Spiritual Quote of the Day (David James Duncan, on St. Francis of Assisi’s Love for Our Lord)

“[St.] Francis’ love for his Lord was so ecstatic, creative, physical, and contagious that even though there are things I believe I would die for, I feel, in comparison to this man, that I have hardly begun to love at all. As far as I can see, Francis had no ‘average’ or ‘everyday’ sense of things; for him every creature was a miracle, every moment a gift, every breath a prayer in God’s Presence, and if we were sitting with him tonight disbelieving in his miracles, gifts, and Presence completely, he’d go on believing in them so much more powerfully than we bums know how to disbelieve that we would have to run from the room to escape the great gravitational pull of his love.”— American novelist and essayist David James Duncan, “The French Guy,” originally published in Portland, August 2004, reprinted in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005, edited by Philip Zaleski (2005)

The image accompanying this post, St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, was painted from 1297 to 1299 by the Italian Renaissance artist-architect Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337).

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Fr. John Welch, on St. Francis and the Language of Creation)

“St. Francis was not being romantic when he praised ‘brother sun’ and ‘sister moon.’ He understood that the stars, trees, rivers, and all the elements of creation are a language God speaks to us. Some saints claim God communicated with them through visions and voices. With the perspective of faith, the entire world becomes voice and vision. Any bush can be the burning bush through which God is present.” —John Welch, O. Carm., “Catholic Imagination,” Carmelite Review, Fall 2013-Winter 2014 issue

The image accompanying this post, St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, was painted from 1297 to 1299 by the Italian Renaissance artist-architect Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337).

Quote of the Day (Sister Mary McGlone, on Holy Week and Palm Sunday)

“As we enter the sacred time we call Holy Week, the church overwhelms us with liturgy, Scripture and symbols. Each day has its own particular theme until we reach the climax of the liturgical year in the three-day liturgy we call the Easter triduum. Today's celebration, commonly called Palm Sunday, invites us to contemplate Jesus' last week on Earth, anticipating all that we will relive symbolically Thursday and Friday. Our readings from the Gospel of Mark begin with the crowds' exuberant but shallow adulation and end with Jesus' death on the cross.”—Sister Mary McGlone, “Palm Sunday: Interpreting the Passion,” National Catholic Reporter, Mar. 24, 2018

(The image accompanying this post is Entry into Jerusalem, by the 14^th-century Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone.)