaven, as the end of the sequence in Spanish of the feast of St. Francis says: “The seed sown here will give its roses in heaven.”
Happy feast of All Saints of the Seraphic Order!
You are now, Francis, nailed to the redemptive Cross.
You triumph over the world and the flesh, and your victory is Christ's.
The ideal of your life marks a new world,
and the tree of the gospel blooms with new roses.
A cord around your waist girds your purity, They sprout
the flowers where you step with your miraculous plants.
Poverty was thy lady, she who was Christ's bride.
Widow of the first husband, you marry her again.
And in arras five rubies adorn your wounded body.
Five open windows through which the soul peeks out.
The Cross was the tree of life that sheltered you in its shade.
Under its open branches your children work and pray.
Good Father, Holy Father, of this imploring family
you spirit, that of life, your virtues, which give glory.
To those who bear your name give them to continue your work.
The seed sown here will give its roses in the sky.
(Sequence of the Solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi from the Franciscan missal in Spanish)