Explaining the Faith - St. Francis of Assisi: The World's Most Beloved Saint

well thank you everybody for joining  us from around the world for another   edition of taking you back to seminary with us  this is a great opportunity for you to get what we   hope is a good seminary education learn everything  I'm going to teach you everything i've learned in   seminary over this past uh well since kovid almost  started and we're going to continue to keep going   we've done over 70 of these talks online already  so God bless you for joining us today for saint   Francis as you saw one of the most beloved saints  in history and why is that what did he do what did   he say what did he teach and what examples does he  give us today that we can follow and should follow   to get to heaven he's critical and so let us begin  with a prayer in the name of the father and of the   son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we  ask you through the intercession of saint Francis   that we open our minds and hearts to receive the  grace you wish to bestow this grace to learn more   of you so we can love you more and to lead us to  eternal life and we ask all this through Christ   our lord amen name of the father son and the  holy spirit amen now i apologize i know we out   we advertised saint Francis and saint Therese but  as i was doing this as i classically always do   at midnight the night before i realized there's  too much and so we're going to break this up today   we're just going to do saint Francis but don't  worry we're going to get to saint Therese of lazu   the little flower i will definitely do an episode  or talk on her but that'll be coming up so today   let's talk about saint Francis now his name was  not Francis he was born giovanni which means john   d pietro d pietro d bernardone in 1182 so he's  almost a thousand years old his family unlike   currently or excuse me unlike commonly his  family was very wealthy they were merchants   now his father was italian we always think of him  as italian but his mother was french and so this   was important so anyway he got the name from her  giovanni when his father pietro was out of town   so he was born when his dad was gone same with  my dad my dad was in Pittsburgh when i was born   in Michigan and um so anyway she named him john  or giovanni in italian and the father got mad and   he said he's changes his name to francesco which  means Francis by his father now his father was   upset at the mom that she had him baptized because  he said i want a soldier not a wimpy man of God wow well i don't know what that says but men of  God don't have to be wimpy and so we shouldn't be   wimpy in fact we need to be strong and so anyway  he wanted a soldier not a man of God so he was   named john as i said but his father didn't like  this because he was named after john the baptist   so i bet you don't think of saint Francis  connected to john the baptist well anyway as   i said renamed him francesco which means frenchman  so he was basically named frenchmen because of his   love his father's love for the country of  france he was a traveler he was a merchant   so unlike other medieval saints this saint now  we're going to call Francis wasn't studious or   pious at all in his youth he's a good example for  me because when i was growing up my big concerns   were my girlfriend wrestling and becoming a pilot  that's what my focus was on and God had to change   direction so anyway he had an easy life he  had a lot of money he was well liked enjoying   partying i didn't know they partied in 1189 you  know so i said we're going to party like it's   1999. he's going to party like it's 1199. and um  so anyway he basically said i lived in great sin   so he recognized this and his father's wealth gave  him access to a lot of upper class social stuff   and so he wasn't your classic example of a rag  tag poor saint that we're gonna see he becomes   now he fell in love too like his dad with France  now he was he wanted to become a good businessman   but then afterwards he said i want more and that's  kind of what i look at myself and i say you know   when i had my business in north carolina and i  had a house on the lake and everything was going   great making a lot of money i was like there's got  to be more and i couldn't figure out what it was   so personally i and i bet a lot of you can relate  to saint Francis and he wanted then to decided   he wanted to become a knight like i wanted to  become a fighter pilot and God changed direction   and so you got saint Francis says he wants  to be a knight and i want to win battles   now that's kind of what a lot of our you think we  want to win a battle with a gun and a plane in a   in his case a horse and a sword but things  changed anyway he did fight he did go out   and he fought in some local war and  he was taken prisoner for a year   now remember the other great saint saint  ignatius of loyola that changed his life   when he got injured in battle because he  reflected and he was on the wrong path and so   anyway it didn't change a much he still wanted the  glory so after he was freed he joined the crusades   now i did a talk on the crusades a  couple weeks ago you can still find that   on youtube you can see that video but anyway God  came in and said hey you got it all wrong here   and God basically told him to return home go back  home from the crusades the problem was he did   but the problem was he was humiliated why  humility is the first key of being a saint   he wanted nothing more than to be  liked but now he was humiliated   he was laughed at and called a coward  because he came home from the crusades   the village disowned him he was screamed at by  his father i've been there for the money he wasted   on his armor it's kind of like me when  my dad i decided one day in my life when   i had my business i was going to take up  golf so i bought a used set of golf clubs   and used it one day and realized i can't do this  so i had this you set a golf course clubs i was   laughed at it was like saint Francis buying his  armor and realizing he's not cut out to be a   a knight so i have this you set a golf clubs i'm  like i can't do this i'm not good enough i'll   never be able to do this and so my buddies laughed  at me and i was like oh man this is embarrassing   and so saint Francis had this happen basically  so anyway this began his conversation   or conversion i guess you could say conversation  with God he began to converse with God he had a   conversation with God began to convert he had  his conversion that was not overnight but God   was working slowly in him as he probably does with  all of you so one day Francis now this is a guy   who is very prim and proper loved beauty was very  picky about food and absolutely hated gross things   like any kind of deformity or disease this he  didn't like so all of a sudden you have this   and he meets a leper now he was totally repelled  by the appearance and the smell of this leper   he was all disfigured and stunk but he  dismounted his horse from where he does   not know where he got the grace well now  we know it was God and he kissed the leper   so he gets off the horse he kisses the  leper and the leper returned the kiss this changed his life he was  filled with joy and as he rode off   he turned around and he was looking  at the leper and the leper disappeared   kind of like faustina right when the poor man came  to the door looking for food and she fed the man   and also she looked at him and he disappeared  it was jerry i'm sorry with faustini he turned   into Jesus and so he took this as meaning he  got a test from God and he passed so this like   in like invigorated him it's like okay i'm  ready to go so let's look at our next slide   our next slide is the san damiano crucifix this  is a whole other talk i'd like to do the symbolism   now for those of you who are with us if you'd  like to join us on our youtube channel it's called   divine mercy and we you can join us to see these  slides that i'm talking about right now but anyway   saint Francis his search for this conversion led  him to this ancient church called san damiano now   that's the cross you see that cross  on that slide that's the famous cross   that we call the Franciscan cross it's very unique  and again it's a whole topic i could do a talk on   so anyway while he was praying he heard Christ  on this crucifix speak to him and say Francis   repair my church this is the famous story you've  all heard it at this point he took it literally   meaning the physical condition of the church  was not good he wasn't thinking spiritual and   he began to repair the church so guess what he  did that's pretty much you all know that part   of the story but i don't know if you know what  happened after so he went and he took fabric from   his father's shop now remember he's a merchant  and he sold it to get money to repair the church   now Francis began to use his father's wealth here  and he was restoring other churches so he's going   around when Jesus said repair my church he  didn't know he meant spiritually he thought   physically so he's going around repairing these  churches and this caused conflict with his dad   how many arguments have been between dads and sons  over money so anyway Francis removed his clothing   and declared that he had no father except God  called no man your father right so this was   what Francis did and he regarded himself as the  husband of lady poverty and resolved to serve   Christ from that point forward now his father  saw this as an act of theft and with Francis's   cowardice he believed so he's looking at Francis  he's like you're a coward you're wasting money   you're growing disinterested in business this made  Francis seem more like a madman than his own son   so basically he this guy pietro dragged Francis  before the bishop this is back when the church was   the key to all society and in front of the whole  town he demanded that Francis returned the money   i always laugh it's like my father charging  me eight percent interest on my loan   and demanding it back i was like dad i'm your  son but it's a good lesson for you son so this   father was showing him and if we could quiet our  cell phones please that would be great so this   father was taking him before the bishop and says  i want you to renounce all your rights as my heir   so basically this father's disowning him  here and the bishop though he was kind   he told him to return the money and God would  provide so you see what's going on here now that   was all Francis needed to hear he gave back the  money and he stripped off all his clothes again   and these were the clothes his father had given  him now he's only wearing a hair shirt those are   shirts that you wear with hair on them that  really irritate the body they're like penances   and so wearing nothing but this  hair shirt and some cast off rags   he went off into the freezing woods  mostly naked singing with joy now   robbers then saw him this poor guy so now robbers  he meets up with some robbers and they basically   took the little remaining clothes he had beat  him up all right and threw him into the ditch saint Francis got out of the ditch   and started walking away again starting  to sing from then on Francis had nothing   but he said i have everything and i kind of  point to that with us at the mirroring fathers   you know i've pointed out we a lot of us come  from backgrounds we had jobs and careers and   all that now we have nothing but we got more now  than anything you know we we have our our staples   supplied for our food our clothing our health care  and that's God bless us more than what a lot of   people in the world have so i'm very grateful  but other than that we don't have anything we   have transportation we have a roof over our  head but other than that we don't have anything   but i've never been happier i didn't think  i could ever live without my boat now i kind   of wish i have a boat but that's okay because we  have nothing but we have gained everything so soon   Francis started getting into the spirit he started  to preach but you know he was not a priest a lot   of people think saint Francis was a priest  you see him in the habit he was not a priest   he was a deacon he was ordained a deacon but never  a priest and so Francis a lot of people think he   was a reformer he was not a reformer he preached  about returning to God and being obedient to the   church he didn't say i want to reform the church  even though Jesus said repair Jesus didn't say   reform repair is back to what it's supposed to be  reform means change it so he repaired it Francis   must have known about the decay in the church by  this point and what happened he showed respect   it's interesting because at one point somebody  told him about a priest who was living openly   in a sexual relationship with a woman and so  they came up to saint Francis the story goes   and they said saint Francis you got or Francis you  got to do something this priest is openly living   with this woman and Francis said really and the  person said yeah he says i need to address this   i need to go see him immediately so the crowd  gathers and he goes running up to the priest   and you know what he did when he got to the  priest he knelt before him and kissed his hands and he said because these hands touched the  eucharist mine cannot now is that condoning   the priest for what he was doing of course not  are we called to correct our priests when we   do something stupid absolutely but he was saying  despite that God can work through this broken tool   and so he did this because those hands had held  God no matter what the priest had done again it   doesn't excuse it no no no no but we need to  respect the office that Christ established   despite the brokenness of the priest so thank you  for your prayers now slowly people started coming   to Francis people who wanted to follow his life of  kind of a mendicant meaning he was walking around   sleeping out in the open begging for garbage to  eat but only loving God his main focus poverty   a total detachment was the key remember i did  a homily a couple days ago about detachment   you see purgatory and we just did a film on  ewtn please join us every wednesday at 6 30 for   our ewtn show here from stockbridge in purgatory  everybody thinks is punishment for our past sins   our sins that are evil yes it is it's part of  that but a bigger part of purgatory is detachment   from things that aren't even sinful necessarily   i will probably have to spend time in purgatory  to detach from fishing and college football   they are not sinful in and of themselves  but if we spend too much time they become   too much focused we have an attachment and so  saint Francis is saying the answer to detach   so i don't have to spend eternity in purgatory or  you know a long time in purgatory it's not eternal   i'm going to detach this is poverty  this is why the church teaches poverty   because you break free from everything that  can hold you and so he knew he now had to have   some direction in his life so he said i'm going  to turn to the bible so he opened up the bible   this is a classic example of a lot of saints and  he opened up the bible to three places randomly   and you're not going to believe the three places  listen to this you couldn't make this up the first   place he read was the command to the rich man  to sell his goods and give it all to the poor   now some are not called to that but you can  give your time treasure or talent you don't   have to necessarily give all your money you  can give your time you can give your talents   so anyway he was called like the rich man to  sell everything he had and give to the poor   so he goes to the next place and opens up the  bible and this was the order of the apostles   to take nothing with them on their journey no  second tunic no bags just go with your staff   and then he turned to the third place in  the bible and he said deny yourself pick   up your cross and follow me could you imagine  what saint Francis is thinking at this time   so saint Francis said you ever hear the  Franciscans they're all over the world   you ever hear in religious life there's a rule  like a rule of the benedictines a rule we have   a rule of life we marian fathers i'll share  that with you someday but the Franciscan rule   of life was based on that moment so here saint  Francis is opening up the bible to three things   basically the rich man give what you have sell  what you have give to the poor come follow me   the command of the apostles to go out and take  nothing with you and the third to take up your   cross daily deny yourself and take up your cross  and he basically put them all together and says   that's our rule that's our new rule of life and  so many of the pope's counselors considered this   way of life proposed by Francis as unsafe  impractical but the pope had a dream   and in it he saw Francis holding up the  church the lateran the lateran basilica   which was the cathedral of rome basically the  home church of all Christianity at the time   and he decided to endorse Francis's order the  Franciscans so this occurred in the year 2010   it's about 80 over 1800 years ago and that  was the official founding of the Franciscans   now they say today only God knows how many  Franciscan communities there are because so   many have split off but his group listen to this  this is how we get it interesting i'll tell you   about monks and about their haircuts and their  habits so anyway he started the group called   the lesser brothers meaning we're not important  as the others and this became the order of   friars minor you've probably heard the order  of friars minor that means the lesser brothers   this became the Franciscan order now this is  considered the first order but their second   order and third order you ever heard of third  order carmelites third order Franciscans third   order dominicans well saint Francis was the first  order the friars minor these are the men the monks   then or the friars then the second order who was  the second order any guesses there was a special   saint that followed him named saint claire she  was fascinated by his preaching as a young lady   and she came to follow him and when she  followed him he started a group she started a   group of nuns the poor claires and so the poor  claires became the second order Franciscans   so you see them remember mother angelica i'm  gonna show a slide to her in a minute but she   had the brown habit she looked like a Franciscan  that was the second order the poor claires   and from this claire of assisi was the founders  now she's the patron saint of television because   at one point she couldn't make it to mass she was  sick so Jesus broadcast the mass on her cell wall   and she watched the mask just like you are on  live stream so sooner or later we're going to   have a patron saint of live streams and so  saint claire did that she had the she's the   patriots say that television so that's the second  order then we had the third orders but let's talk   about that second order the poor claire's let's  look at our next slide that brother martin put up   that's mother angelica isn't she cute as a little  girl there and that's her as a little girl and   mother angelica then became a poor claire she  looks like the brown habit of the Franciscans   they're the second order of Franciscans so mother  angelica at ewtn was a poor claire none and then   finally there was the third order and he founded  the men's order okay so let's summarize here   he summarized the men monks and priests that was  the first order friar's minor then he established   the women the poor clear nuns that's the second  order but then he did something really creative   he created what we call the third order this  is lay people like you guys do you know that   the association of marian helpers is like a third  order when you join the miriams of the immaculate   conception in our association of miriam helpers  you're just like a third order because you're   sharing in our prayers and and all that we do on  a daily basis and you get all the graces we'll   show you at the end of this talk how to sign up  it doesn't cost anything takes 10 seconds join us   and mark will show a slide at the end mic  prayers.org we'll get to that at the end   but he founded this third order called the third  order Franciscans now they do not wear a habit   they do not take vows they're just people like you  lay people they live in they you know they they   they don't live in community they live with their  families however they do gather on a regular basis   and they make a profession to live out the gospel  in their lives according to the example of saint   Francis now they are called today secular  Franciscans so when you hear somebody say i'm   a third order Franciscan you can kind of correct  them and say do you mean secular Franciscan that's   what they are today now let's look at our next  slide what is that haircut now i cut my own hair   but i leave something on the top when there's  nothing on the top and it's a bald head with   a strip of hair what's that called tantre it  actually used to be one of the minor orders in the   church and the tantra is the practice of cutting  or shaving part of your hair and leaving the rest   on there on the scalp shaving the scalp now  why why do people what's the meaning of that   what's the meaning of walking around like saint  Francis with like looking like you're bald on the   top and i guess that would be the first male  or pattern male baldness right because it's   bald on the top and then you got the strip of hair  it's a sign of religious devotion and humility   why to counteract vanity because it  looks really odd as i said i cut my hair   and and and and when i take the razor uh  the barber razor i just go straight up   but a couple times in the past i've  the razor slipped out of my head   and went right down the side and i'm like oh my  gosh i look hideous that's vanity they don't care   they just and then comes the tantr and so anyway  the term comes from latin word tonsura which means   clipping or shearing shearing s-h-e-a-r and it  was re referred to a specific practice in medieval   catholicism of cutting their hair like that but  did you know that a papal order banned it in 1972   in 1972 a papal order banned the donchur well now  it's come back current usage now generally refers   to cutting or shaving the monks or the mystics  of any religion as a symbol of the renunciation   of vanity their worldly fashions because they  don't definitely look like a worldly fashion   all right now what about the rope that the  Franciscans wear okay they have the brown   habit we'll get to in a minute what about the  rope they wear it's called a sinker around their   waist and it symbolizes being girded with Christ  let's look at our next slide for those of you   who are with us you can see on our youtube page  now that's a Franciscan um that's a Franciscan   habit i don't know if you guys can all see me up  here but that Franciscan habit is worn with a rope   now do you notice that the rope has three knots  okay so let's take a look at this brother mark   keep it up for a minute the Franciscan rope  has three knots and it is tied in these three   Franciscan knots to symbolize poverty chastity  and obedience so each one now if you look   each knot has five coils so if brother mark could  put that back up i don't know if you can see it   well but there's three knots on the rope so  here's a Franciscan walking around with his   rope tied around his waist and on it he has  three knots they symbolize poverty chassis   and obedience and within each knot is five  coils any idea what those five coils stand for   the five wounds of Christ now  what are the five wounds of Christ i bet you you're going to say the head right i  bet you're going to say the back the scourging   all right the five wounds of Christ are  the two hands the two feet and the side   those are the five wounds of Christ  because he experienced those on the cross   the others were the passion before the cross  crowning with thorns the scourging so the   five wounds of Christ have you ever heard of  prayer and devotion to the five wounds of Christ   that's what they are the two hands the two feet  and the side and so that's what the five coils   are on the Franciscan robe the the signature now  it is tied to the habit let's look at our next   slide this is the Franciscan habit now this is a  different habit look at the two different habits   and i bet you're going to say to yourself oh  wow i guess you're right i didn't realize that   if you look on your slide let's look at the  first one on the right that's a cistercian monk   here they have something that goes over called  a scapular now we wear scapulars um underneath   brown scapulas i did a whole talk if you want  to look it on youtube i did a whole talk on the   meaning of the brown scapular now we wear them as  just a little short but on the back they're cloth   okay brown wool and these scapulars as you can  see on your screen sorry i'm gonna put this back   on your screen the real scapula  there's a whole length of cloth   worn over the cistercian monk now that  scapular has a cowl which wood is the cowl   it's the hood now let's look at the Franciscan  monk he has what looks like a robe called a frock   and this robe is basically what you see today  in Franciscans and the rope is tied around to   that habit now why is the habit brown why  is the habit brown you know i'm talking   about the brown habited Franciscans because it  symbolizes the color of the earth and the soil   from which they are tied they're  tied deeply to the earth and the soil   it is to cultivate in that soil in that habit what  do you do when you cultivate the soil what do you   plant inside the soil a seed so the habit is like  the soil and what do they want to cultivate inside   it a humble heart so basically that's where  you get the word hummus you ever eat hummus   well humus is the latin word h-u-m-u-s  which is different that's latin for ground   and that ground is where you need to get your  humility it comes from this and so that's why   the habit is brown now why do they wear the robes  they wear it in hopes and why they call it a habit they wear it in hopes that they will develop  the Christian habit of truth and humility so they want truth and  humility to become their habit now it has more latin deeper meanings i'm  giving you just kind of the shortcut there   the habit is in the shape of a cross  now if you notice for the Franciscans   the cross doesn't look like this the cross has no  top for the Franciscans the cross looks like this   it's called a tau cross and did  you know the story mother angelica   when i was down at ewtn before i discerned  my vocation before i came to the marions i   went down to mother angelica and to meet her  and there's a giant cross and at that point it   had the top of the cross that they put up on the  new temple they call it but it's a it's a shrine and lightning struck and lightning struck  and severed off the top of the cross   so the cross that normally looks like this was  severed in a lightning storm and now the cross   looked like this and the top got severed off by  lightning and fell to the ground and dug a deep   hole and mother angelica came out this is what  the Franciscan friar is telling me the story   and she came out she shook her fist and  she says devil if you think you're going   to knock this cross down i'm going to get a  bigger one and a better one and a stronger   one and you won't be able to touch it you could  just picture mother angelica doing that right   and guess what happened she had a dream  and Jesus said no i want the tau cross so Jesus sent the bolt of lightning to sever off  the top of the cross and why is the tau cross that   was Franciscan so the Franciscan root of the tau  cross and that's why their habit looks like a t   it's a straight piece of cloth with two arms  no head because the head's cut out at the neck   straight down it looks like so they call it  a t-shirt i wonder why they call it a t-shirt   that's why and so the cross is a t called a tau  tau for the greek letter t a tau cross and so   in this this is funny is that's what the habit  is shape like so now the habits on their on the   monks on their habits they have hoods and the  nuns have veils why does the nun wear a veil   she's the bride of Christ she's the bride of  Christ so the habit for the monk remember i   told you st Francis wanted to be a warrior  saint Francis did become a warrior the habit   is the armor of God for the monk this is what  they use in battle battle of spiritual warfare   something way more important and even though  technically for the cistercians the scapular that   long strip of cloth that's their habit for the  Franciscans it's the whole robe so this garment   or what they call a tunic you've probably heard  this was traditionally worn throughout history   so it was at the time normally worn now if you  walk around in a tunic you're counter-cultural   that's why God bless when i see these monks at  the airport that are wearing their habits or their   tunics i'm like God bless you for being a witness  you stand out you're not forming to the culture   so Francis never really wanted to start a  religious order this former knight wanted   to be a battler he thought it was  you know you know it's kind of funny   if he didn't want to start the order but then  he had this conversion it was kind of like this   former knight thinking you know what now i don't  want to start a religious order the word order   sounds too much too military so now he's flipped  completely this guy who wanted to be a warrior is   now saying i don't even want to start a religious  order because that sounds too military how did he   change and so Francis really felt that nature all  of God's creations were part of his brotherhood   so he would use term be careful here brother  moon and sister son and all that kind of stuff   we've got to be very careful of that  we're not pantheists pantheism is the   is the heresy of thinking God is in that  tree now God is everywhere but God is   not in that tree the same way he's in the  eucharist okay we can't fall for that now   he would take for instance and say the  spiro is as much as my brother as the pope so he would actually preach to the birds and  the birds would listen you know i told the story   we have a lot of deer on this property we have  turkeys we have bears but there's this mother deer   that i see every night when i come back or go  during dusk back to the house and then i come   back to the office brother mark and i work late  each night but she's there and so brother mike   and i were driving a couple days ago and she  was there and i always rolled down my window   she's really unique she doesn't run she's not  afraid and i've been talking to her so just   last night the same thing or two nights ago  the same thing happened and uh i was telling   the story to chris dutil who's with us here  that she made some incredible apple cobbler   for the marian fathers and i ta had a little bit  of dinner i was like oh my gosh i never usually   steal this but i'm gonna take a little bit back  to the office for tomorrow so i have this apple   cobbler in the car and i'm going back i'm like oh  this is like the best apple cobb i've ever tasted   and i'm going back and i see mama dear and she's  sitting there munching trying to find little egg   corns and i'm like oh man i got to give this to  the mom dear because deer love apples right and   i'm like but i can't chris didn't make this for  the deer she made it for for the marians so i'm   sitting there and i'm like what the heck and so i  turned around and i realized i had asked cameraman   giuseppe a few days ago to give me if he didn't  mind to give me some fruit because i didn't have   any fruit and they tell you you got to eat fruit  regularly so giuseppe brought me in some apples   and i had an apple on the front seat so i called  over i was talking to the mother deer and they   love apples so the moral to the story is God  provided the apple cobbler for me and the apple   for the deer so praise me to God but this is how  saint Francis saw creation that these animals were   special part of it now it was funny because um he  would preach to the birds and they would listen   just like i would try to talk to this mother  deer well anyway there's this famous story let's   have brother mark show the next slide there's this  famous story that's a um a mural there of the wolf   all right this is the story of the wolf now what's  the famous story is that this wolf around the   village of where saint Francis lived was eating  the people because he was starving and so Francis   intervened when the town was going to kill the  wolf so the town was going to kill the wolf and   he intervened and went up into the mountain and he  scolded the wolf that's a picture of him scolding   the wolf so you could see on on on on the uh on  the mural there that he's scold scolding the wolf   and he basically talked to the wolf  and said you are gonna stop killing   but then he realized that the wolf  killed because it was starving   so he went back to the people and said the wolf  will no longer bother you as long as you feed him   so i tell my employees i will no longer bother  you if you bring me leftovers so that way   but but how awesome is that now please don't  get upset i i'm not teaching this is dogmatic   revelation that you father where is that  in scripture i know i'm going to get that   father where is that in the  bible it's not in the bible   but this is the beauty of our catholic faith  these are the traditions that have been passed on   for centuries they're powerful they're great  examples so the town agreed to feed them and   the wolf became a pet of the town's people he made  sure or they made sure he always had plenty to eat   so good story i i'd like to tell you another story  that i had with uh with uh uh saint Francis here   right here at the at the um at the shrine and  let's mark show our next slide this is a picture   of our statue with saint Francis if you're at our  shrine right now and you go out the front doors of   the shrine you go up the hill to the right in this  little woods we have a statue of saint Francis and   you can see on my slides this is a picture of  our saint Francis statue now this is an amazing   story to me so this saint Francis statue was  um when we would bless animals on on now what   day is saint Francis's feast day the reason i'm  doing it i should have said this in the beginning   the reason i'm doing this talk is because  his feast day is coming up it's october 4th   so saint teresa villas you which is october  1st but i'm going to do her too but this is   october 4th so on october  4th and who's october 5th   faustina so we got some big october 2nd the  guardian angels october 7th our lady of the rosary   this is an amazing week this first week of october  coming up so i want to get you ready for this so   this october 4th excuse me every october 4th is  tradition that you bless animals so now it used   to be a big event here at the shrine and if if  hopefully in the future it'll become big again   but people would come here and have their animals  blessed so people would literally bring their dogs   their cats their birds in the cages goldfish even  horses goats people would bring them to be blessed   so the the story goes we had an employee here  years ago named carol who worked here and she was   parked over in the main parking lot and the day  early or that day they had blessed all the animals   this big blessing and the animals were all blessed  and everybody went home so at the end of the day   carol was going back to her car in the parking  lot and she was going by the little strip of   woods where our graveyard is for mary and priests  and brothers who have died and out came a fox now   what's interesting is the fox is a very spooky  animal you can't get close to a fox like i was   telling you about the deer they're too spooky  you don't see them they're very private they're   very spooky and this deer came right out of the  woods right in front of her and looked up at her   now carol says she doesn't know why she did  this but the only thing that came to her mind she looked at the fox and said you're  late we've already blessed the animals   so she's having this conversation  with a fox a wild fox not a pet fox   so she's talking to this wild fox and she says  you're late i'm sorry you've missed the blessing   and she describes that this fox looked up  at her and kind of went like this and he ran   all the way across up the hill and laid  at the feet of the statue of saint Francis   she's like what so she goes up there and the fox  is curled up at the feet of our saint Francis   statue looking up at saint Francis so she starts  calling other people over so the people are coming   out of the shrine and she's like come here you  gotta see us so all of a sudden this big group of   people comes out and they're all standing around  this fox and this fox is looking up for the to the   saint Francis statue like he's looking for a  blessing so here comes one of our priests and   the fox is looking all these people around and the  priest blessed the fox and then he ran away to me   that is an amazing story and again  you're not going to find it in the bible   but that is a gorgeous story of the faith that  we have in tradition in the sense that we have   this in our faith that's what makes our face so  alive that's what makes our faith so beautiful   and yet we get so criticized for it so  anyway the the the the important message of   saint Francis was he was to follow Jesus now  sometimes yes he took it literally now following   the gospel literally you know what he did he  sent himself out with his companions two by two   because the gospel says go out two by two at first  the listeners were hostile there's a bunch of men   in rags telling me what i got to do trying to  talk to me about God's love so basically people   even ran away from them in fear that they would  catch this really strange madness well here's   the funny thing they were right tons of people  caught that strange madness because everybody   wanted to start becoming a Franciscan so soon the  people came they came and they noticed that these   barefoot beggars seemed to have something they  didn't wasn't goods it wasn't money it was joy   joy what is missing in my life that's what  i told you i asked when i had my business   that's what Francis asked what is  missing there's got to be more to this   and so people had to ask themselves could  one actually have nothing and be happy   you don't have nothing you have everything if you  have God this was the message as i said before   you know Francis did not try to abolish poverty  you know this not he tried to make it holy this   is important when his friars met somebody who was  poor than they would they were they would rip off   their sleeves of their habit and give it to the  person they worked for most everything all right   they worked they only begged if they had  to Francis said if we had any possessions   then we would need weapons and laws to defend them  i never thought about that if we had a bunch of   stuff we would need a bunch of weapons and a bunch  of laws to defend them but i ain't got anything   so have at it i think that's fascinating he  said what could you do to a man who owns nothing   you can't starve a fasting man he said you  can't steal from someone who has no money   then he says you can't embarrass one someone  who hates prestige these are the things we fear   we fear having our belongings taking  that we're afraid of being embarrassed   we're free afraid of not having enough food he's  saying you can't starve a fasting man you you   can't steal from somebody who has no money and  you can't embarrass somebody who doesn't care   wow this is true freedom this is true  detachment so what did he do he went to syria   i did a talk also a few months ago on islam  Francis was part of this he went to convert   the muslims during the fifth crusade so now  he's going back into crusades but unlike   when he was in the fourth crusade where he  wanted to fight with swords and kill people   he's now in the fifth crusade and he wants to  convert people not kill people convert people   and that was the message of my talk on islam we  pray through mother mary they'll be converted now   in the middle of the battle so this battle  is raging right in the fifth crusade   in the middle of it Francis decides to go straight  to the head muslim the sultan this is suicide   so he does and when he and his  companions did he was captured   now the real miracle here was that they weren't  all killed so let's look at our next slide here   is a picture of saint Francis with the muslim  sultan they're hugging that's unbelievable   now instead of being killed Francis was taken  to this sultan who you see on your screen   and he was so charmed by saint Francis by his  teaching and preaching and listen to what he   said this is the top muslim the head muslim  of the crusades and he said i would convert   to your religion it is beautiful but that  would mean both of us would be murdered so he didn't at least that we know of but get this   the sultan gave Francis and his companions  permission to visit the sacred places in the holy   land because now the holy land was occupied by  islam that's my whole other talk on the crusades   so islam had taken over the holy  land it kicked Christianity out   but here's the sultan so moved by saint Francis  that he invites saint Francis to go into the holy   land and even preach there do you know this is the  reason the Franciscans are still in the holy land   and they're the only ones that have been in  the holy land continuously since this happened   1217. this happened in the year 1217 and ever  since then the Franciscans have been in the   holy land that's why when you go to the holy  land you see the presence of the Franciscans   because of what saint Francis did this  is amazing some say get a load of this   that that sultan secretly converted and accepted  a deathbed baptism as a result of Francis that's awesome now later Francis finally gave up  all power and order in his order in his his uh his   community but he probably wasn't too upset by it  um now he could be just like another brother which   is what he wanted so his final years were filled  with humiliation and suffering in fact Francis   had a vision in september of 12 24 guess what on  the feast of the exaltation of the cross which is   what i did a homily on that you can also find  online last week that talked about the meaning   of the cross so on the feast of the exaltation of  the cross he prayed to shear in Christ's passion   and he got the stigmata what's the stigmata the  wounds i talked about last week with padre pio   and i mentioned in that padre pio talked that  padre p was known for getting his wounds now   somebody wrote me and says father your talk  is really messed up because you show a picture   of the uh Francis and and uh and uh uh  uh padre pio with wounds in their hands   but we know that Christ's wounds  from the shroud are in the wrist   ah brother mark found this one do you know that  pretty much all the scholars believe that when   they executed and crucified criminals on the cross  they would nail in the palm at an angle and the   nail would go through the wrist and out the back  so it went here in the palm came out on the wrist   so this is why you see the stigmatas in the  front of the hands like this but on the shroud   of turin you see Christ's hands folded you  see the back you see the wounds on the wrist the nail went in the palm out the wrist  and brother mark found that on a study   that we were watching from the scientists  it makes perfect sense and so anyway he got   the marks let's look at our next slide here's a  painting of saint Francis getting the stigmata   and so you could see he's bearing the wounds   in his palms and he got the marks of the  nails and the palms and the lance on the side   of his chest and he suffered over his whole body  and then he saw a vision this is fascinating   he saw a vision of a seraphic angel remember okay  again i keep saying this i've done another talk   on the angels you can find that on youtube all  these are under explaining the faith so if you   put in explaining the faith angels and the highest  there's nine choirs of angels in church tradition   and the highest is the seraphim right now only  three times in human history do we know of   that a seraphim angel has appeared to man why  because the seraphim angel their main focus   their existence is to behold the face of God  that's all they do for all eternity gaze upon   the face of God and if you think that's  going to get boring you have no idea how   wrong that is you will God is ever changing  you will never you will be in eternal bliss   for all eternity gazing upon the face of God  so these seraphim angels that's what they did   that is their role and only three times do we  know of did they turn away from the face of God   to help man and it wasn't out of disobedience it  was out of obedience the first ever was isaiah   when the seraphim angel came with a charcoal to  hold on the lips of isaiah to purify his speech the second this one right before  saint Francis got the stigmata   he had a vision of a seraphim sixth-winged angel  on a cross who gave him the five wounds of Christ and guess what the third time in human history was saint faustina saint faustina was sick her  superior wouldn't let her go to mass saint   faustina said oh lord i want to go to mass so  Jesus sent her a seraphim angel to give her holy   communion she's only the third one we know of  in human history to re to see a seraphim angel   and guess what she did she asked the seraphim  angel before receiving holy communion can you   hear my confession this is the highest  of the angels in all of God's creation   and you know what the seraphim angel told her  i cannot only an ordained priest has that power a seraphim angel telling saint faustina she says  well you hear my confession he says i cannot   i don't have that power only the ordained priest  does this is mind-boggling and so this is what's going on here so she he he  beholds the sear from angel and the story of saint   Francis grew and grew and this became assisi this  is where he was living and assisi became a popular   pilgrimage destination let's take a look at assisi  look at your next slide here's an incredible   picture at dusk of the cc lit up it's just i mean  it looks amazing and so you see assisi right there   and so assisi with its medieval buildings and  cobblestone streets and men and monks walking   all around the town of saint Francis this thing  called assisi was also the town of sinclair and   do you know that the inhabitants are proud of this  but you know it's also home of other lesser-known   saints agnes of assisi who is she saint  claire's little brother i'm sorry little sister   claire's little sister there was gabriel of the  sorrowful virgin and the ancient saint refinious   the benedict he was a benedictine excuse me and  the benedictine hermit saint vitalis so there's   others who came from there today when you see  and you go there you can see uh saint Francis's   own porcion you probably heard the term that just  means little chapel little portion it's a chapel   so let's look at the next slide that's why  we celebrate saint Francis as his slideshows   on october 4th now he died on october  3rd but we celebrate him on october 4th   this italian deacon who renewed the church all  right he followed Jesus's words as literally as   possible but then recognized the need  to spiritually and known for his joy   he said the secret of true happiness is to  become saints close to God so as i wrap this up   why do we know that he said to become saints  of God let's use three examples i love these   three okay three major instances  confirm Francis in this all right   one when he was in sisi assisi we said that he  overcame his fear of disease by kissing the leper   that was one that was one changing point in his  life to become a saint two he went to rome and   he deposited his money at saint peter's tomb  and exchanged clothes with a beggar that was   the second changing turning point and third when  he returned home and he saw Jesus on the cross   and he heard Jesus say go Francis and repair  my church you can see it's falling into ruin   i think you could say the same about today please lord let us be the tools like saint Francis  to reform your church so through his imitation of   Christ he did tireless ministry um you know  it's it's very something they're the heart   you know we know we think we look in the church to  the dominicans for the academic and the brains of   the church but we look to the Franciscans for the  pastoral the heart of the church so they're known   for their pastoral detachment and poverty is the  key all right so real quick i want to say this i'm   running out of time here but i want to summarize  you all have your little nativity scenes you know   they call them a crush the nativity see we have  them right here every Christmas my mom always has   them and they're the wise men the animals the  mother of mother mary baby Jesus in the manger   the story is that all comes from saint Francis the  story of the origin of that crush or the nativity   scene is from him it was the year 2023 and saint  Francis who was a deacon was visiting a nearby   town to celebrate Christmas now the town was built  on a mountain side overlooking a beautiful valley   now he realized that the Franciscan chapel was  too small at the hermitage to house everybody   for midnight mass so he found a niche in the  rock near the town square and he set up an   altar let's take a look at our next slide this  is not just any nativity scene this is at a cc   and so this um he wanted to commemorate the  nativity of the infant Jesus with great devotion   so basically Francis put together the first  living nativity scene he got real animals   he got people and this is this is what's  amazing he stood before the manger full of   devotion and piety crying but yet joyful  he was unable to even say Jesus's name   because of Jesus love and tenderness and he called  him the babe of bethlehem now this is an account   described by master john of grishio who affirmed  what happened he was a very trustworthy man and he   said that an infinite infant marvelously beautiful  all of a sudden appeared sleeping in the manger   can you imagine and so Francis let's take  a picture or excuse me in the next slide   that's a painting of Francis lifting up  that child that appeared in the manger   this is amazing and so he basically embraced him  in his arms as if he would awaken from his sleep   he was holding this little Christ child this  is a credible story they say not only because   of the sanctity of the person who accounted  it this john of gratiot but the people saw it   and there were other miracles Francis converted  so many after that and they even took the hay   from the manger and they took it out and  it healed all the disease of the cattle   so this is amazing stuff all right let's  talk real quick i'll leave a few minutes   about saint Francis preaching some of this  comes from trent horn on catholic answers   which i wanted to acknowledge here and trent horn  says you know we're often told that sexual sin   pushes people away from the catholic church  don't tell me what i should do in my bedroom   i remember i was doing a confirmation course  for 10th grade girls out in the boston area   and i was giving them the topic of the  confirmation talk was not sexuality but   a small part came up and i reinforced church's  teaching about abstinence until marriage and   this 10th grade girl came up to me and said  how dare some gray-haired old man in rome tell   me what i can do in my bedroom i'm thinking i  couldn't say this or i wouldn't be a priest now   but you're only in 10th grade what are we  talking about what's happening in your bedroom this is the mentality today and so we  are told that we can't bring this up   or we'll scare people away from the gospel  that we can't bring it up this can happen   if we do it without tact or empathy this is true  we can't attack people that's never going to work   i can't go up to somebody and say you're  going to hell because you're living in sin you   lovingly correct them but when someone doesn't  even mention it at all we're not allowed to say   sin or hell you got a problem now i think joel  olsteen's a good man i've brought him up before   i think he's a good man i think his heart  is in the right place but please millions   of catholics have left our catholic faith  to join that church if you can call it that   joel olsteen was on larry king i'm not making  this up if you're angry at me just please watch   the video and larry king a jewish man says  is it true that you you're Christian but   you never mentioned the word sin he said  absolutely not it makes people feel bad   seriously i'd much rather make you feel a  little bit bad on this earth and save your soul   than to feel a whole heck of a lot worse when  you're eternally damned this is dangerous don't fall for this instead of preaching   with words that offend we're told that we  have to love each other without saying a   word or we're hypocritical of course i'm  a sinner i am hypocritical but i'm trying   i'm not asking anybody else in the confessional  to be perfect i'm asking them to try and so we have to we have to avoid this now   people are told that oh they'll find Jesus  through not offensive love no that's license we don't let people walk down  the wrong path you know they say   saint Francis said preach the gospel and if only  necessary use words i'm sure you've heard that   i actually kind of like that saint Francis never  said that nope saint Francis never said that   people say he said that he never did i  like it but sometimes we have to use words sometimes we have to the preaching about hell  and sin is something he did regularly people   don't know this about saint Francis many people  think saint Francis was this hippie with brown   robes and and preached peace to an audience of  this is what trent horn says i find it hilarious   many people look at saint Francis as  a hippie with brown robes who preached   peace to an audience of wild  eyed animals in a disney film yes he was kind to animals we need to be i  believe that i'm an animal lover absolutely   i'm a tree hugger but we praise God for all this  creation this view of saint Francis is actually   incorrect it's inaccurate it glosses over the man  who rebuked sinful living he rebuked it unlike   the academics by preaching he drew primarily  from his conversion story so he was pastoral   Francis's preaching was vibrant and energetic  that he would at one moment sing and dance   in the middle of his preaching now  if i did that you'd all run away   but he would sing and dance in the middle of his  preaching was so full of joy but then he would   turn right around and weep and cry why because  he was a sinner but then he'd weep again for joy   and he started dancing again with joy because  God's mercy this is amazing when he described the   in the nativity people would say it was almost  like mary was giving birth before their eyes in rehearsing the crucifixion the  crowd for the nativity would shed tears   now i have to summarize this all up but one of  the topics that saint Francis preached about   was the joy of repenting from sin Francis was not  all fluff he was a man tough man not a new ager   who was afraid to mince words or minced words he  said this is quote blessed are those who die in   penance for they shall be in the kingdom of heaven  but woe to those who do not die in penance for   they shall be children of the devil whose works  they do and they shall go into everlasting fire   that sounds like a pretty good warning  Francis did not sugarcoat the reality   of hell he also preached though that joy  comes from Christ liberating us from that sin   the answer mercy all right so to finish  up here dr stackpole talks about some   good examples i'll try to summarize these in  his work the little flowers of saint Francis   that was a book from way back dr stack pulled  quotes to that and i want to use two examples   that are about God's mercy all right the first  one is saint Francis was working with this friar   named leo this is funny and i gotta shorten it  but he told this leo he says this is what i want   you to correct me leo brother leo fryer leo and  i want you to tell me Francis you are a sinner   you are not worthy of mercy and you deserve  damnation tell me that brother i need to hear that   and brother leo tried to tell it and he  said God loves you God is all-merciful   God forgives you and Francis is like did you  hear me brother leo i want you to tell me that   i'm a sinner that i do not deserve mercy and i  deserve hell okay i said yes Francis i get it   i'll be obedient i'll be obedient so Francis  says tell me brother and brother leo says God loves you God forgives you God is  merciful and he's going to bring you to heaven   and Francis is like brother you're being  disobedient he literally could not say the words   because God's mercy is greater yes we got to warn  people but the people we warned are the people who   are not turning to God's mercy once you get people  to turn to God's mercy through the confessional   through the church then you turn and say the glory  of that is God's mercy and eternal life i think of   the story of cameraman giuseppe all of you who've  watched my videos know i love cameraman giuseppe   but it's hilarious because sometimes we are  we're like two comedy eras two comedies of errors   so one night we're trying to film i was doing some  video for ewtn and we have the the it's here in   the church and there's some people here and i'm  trying to do the uh the talk and i started it and   i messed up and i get frustrated i'm sorry pretty  soon everybody leaves i felt bad because they're   probably thinking gee so i'm trying to do the talk  and i just can't and i try it again and i mess up   and i'm trying it again and i mess up and i'm like  ah it's all day long i hadn't eaten i'm frustrated   so finally i stopped said a little  prayer and i began and i nailed it i felt   exactly the way i wanted to say it we sailed  right through it and i took a big breath   and cameraman giuseppe says uh father  chris we're gonna have to re-record that and i said why and he said i forgot to hit record now i'm like what and i'm getting ready  to open my mouth to say something to him   like giuseppe cameraman giuseppe oh  and giuseppe goes have mercy on me and i am not exaggerating you can ask  cameraman giuseppe this is the truth i went and i couldn't say a word God blocked my  vocal cords why because he asked for mercy   and so God's mercy is that great  it is so great that even after   camera man giuseppe forgot to hit  record and i was just ready to go God blocked it and i couldn't say a word   and all i said was okay praise God let's do it  again and cameraman giuseppe's looking around   so we hit it did it better than the first time  and we've been laughing about that ever since   because that's how probably camberman just said  he says you know i got to use that more often   i said now don't be using it like candy you use  it when it's truly needed so anyway that was a   powerful one all right now uh let's finish up  here um let's see here uh so yeah let's talk   about that one all right i'm sorry i'm running  out of time there's so much good stuff on Francis   all right let's talk about one more in chapter  that was chapter nine of that book um that was   called the little flowers of saint Francis let's  talk about one real quick in chapter 26. three   robbers had been you think of the two robbers on  the cross of Jesus but there were three robbers   that had um been terrorizing a town they had  they've been living way off and God has started to   put some some grace in the hearts of the leading  robber he says listen to the other two robbers   you know what we're probably damned  here we're probably not going to make   it we're probably going to be damned  let's go to this saint Francis guy   let's talk to this Francis and we're  probably going to hear that we're done for   but if he gives us even a sliver of  hope i think we need to change our ways so these three robbers go to saint Francis and the  robber says i don't think there's any hope for us   but we'll do whatever he says friends said  Francis received them assured them of the mercy of   God through his prayers and that God's mercy was  infinite greater than any sin that they could ever   commit why because they were asking for it they  were coming there earlier we talked about bringing   up the sin and the realization of damnation those  are for those who don't even care they're not on   the right path these guys are so he said even if  our sins are infinite the mercy of God is greater   and he pointed out saint Francis saint  paul's words in the gospel Christ the blessed   came into the world to redeem the greatest sinners   so through these wound words and similar teachings  the three robbers renounced the devil and all this   works and guess what saint Francis received  them into the order and they became monks that means there's hope for everybody  so anyway finally his health collapsed   two decades of missionary work and preaching and  penance living as a human sacrifice you know he   never recovered from the illness as i said he died  on october the 3rd 1226 he was only 45 years old   when he died and pro gregory the ninth canonized  him only two years later and along with saint   catherine of siena he's the patron saint of  italy and so anyway he's considered the founder   of all Franciscan orders and the patron saint  of ecologists so uh environmental and merchants   but he's also now the patron saint of animals the  environment families and get this one against fire   so let's pray when these wildfires rage to saint  Francis to help protect the animals and the homes   so anyway uh several protestant groups have  now engaged in adhering to his teachings   this is interesting he could be the way  to union more than almost any other saint   the protestants look at him and say there's  something there the anglican church and some   lutheran churches even have religious orders  following his rule did you even know that did   you know there were protestant religious  orders following the rule of saint Francis   fascinating the anglican church retained the  tradition of blessing animals on his feast day many uh lutheran and other protestant  churches have also adopted this   now pope Francis why did he change choose  the name bergoglio he chose the name Francis   because he was most concerned  for the well-being of the poor and after he was nominated pope or elected pope  somebody came to him as he was walking up and   he said something about the poor and Francis  said that's it i'm going to be pope Francis   in recognition of the poor and you  know saint Francis could consider   the first italian poet and this is where  i want to finish with a three-minute   video i have a sorry it's gone a little long but  there's a three-minute video i want to finish with   and if you're at home you can see it on your  screen if you're here you can turn it on later   you all remember the prayer saint Francis  lord make me a channel of your peace   many people love that i looked through many  versions and i found one that they played on ewtn   it's three and a half minutes bear with us  it's a beautiful prayer and i would like   to play that for you and for you  here in the shrine that don't have it   we'll recite this prayer together but for  you at home let's now watch this prayer make me a channel of your peace where there is hatred let me bring your love where there is make me a channel of your peace where there's despair in life let me bring home where there is that i may never to be understood make me a channel of your peace it is of ourselves master grant that i may never see so much with all my songs it is important of ourselves that we received born to eternal life okay so are we live again okay so isn't that a  beautiful prayer uh we thank you all for joining   us we're grateful that you could be with us that  is a powerful prayer and that was one that aired   on ewtn now again we don't know technically that  saint Francis wrote that there's no evidence that   he wrote that prayer but there's also not evidence  that he didn't write it so we know that it's a   beautiful prayer so anyway as we normally do i  want to finish with the last couple slides as a   dvd if you would like to get my talk you can get  this at the gift shop it's a dvd of uh several of   my explaining the face series but not on saturdays  these are parish talks i did out at churches   you can get that brother mark is showing on  the screen it's called explaining the faith   now next slide is my book called understanding  divine mercy which you can also get at the gift   shop if you want to come here i'll sign  it for you i'd be happy to sign it for you   that is available at the gift shop and i can be  here i'm doing confessions one to two so if you   want to meet me at two o'clock after confessions  i can sign your books so you have an hour you   can go to the gift shop you can go out to eat and  i'll be out in front of the shrine at two o'clock   and then finally join our team join our family be  a marian helper as i mentioned earlier in the talk   micpprayers.org it takes 10 seconds it doesn't  cost anything and as i said before as i mentioned   earlier in this talk the beautiful gift of being  like in a third order and the beautiful gift   of being a marian helper because if you are you  share in all of the graces of our prayers chaplets   rosaries just like you were a member of our  religious family and so God bless you thank you   i do have one last announcement i will not be here  next saturday for the normal saturday talks i will   be in denver at a large conference but we're not  leaving you abandoned so real quick before we sign   off next saturday october the 2nd we will have  first saturdays but it'll be at 8 00 pm not 11   so we will not have a crowd here next saturday  because deacon tyler will be being ordained   so at the 9 o'clock mass next saturday october  2nd deacon tyler will be ordained a priest   and we will have um a big celebration here  for him so if you want to join us for first   saturday's devotion next week it's at 8 00 pm and  father john will be leading you live and talking   about a beautiful apparition in france because  remember every first saturdays we're doing marian   apparitions and father john larson will be here  to lead you through the devotion and everything   at 8 00 pm eastern time in the united states and  we will have first fridays again at 8 as well   got all that nobody's saying anything so i'm  scared but that's okay you can see it we'll have   it posted so may almighty God bless you in the  name of the father and of the son and of the holy   spirit amen and may saint Francis guide you and  your pets have a great day God bless you everybody

Channel: Divine Mercy

Views: 253,430

Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, fr. chris alar, blessed virgin, Mary, Immaculate Heart, blessing, worship, Salvation, Faustina, Conversion, Prayer, Saints, Scripture, St. Francis, Assisi, saints, San Damiano, Friars, Friars Minor, Franciscans, poverty, tonsure, monk, creche, nativity scene, patron saint of animals, prayer of st. francis

Id: zARK5pQJ5LA

Length: 87min 25sec (5245 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021