St. Francis Novena – Day 6

Fill us with your gifts and make us always eager to serve you in faith, hope and love.

Fr. Bill Farris, OFM

“May we be blessed with the desire to give all of our strength and abilities.” Today’s prayer highlights the complete dedication to God’s will that Francis practiced throughout his life. When St. Francis was looking for direction from God, he did a random search through the Gospels for guidance. Here is how the story is told in his biography, The Legend of the Three Companions:

“Once they had finished prayer, blessed Francis took the closed book and, kneeling before the altar, opened it. At its first opening, the Lord’s counsel confronted them: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell everything you possess and give to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven (Mk 10:21). When he opened it up the second time, he saw: Take nothing for your journey (Lk 9:3), and at the third opening: If any man wishes to come after me, he must deny himself (Mt 16:24).”

St. Francis knew that he had found what he was looking for. Jesus was challenging him to throw aside all earthly security and to throw himself completely into living the gospel without holding back, in complete dependency on God. He kept this radical trust in God all through his active years.

Toward the end of his life, as the Order grew larger, St. Francis sensed that many of his brothers struggled to keep to this high ideal. He wrote to all the friars and urged them to “hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally!” St. Francis passes to us this core lesson that guided his life. It can guide our lives, too.

Fr. Bill

(Fr. Bill Farris, OFM, is the Provincial Vicar of the Province of St. John the Baptist.)

Pray the Novena to St. Francis of Assisi

Read by Fr. Murray Bodo, OFM

St. Francis suffered great illness and was often thought disturbed by the townspeople of Assisi including his own family. You can post your prayer intentions to him on our Prayer page.

The Novena to St. Francis of Assisi

Day 6

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Poor and humble St. Francis, through your kind intercession we seek to love God above all things. We seek the faith, hope, and love that moved you to joyfully renounce honors and riches and to radically follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray for us that we come to see the privilege of suffering with and for the poor after the example of Jesus. Help us to be always grateful for all the blessings we have received and give us the strength to overcome our most pressing concerns.

(Include your personal intentions now.)

Holy St. Francis, through your prayers, may we be blessed with the desire to give all of our strength and abilities towards serving God’s purpose in our lives. May our lives be filled with complete faith and the hope of spending eternity with the Most High, all-powerful good God.

St. Francis, help us to continue praying for the grace to truly repent and change our hearts by actively seeking reconciliation with God and all those we have offended or hurt in any way. May the blessings we receive through your intercession deepen our faith, and inspire us to store up treasures in heaven, where we hope to spend eternity with our loving God.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.

Post your prayer requests on our Prayer Page.

Light a candle or give alms on our Donation Page.

Fr. Murray Bodo, OFM, is a writer and poet.  He invites you to discover the gospel life of St. Francis in, The Simple Way: Mediations on the Words of St. Francis, available at Franciscan Media.

Videos and articles on St. Francis at Franciscan Media.

We follow Jesus in the footsteps of St. Francis, learn more at Franciscan.org