--Psalm 124:7-8 --

 --Psalm 124:7-8 --

Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow
out of the snare of the fowlers.
The snare is broken, and we are delivered.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Do you ever feel trapped by overwhelming odds? With God, there is
always a way out because he is the Creator of all that exists. No
problem is beyond his ability to solve; no circumstance is too
difficult for him. We can turn to the creator for help in our time of
need, for he is on our side. God will provide a way out; we need only
trust him and look for it. David, the writer of this Psalm, compared
this to a bird escaping the fowler's snare (trap).

<<>><<>><<>>
4 October =E2=80=93 St Francis of Assisi OFM

 (1181/2=E2=80=931226)

Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco
(1181/1182 =E2=80=93 3 October 1226), was an Italian Friar, Deacon, the Fir=
st
known Stigmatist, Founder, Mystic, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist, of
the Blessed Virgin, of Charity, Confessor, Missionary, Writer, Poet,
Miracle-Worker, Preacher. He founded the men=E2=80=99s Order of Friars Mino=
r,
the women=E2=80=99s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis =
and
the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated
religious figures in history.

Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the
Church by taking the gospel literally=E2=80=94not in a narrow fundamentalis=
t
sense but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully,
without limit and without a sense of self-importance.

Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his
frolicking life as leader of Assisi=E2=80=99s youth. Prayer=E2=80=94lengthy=
 and
difficult=E2=80=94led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ, climaxed =
by
embracing a leper he met on the road. It symbolised his complete
obedience to what he had heard in prayer: =E2=80=9CFrancis! Everything you
have loved and desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and
hate, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this, all
that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and
bitter but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great
sweetness and exceeding joy.=E2=80=9D

From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano, Christ
told him, =E2=80=9CFrancis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly
falling down.=E2=80=9D Francis became the totally poor and humble workman.

He must have suspected a deeper meaning to =E2=80=9Cbuild up my house.=E2=
=80=9D But he
would have been content to be for the rest of his life the poor
=E2=80=9Cnothing=E2=80=9D man actually putting brick on brick in abandoned =
chapels. He
gave up all his possessions, piling even his clothes before his
earthly father=E2=80=94who was demanding restitution for Francis=E2=80=99 =
=E2=80=9Cgifts=E2=80=9D to
the poor=E2=80=94so that he would be totally free to say, =E2=80=9COur Fath=
er in
heaven.=E2=80=9D He was, for a time, considered to be a religious fanatic,
begging from door to door when he could not get money for his work,
evoking sadness or disgust to the hearts of his former friends,
ridicule from the unthinking.

But genuineness will tell. A few people began to realise that this man
was actually trying to be Christian. He really believed what Jesus
said : =E2=80=9CAnnounce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper i=
n
your purses, no travelling bag, no sandals, no staff=E2=80=9D (Luke 9:1-3).

Francis=E2=80=99 first rule for his followers was a collection of texts fro=
m
the Gospels. He had no intention of founding an order but once it
began he protected it and accepted all the legal structures needed to
support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and
highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended to
break the Church=E2=80=99s unity.

Francis was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life
of active preaching of the Good News. He decided in favour of the
latter but always returned to solitude when he could. He wanted to be
a missionary in Syria or in Africa but was prevented by shipwreck and
illness in both cases. He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt
during the Fifth Crusade.

During the last years of his relatively short life, he died at 44,
Francis was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death
he received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his
hands, feet and side.

On his deathbed, Francis said over and over again the last addition to
his Canticle of the Sun, =E2=80=9CBe praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death.=
=E2=80=9D
He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior=E2=80=99s permission t=
o
have his clothes removed when the last hour came in order that he
could expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord. (via
Franciscan media)

see
https://anastpaul.com/2018/10/04/

Saint Quote:
Receive Lord, all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole
will. You have given me all that I have, all that I am, and I
surrender all to your divine will, that you dispose of me as you will.
Give me only your love and your grace. With this I am rich enough, and
I have no more to ask.
--St. Ignatius Loyola

Bible Quote:
"Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name."  [Psalm
29:1-2]

Saint Quote:
When I am in Heaven, where everything is possible, I will cling to the
mantle of the Mother of God and I will not turn my eyes from you. But
do not forget what this poor old man has said to you.
--Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo from his deathbed


<><><><>
To Believe in God's Care

To bring our woundedness and sorrows to God means more than praying
novenas for relief. It is a direct encounter between the deepest
places of our inner mystery with the mystery of God. Even sorrows,
frustrations, anger and hurt become bridges to a passionate
intertwining with God because now we face them together, with him.
--from The Journey Within: Prayer as a Path to God