Reflection by: Danielle
Chronicals of a pilgrim – Day 5 – ASSISI
#sequelachristi2025
We begin the day with mass in a chapel at the Basilica of St. Francis. During which, Father told us the story of St. Francis’ dream. In St. Francis’ time, one had to prove himself in battle in order to gain honour and status which Francis himself attempted. When in Spoleto, Francis had a dream in which he was in a room with armour and heard God’s voice say “Do you serve the master or the servant”. Francis replied, “The Master”, to which God said, “Then why do you serve the servant”. The master here refers to God while the servant refers to all the smaller things in life we might seek instead. Following this revelation, St. Francis had an internal crisis, questioning, “Who are you, O God. And who am I”. We need to understand God before defining ourselves. Once we know who we are, nothing else matters. This was a powerful message we received first thing in the morning, which would inform our reflections on our own lives and the life of St. Francis as we continued on through Assisi.
We made our way through the Basilica, visiting the tomb of St. Francis and admiring the frescoes that decorate the church’s walls, each depicting a moment in Francis’ life. My favourite fresco is the “Miracle of the Sermon to the Birds”. The fresco references St Francis’ preachings to the birds who seemed to listen and understand what he was saying. Francis’ connection to nature was a unique one. It inspired his writing of the Canticle of the Creation in which he empathises with the natural world and fittingly, he is the patron saint of ecology.
Following this basilica, we headed to view the Tomb of St. Carlo Acutis and the tomb of St. Clare at Church of St. Mary Major and the Basilica of St. Clare respectively.
At the Basilica of St. Clare, we also saw the exact crucifix that St. Francis had his encounter with Christ with. It happened as such: The Crucifix spoke to St. Francis and said to him, “Go Francis and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” Initially, St. Francis took the words literally, to repair the physical church, only to realise later on that God had meant the spiritual church that needed repairing.
To end the day, we made our way to San Damiano, a significant place for the lives of St. Clare and St. Francis. It is where St. Clare lived and where St. Francis wrote the Canticle of the Creatures. Here, the friar leading us around once again brought up the story of Francis’ encounter with Christ via the crucifix and he asked us to think about what are some of the things we think we would need to rebuild the church. Money? Materials? Those might be needed to rebuild physical churches. But for the spiritual church and its community, we need faith, hope, charity and humility. And, as we continue this journey following the footsteps of St. Francis, may God give us the courage, wisdom and perception to carry out what is truly His holy will just as Francis did.
