Blessed Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Today is the feast day of our beloved St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1216), founder of the Franciscan order, mystic and bearer of the stigmata .
There is often the temptation to look at Saint Francis as a purely 'secular hero' , an animal lover and ecology patron . But the truth is that beloved Saint Francis was the great person he was because of his deep and intimate love for Lord Jesus and his overwhelming awareness of the presence of Providence in his life.
Today as we celebrate the life of Francis we need to ask the Lord through his intercession to make us 'channels of His peace' in this world and to give us the wisdom to realize our future as humans is closely tied to the future of the rest of nature as a whole.
St. Francis used to say that nothing is more important than the salvation of souls, and he often offered as proof the fact that the Only-begotten of God deigned to hang on the cross for souls.
Prayer was the most comfort for Francis in this life of contemplation in which he became a fellow-citizen of the Angels, as he penetrated the dwelling places of Heaven in his eager search for his Beloved Jesus , from whom he was separated only by a partition of flesh.
St. Francis felt like an exile, as long as he remained in this earthly life separated from God, and at the same time, his love of Christ had left him insensible to all earthly desires. Therefore, he tried to keep his spirit in the presence of God, by praying to him without intermission, so that he might not be without some comfort from his Beloved. Whether he was walking or sitting, at home or abroad, whether he was working or resting, he was so wholeheartedly intent on prayer that he seemed to have dedicated to it not only his heart and soul, but all his efforts and all his time.
Therefore let us follow Saint Francis and together with him faithfully pray :

Great and glorious God, my Lord Jesus Christ!
I implore Thee to enlighten me
and to disperse the darkness of my soul.
Give me true faith, firm hope, and perfect charity.
Grant me, O Lord, to know Thee so well
that in all things I may act by Thy light
and in accordance with Thy holy will.
Amen