Week 4: Franciscan Prayer

From the second biography of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano
Although Francis was a follower of the Lord, and yet separated from him on this earth, he tried all the time to keep his citizenship in heaven with the angels, and only the wall of flesh separated him from them. His whole being thirsted after Christ; to him he dedicated not only his whole heart but also his whole body. He turned all his time into a holy leisure of prayer to grow deeper in wisdom. Sometimes he lost ground, but never gave up.
Question: Do you try to be constantly in prayer and in touch with God? Do you sometimes give up?

If someone came to visit him, or there were business matters to attend to, he would temporarily suspend his prayers but made sure he returned to his inner life as quickly as possible.
Question: Do you do that? Are you willing to be interrupted in your prayers and able return to them afterwards without losing the thread?

His food was the sweetness of heaven, and the joys he found in communion with God resulted in his having no appetite for worldly pleasures or vulgar human taste.
Question: Do you find joy in your prayer with God?

He always tried to find somewhere for prayer out of sight, where he could connect his whole body to God as well as his spirit.
If he was quite suddenly in touch with our Lord when he was in a public place, he would hide himself inside his cloak so he could be out of sight of everyone. When he wasn’t wearing a cloak he would use his sleeve for privacy when in touch with God. He would always put something between himself and people around him so they would not notice he was in touch with Christ.
Even when surrounded by people in a boat he was able to pray without being seen.
Finally, when none of these things were possible, he would make his body a quiet temple.
Not conscious of himself he did not show his emotions when praying in a public place. He was so absorbed in God that he kept quite still and breathed very quietly.
Question: When prayer comes upon you, or a need for prayer arrives while you are with other people, do you pray quietly so no-one knows you are praying, or do you postpone the prayer to a better time?

 Also from the second biography of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano
That was how it was when he was in company with others.
But when praying in the woods or in solitary places he would fill the forest with his sighs, water the places with his tears and beat his chest, and as if he had discovered a secret hiding place he would often talk out loud with his Lord. He would give answers there to Christ his judge, he would ask for help from the Father, he would talk with Jesus as a friend, and enjoy the company of the One who loved him.
Question: Do you find prayer in a solitary place or in a forest different from prayer at home? Do you feel more able to pray out loud to God? 

Indeed, so that he could burn like a fire within, he would lapse into contemplation of the One who is so marvellously complex but so supremely simple.
He would often meditate inwardly with unmoving lips, and, bringing in things from outside him, he raised up his spirits to the heights of ecstasy. He directed all his affection and attention towards the one thing he asked of the Lord, not so much praying as becoming totally prayer. How deeply do you think he was filled with joy, as he grew accustomed to such things? He knows. I can only wonder.
Only those who have experienced it will know, but those who have not experienced it will not understand. He burned with holy fire and his whole being melted with joy, at home in the heavenly kingdom.
If the Holy Spirit came to him in this way Francis would not turn away but would follow, and for as long as the Lord allowed, he would delight in the joy being offered to him.
Question: Do you sometimes pray in wordless contemplation and worship? If not, is this a gift others have, but is not necessarily the way everyone might pray?

When he was busy or travelling, if he began to feel the touch of grace, little by little he would be enjoying the heavenly food.
Even on the road, with his companions going on ahead, he would stop in his tracks, as he turned a new inspiration into something practical.
He did not receive grace in vain.
Question: Do you suddenly feel God’s presence with you while working or travelling? Do you ever stop and reflect on what God might be saying?

From the Deeds of Blessed Francis & His Companions (1328/1337)
When Saint Francis, that faithful mask of God's secrets, felt that Lord Bernard was sleeping deeply, he got up from his bed in the deep silence of the night. Turning his face towards heaven and raising his hands and eyes to God, completely absorbed and on fire, he prayed most devoutly: “Deus Meus et Omnia” [My God and Everything] with many tears and sighs. He kept repeating them so steadfastly that all night he said nothing else but: “Deus Meus et Omnia” Saint Francis used to repeat these words because of his amazement that the God of highest heaven should humbly choose to come down to a perishing world and decided to provide some healing through himself, a little, poor man. Enlightened by the Spirit, he was able to be prophetic and see the great things God would do through him and his Order, and instructed by that Spirit, he knew about his own inadequacy and the insignificance of his own strength. He was in prayer to the Lord, so that God could accomplish what Francis could not. Without God human frailty can do nothing. That is why he kept saying, “Deus Meus et Omnia”.
Question: Do you sometimes look at God and say perhaps one or two words in adoration or praise? Does this help in handing over to God the things we feel we are inadequate to do?

 From the Rule of the Third Order (1221)
All are daily to say the seven canonical Hours, that is: Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. The clerics are to say them after the manner of the clergy. Those who know the Psalter are to say Psalm 54 and Psalm 119 up to Verse 33 for Prime, and the other psalms of the Hours, with the Glory Be to the Father; but when they do not attend church, they are to say for Matins the psalms set by the Church or any eighteen psalms; or at least to say the Our Father as do those who cannot read at any of the Hours.
Question: When praying together as a group do you come closer to God when using set prayers or songs or hymns than when praying together in ‘free prayer’(people say a prayer in their own words). Or do you find both ways are good?
Question: Do you find group prayer helps you to come close to God more than your private prayers?

From St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis
Through a divine sign from heaven he had learned that in opening the book of the Gospel, Christ would reveal to him what God considered most acceptable in him and from him. After completing his prayer with much devotion, he took the book of the sacred Gospels from the altar and had his companion, a holy man dedicated to God, open it three times in the name of the Holy Trinity. All three times, when the book was opened, the Lord's passion [Jesus’ suffering on the Cross] always met his eyes. The man filled with God understood that, just as he had imitated Christ in the actions of his life, so he should be conformed to him in the affliction and sorrow of his passion, before he would pass out of this world.
Question: Have you ever opened the bible at random to find out what God wants of you?

From the (First Order) Rule of 1223
Those who cannot read should not be anxious to study. They should realise instead that the only thing they should desire is to have the spirit of God at work within them, while they pray to him unceasingly with a heart free from self-interest.  

From St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis
Once, when the brothers asked him whether he was pleased that the academics, who, by that time, had been received into the Order, were devoting themselves to the study of Sacred Scripture, he replied ''I am indeed pleased, as long as, after the example of Christ, of whom we read that he prayed more than he read, they do not neglect enthusiasm for prayer and, as long as they study, not to know what they should say, but to put into practice what they have read about; and, once they have put it into practice, suggest what they have learnt to others.
Question: Have you found that studying the bible or theology has helped you in deepening your prayers as opposed to being able to talk knowledgably about theology? Or has it had the opposite effect of so muddying your thoughts that you have come farther away from God?