Tag: Faith

God rebuilds St Francis.

(Saint Francis – from a poster in Santiago de Compostello)

God rebuilds the spiritual heart of St Francis.
The start of a Saints journey to the Kingdom of heaven,
as we commorate the 800th anniversary of his pilgrimage this weekend.

When Francis gave up his life as a kind of lad about – when he turned away from drinking, fighting, leading a pack of rebels, it was because he had been brought up sharp by Jesus.
Not for the first time or the last, God had visited the soul of one whose life was going in entirely the wrong direction.
Francis’s soul was sick and needed healing.
So God drew him away to a derelict church of San. Damiano on the edge of Assisi. There he knelt in prayer and looked at the faded crucifix still hanging over the altar. Francis insists that the voice of Christ came to him at that moment. The words he heard were: Francis, rebuild my church, which you see is falling down.
The derelict Church certainly needed repairing, just as Francis’s soul needed rebuilding. Francis was about to begin his ministry and service for God. The words of Jesus to him from the cross where his ‘call’ ~ his response was to be his vocation, not just to physically rebuild the Church of San Damiano, but much more, a renewal of the Church in need of a deeper vision of God.

First, though, he had to get to know the One who called him to this service and to know the love of God flowing into him and through him to others.
As  he knelt in that place of meeting with Jesus, he formed this prayer which was to remain with him throughout the rest of his life.

The Prayer before the Crucifix

Most High, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart
and give me
true faith,
certain hope,
and perfect charity,
sense and knowledge,
Lord, that I may carry out
Your holy and true command

Another prayer which was to become food for his soul is one in which he prays that the love of the Lord Jesus should enter his heart and absorb him with its fire and sweetness. It is known as the Absorbeat  because God’s loving Spirit possesses him.

May the power of your love, Lord Christ,
fiery and sweet as honey,
so absorb our hearts
as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven.
Grant that we may be ready
to die for love of your love,
as you died for love of our love. Amen

A simple, yet deeply profound prayer was one that he is said to have dictated as he lay dying. It was a prayer which he had used often and wasn’t original but it was so important to him that it was his deathbed prayer. Many will know it in some form.

We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ,
here, and in all your churches throughout all the world;
and we bless you,
because, by your holy cross,
you have redeemed the world.

For Francis his spirituality was totally bound up with the Crucifixion. He is said to be responsible for encouraging the devotion known as The Stations of the Cross, the 14 meditations on our Lord’s journey to His Crucifixion. He himself was to be granted the gift of the stigmata when, after a vision of Christ crucified, the wounds of Jesus, in the form, of scars like nail wounds on his hands, feet and right side appeared on his body and remained with him until his death 2 years later.

[Mr G. 3rd October 2026]

Recognizing God in Creation

Photo of The Ridge, Lake District, by my friend, Gill Henwood.

The future of humanity depends on each person’s commitment to collaborate with God and with their brothers and sisters, in building up a more humane world   (Pope Leo, September 2026)

POPE LEO’S Prayer of Creation.

Let us pray, that inspired by St Francis,
we might experience our interdependence
with all creatures who are loved by God
and worthy of love and respect.

Lord, you love everything you have created
and nothing exists outside the mystery of your tenderness;
every creature, no matter how small,
is the fruit of your love and has a place in this world.
Even the simplest life is surrounded by your care.

Like St Francis of Assisi,
today we want to say “Praise be to you My Lord!”
Through the beauty you reveal yourself as the source of goodness.

We ask you to open our eyes to recognize You,
learning from the mystery of Your closeness to all Creation,
that the world is infinitely more than a problem to solve.
It is a mystery to be contemplated with gratitude and hope.
Help us to discover Your presence in all creation,
so that, in fully recognizing it, we may feel and know ourselves to be
responsible for this common home
where You invite us to care for, respect, and protect
life in all its forms and possibilities.

Praised be You, Lord!
Amen.

~Pope Leo~

(On October 4th the Christian Church celebrates the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis.
The Roman Catholic Church is celebrating a special Jubilee Year until January 10th 2027)

[Mr G. 20th September 2026]

A Faithful Priest

Simple statue of St John Vianney. Photo Mr G.

One of my most treasured possessions is a plain plaster statue of a French parish priest known universally as the Curé d’Ars—so named because for over 40 years he served the parish of Ars-en-Dombes. 

John-Marie Baptiste Vianney (whose feast day we keep on August 4th) was brought up in a peasant farming family near Lyons. He was born in 1786 and as a child of farmers he was given very little formal education.  Yet, by the time he was 20 he had heard God’s call to ordination and had begun to study for the priesthood.
He found study very hard and on more than one occasion his superiors thought to end his time in the seminary. However, they noted his devotion to God and a quality of holiness which far outweighed academic ability. They saw a young man whose heart God had touched.

He was ordained and after a curacy he was appointed the Parish Priest of a backwater village—Ars. He went there in 1818 and remained until his death in 1859 on August 4th.  Very quickly he gained a reputation for being a preacher and people began to flock to hear him. At the same time he became known as a priest who could give wise and gentle counsel to souls in distress.
Very soon people began to consult him and to bare their souls to him.

The trickle of people became a stream and then a torrent. Many came to him  to receive both God’s forgiveness and  wise counsel.
All was rooted in personal prayer and devotion.  He would preach a sermon daily at 11am and then spend many hours  in hearing confessions and giving spiritual direction. He was often moved to tears by the things people told him and he brought to them the comfort born out of someone who understood human weakness and the power of God’s love.

He was offered more important jobs in the Church and he also struggled with a call to the monastic life but he stayed where God had put him and in so doing put the little village of Ars on the map—not only in his own day but for all time.

Not surprisingly, after his death, he was declared a Saint and he became known as the Patron Saint of Parish Priests. As an example of the devotion and service priests are called to emulate, this is hardly surprising.
The simple statue I have, unadorned by paint, is a reminder of what priesthood means.
Here’s one of my favourite sayings of his:

Speaking of the difference between private and public prayer, he said: 

“Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there : if you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky. Public prayer is like that.”

[Mr G. August 4th 2026]

Summer Evensong at High Easter

Photo, The East Window in St Mary the Virgin, High Easter, Essex

Summer Evensong in St Mary the Vitgin, High Easter
gazing at the East Window.

We gather to open ourselves to God
in this House of Prayer,
where, alight with early evening sun,
Incarnation beckons through refracted glass.

Here, blessed Mary and humble Joseph
are transfixed in golden beams
streaming towards them from the Christ-child,
deeply alive in cradle strewn with straw.

Ox peeps adoringly over shoulder of Ass
as the shepherd and his boy look on,
crozier, an icon of pastoral love to come,
carried proudly.
Star above all, shining in majestic glory,
a portal through which heaven comes to earth.

I see the telling of this in the left window
as Angel Gabriel, deep in converse with God’s chosen One,
seeks to draw from her a ‘Yes’
that comes from the heart,
And challenges us too.

The triptych of God’s love
is completed in the third window ,
that of Presentation
where The child of God touches the waiting Simeon,
as the old man tenderly takes, holds, and blesses Him
in gentle and awesome thanksgiving,
which releases his own soul into God’s arms,
slipping into a peace his heart longs for.

Three God moments dance in coloured glass
opening our hearts, our souls, our vision,
Calling us to glorify, presenting ourselves
to receive the light of our Salvation
and the grace of God’s Incarnate love.

For this we came.


[Mr G. 23rd July 2026]

I visited High Easter Church on July 19th to take part in Choral Evensong.
I was fascinated by the East Window and above is my reflection.
Choral Evensong was sung beautifully using the Book of Common Prayer
and accompanied by a fine organist. The congregation welcome was kind
and warm, and the after service coffee was splendid!
Should you ever find yourself in that part of Essex, the postcode is CM1 4QW.
It’s a fine church with Saxon roots, roman brick and bits from almost every age.
Unusually it has a window dedicated to St. Valentine!