✨On Mount Alverna, in 1224, two years before his death, Saint Francis of Assisi was fasting and praying intensely when he had a vision of a crucified Seraph. After the vision, marks identical to the five wounds of Christ—on his feet, hands, and side—appeared on his body. These stigmata, which he bore with humility and discretion, were not just a sign of his mystical union with the Savior's Passion, but the visible seal of a life entirely configured to the crucified Christ. Saint Bonaventure, his biographer, narrates that the saint became a "living portrait of the Man of Sorrows," fulfilling in his own flesh what the day's Epistle proclaims: "I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body."
📖Introit (Gal 6:14 | Ps 141:2)Mihi autem absit gloriári, nisi in Cruce Dómini nostri Iesu Christi... But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I to the world. Ps. I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
📜Epistle (Gal 6:14-18)
Brethren: God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And whosoever shall follow this rule, peace on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me; for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
✝️Gospel (Mt 16:24-27)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works."
🤔Reflections
✍️The Christian's glory is solely in the Cross, for it is through the Cross that the world dies to us and we to the world; Saint Francis realized this so perfectly that he merited to bear the stigmata of the Lord not only in his heart but visibly in his flesh (St. Bonaventure, Legenda Maior). The stigmata that Paul declares to bear in his body are the tribulations suffered for Christ, for just as soldiers are proud of the scars from their battles, the Christian glories in the sufferings that make him resemble his crucified King (St. Ambrose, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians). To take up the cross means to mortify the passions and subject the flesh to the spirit; it is not a single act, but a continuous exercise of self-denial, by which the soul prepares for eternal life, for whoever loves his life in sin, loses it for eternity (St. Augustine, Sermon 92).
📚The Gospel of Saint Matthew presents the fundamental condition for discipleship: to deny oneself, take up the cross, and follow Christ. Saint Luke, in his narrative (Lk 9:23), adds a dimension of constancy to this precept, specifying that the cross must be taken up "daily," which underscores the persevering and everyday nature of Christian sacrifice. Saint Mark (Mk 8:38) expands on Christ's final warning, making it explicit that whoever is ashamed "of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation," the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father.
✉️Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, in stating "I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body," resonates throughout his theology of redemptive suffering. In 2 Corinthians 4:10, he deepens this idea, saying: "Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies." In Philippians 3:10, he expresses this same longing as the pinnacle of the spiritual life: "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." Finally, in Colossians 1:24, he elevates this suffering to an ecclesial level, stating: "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church."
🇻🇦The documents of the Magisterium of the Church consistently exalt the value of sacrifice and penance in union with the Passion of Christ. The Council of Trent, in Session VI on Justification, teaches that the sufferings and good works of the just, united with the merits of Christ, are also meritorious for eternal life. The encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor of Pope Pius XI reinforces the doctrine of reparation, calling the faithful to console the Heart of Jesus by offering their own sufferings and sacrifices in expiation for sins, thus uniting themselves to the Divine Victim on the altar. This active participation in Christ's sufferings is presented not as a burden, but as the highest honor and the surest path to sanctification.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.