DAY 4: SAINT FRANCIS AND DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED EUCHARIST | NOVENA TO SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Fourth Day of Novena Theme: Saint Francis and Devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist Reading of the Admonitions of Saint Francis FIRST ADMONITION: OF THE BODY OF THE LORD 1 The Lord Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 2 If you knew me, you would know the Father also. From now on, you know him because you have seen him. 3 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ 4 Jesus answered, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen my Father also.’” (John 14:6-9). 5 “The Father dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16), and: “God is a spirit” (John 4:26), and “no one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). 6 If God is spirit, then only in spirit can he be seen; 7 for “it is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63). 8 But even the Son, being equal to the Father, cannot be seen by anyone in any other way than the Father and the Holy Spirit. 9 Therefore, all those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity without seeing him according to the spirit and divinity and without believing that he is the true Son of God are infamous. 10 Likewise, today, all those who—although they see the sacrament of the body of Christ, which, by the Lord’s words, becomes holy present on the altar under the appearances of bread and wine, in the hands of the priest—do not look according to the spirit and divinity, nor believe that it is truly the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are infamous. The Most High personally attests to this when he says: 11 “This is my body and the blood of the new covenant” (cf. Mark 14:22); and: 12 “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life” (cf. Jn 6:55). 13 Therefore, it is the Spirit of the Lord, who dwells in his faithful, who receives the most holy body and blood of the Lord (cf. Jn 6:62). 14 All those who do not partake of this spirit and yet dare to receive communion “eat and drink judgment” (1 Cor 11:29). 15 Therefore, “O sons of men, how long will you harden your hearts?” (Ps 4:3). Why do you not recognize the truth “or believe in the Son of God” (Jn 9:35)? 16 Behold, he humbles himself daily (Phil 2:8), just as at the hour when, “descending from his royal throne” (Wis 18:5) into the womb of the Virgin, 17 he comes to us daily in humble form; 18 Every day he descends from the bosom of the Father upon the altar, into the hands of the priest. 19 And just as he appeared to the holy apostles in true flesh, so he appears to us today in the sacred bread. 20 And just as they, seeing his flesh, saw only his flesh, yet contemplating him with their spiritual eyes, believed in him as their Lord and God (cf. Jn 20:28), 21 so too, seeing the bread and wine with our bodily eyes, let us look and firmly believe that the most holy, living and true body and blood are present. 22 And in this way the Lord is always with his faithful, as he himself says: 23 “Lo, I am with you, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). IN PRAISE TO CHRIST! Amen. Prayer: O glorious God Most High, illuminate the darkness of my heart, grant me true faith, firm hope, and perfect love. Give me, Lord, the right feeling and knowledge, so that I may fulfill the sacred trust that you have truly given me. Amen. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be to the Father…