Our Pope decided to take his name. This was not a superficial gesture. Saint Francis’ radical desire to be poor lead him to become one of the most beloved Catholic saints of all time. On pilgrimage in Rome, threw a large sum of money at the tomb of St. Peter and traded clothes with a beggar, after which he began to ask for alms. He wanted not only to give alms, but wanted to see what being poor was like. What did it mean to walk around, depending on the charity of others? What kind of life would this be like? This was an important step in what was to culminate in Francis’s pure embrace of Lady Poverty. Do I live poverty some way?

Preached at Kintore College by Fr. Eric Nicolai, October 4, 2021

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935), "Lua Branca" (white moon), played on guitar by Bert Alink.

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