Today in Assisi…
Listen to the morning talk, “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” by Joshua Burks, Associate Teacher, here:
Listen to the daily homily by Fr. Cole Kennett, Pastor of St. Michael Parish in Lincoln, here:
View the exclusive content below:
The Emmaus pilgrims visited the Basilica of Santa Chiara for a private Mass celebrated by Fr. Cole Kennett.
Emmaus pilgrims exploring Assisi’s buildings and olive groves on the
way to dinner!
A local speaks with the Emmaus group outside of the Cathedral of San Rufino.
A beautiful depiction of the Supper at Emmaus by Giovanni Andrea Carlone. Located in the Chapel of the Sacrament in the Cathedral of San Rufino, Assisi.
Inside the pilgrims’ hotel!
Read the daily recap with Joshua Burks:
Buonasera fellow friends and pilgrims,
Jesus is at work here in Assisi. I assure you this is not a throwaway line—this is as plain as I can be: Jesus is at work here.
Our pilgrims have had the chance to be steeped into the lives and spirits of St. Francis and St. Claire, as well as experience the power of the jubilee graces being lavishly poured out upon each of us, as a group and individually.
I would like to share with you something that stuck with me from today: the image of the lions that greet every pilgrim to the Cathedral of San Rufino here in Assisi, Italy.
On either side of the main doors are lions—one devouring a lamb and the other devouring a Christian. St. Rufino was a bishop and martyr dating all the way back to the 3rd century AD. Rufino and countless others after him would experience this jarring reality of persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ and his gospel.
It’s a powerful image—and a daunting one, no less—to greet parishioners and pilgrims to Assisi’s cathedral church. Daunting though it is, it is the sobering and challenging reminder that each of us who are called to follow after the Lamb of God will receive a similar inheritance: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).
While we have hardly been asked of our lives in the fullest sense, each pilgrim here has been asked to sacrifice nearly every comfort life has to offer. There is little relief from the heat and hills of this medieval city—yet somehow the presence of peace and grace prevail all the more. Despite the offering of our “lives” (in the small, minute by minute deaths to self)—signified in full force by the lions of San Rufino—we also experience the bliss and comfort of being united to that One Lamb who offered everything on our behalf. This small but real offering while on pilgrimage yields a fertile and receptive heart in which the graces and movements of the Holy Spirit become all the more realized and appreciated.
What is more is that one need not be in Assisi, Italy to die to self in the daily hardships of life. I invite you, each virtual pilgrim following along our journey here, to find one way in which you can unite your sufferings or self-denials to the perfect offering of that One True Lamb, Jesus Christ. It is only in this way that His power will be fully displayed to a suffering and wayward world—“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Each of you and your intentions were brought today before the Cross of San Damiano (the crucifix from which Jesus spoke to St. Francis) as well as before the body of Blessed, soon to be Saint, Carlo Acutis.
God bless you,
Josh
Leave a Reply