Feast of the Stigmata

Today is the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis. That is, when St Francis (of Assisi) received the 5 wounds of Christ as he was praying on Mount La Verna (anglicised as Alvernia). He's the first stigmatist to be recorded in history. It comes a few days after we celebrated the Feasts of the Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows (at the foot of the Cross).

Fr. Artemio, the custodial vicar gave a nice homily regarding the Cross. He said "The cross seems like total absurdity, like "senseless suicide", as the philosopher Nietzsche put it. Nevertheless, it is this cross that shelters us, that we exalt because it is the basis of our faith. "Jesus reigned through the cross. Christ was crucified for your salvation, for mine." And it is this salvation, obtained not by the sword but by the wood of the cross, that was celebrated by the assembly today. The adoration of the cross that concludes the celebration is not, therefore, a veneration of pain, but gratitude for the salvation the cross obtained for the human race. It is this that allows Christians to sing, "O Cross, our only hope"."

St. Francis' experience of this Cross was so real he actually received the 5 wounds on his hands, feet and side. It was his 2nd birth - a 2nd chance in life, but life deeply embedded in Christ this time. This experience of redemption was so powerful that he used to say each time when he entered a church "We adore you Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all the churches throughout the world, and we bless you; because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world."