Margaret died in 1297, being just fifty years of age. Her confessor and first biographer tells us that one day, shortly before her death, she had a vision of St. Mary Magdalene, "most faithful of Christ's apostles, clothed in a robe as it were of silver, and crowned with a crown of precious gems, and surrounded by the holy angels." And whilst she was in this ecstasy Christ spoke to Margaret, saying: "My Eternal Father said of Me to the Baptist: This is My beloved Son; so do I say to thee of Magdalene: This is my beloved daughter." On another occasion we are told that "she was taken in spirit to the feet of Christ, which she washed with her tears as did Magdalene of old; and as she wiped His feet she desired greatly to behold His face, and prayed to the Lord to grant her this favor." Thus to the end we see she was the same; and yet the difference! The of Penance of St. Francis The Fraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary located in Toronto, Canada has developed this site in order to aid in the restoration of the Third Order Secular of St. Francis and its spirituality ravaged by the errors spread during and after the . We wish to aid our brothers and sisters by providing them with traditional Franciscan literature, information necessary for starting a fraternity in their parishes, and by helping isolated members throughout the world.

Br. Anthony, T.O.S.F.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2007

The Spirit of The Third Order Of St.Francis: A Return To Tradition

To Love and to Make Him Loved

A beautiful book called The Spirit of the Third Order of St.Francis written by the Very Rev. Fr. Peter Baptist, O.F.M published in 1899 was most kindly given to me recently. It is very much recommended as a must read to all those tertiaries who follow the Rule, that they may know and realize that the holy Rule is but a skeleton and the flesh of the Franciscan life is very much in living the spirit of St. Francis. This spirit is of course the spirit of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

Striking though is the fact that the century in which St. Francis lived, the thirteenth century, was very much like our own. It was a society which was God-less. A society caught up in petty material gain and given up to worldly pleasures. A society deprived of the life of God. Our age, an age where man seems to believe that he is an end to himself, is on the edge of the precipice. Blind lead the blind and the flock of Christ seems to be dispersed.

St.Francis painfully saw that the spirit and customs of the primitive Church were being altogether lost, dying out and falling into disuse. "He therefore worked them into his Rule, and made of it a living mould in which to form the souls who came to him, that they might become more faithful copies of Jesus Christ." (The Spirit of the Third Order. Pg. 18.) What a beautiful realization it is, to know that our Lord raised up this Seraphic to restore His Church and bring it back to Tradition. Back to the customs of the primitive Church which were most pleasing to the Divine Heart of Jesus. How far today have we gone! How far from the spirit of Christ! The Liturgy has been attacked and robbed of its , the customs of the Church are seen to be outdated, dogmas, unfashionable and no longer seen as bulwarks, unchangable and untouchable. Tragedy and destruction, confusion and error abound in the Ark of , the Church. If ever there is an age where the Church must go back, must gather up what it has lost, these are the times!

Our Holy Father Leo XIII, knew that a change in society was needed. He sought to spread the good odour of Christ the King throughout society, and he did this by the fervent and blessed promotion of the Third Order of St. Francis. Some will contest that the Holy Father was in error for mitigating some of the material penances from the original Rule of Nicholas IV, but there was a very good reason for this. Many of the tertiaries of the time were being dispensed from the penances of the old Rule. So with much prudence, he mitigated some of the vigour of the penances, but promoted unceasingly and untiringly the spirit of the Order, wishing it to be kept in its fullness. He wished to revive the Order and promoted it to very many, wishing the bishops to establish it throughout their dioceses. This was a victory for the Church. The Pope knew that society would reform itself through individuals reforming themselves, by living the Gospel in their state of lives. The Third Order is a very effective weapon for this end. Modern society is in need of infiltration. The infiltration of the spirit of , the spirit of Jesus Christ. "Such as the individual is, such will society be" is the old saying. "When the individual is reformed, family life will be reformed, marriage will be reformed, education will be reformed, the relation between capital and labour will be reformed, society will be reformed." (The Spirit of the Third Order of St.Francis. Pg. 23.)

Those given the grace to enter the Order of the Seraph of Assisi should know what they are. Know what is the power and the gift of God to be called to live in this world as a marked son of St. Francis. I will relate from pg.21-22 of this wonderous book The Spirit of the Third Order of St. Francis, a vision granted to St. , a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, that they may realize the potency of a life lived in faithful service to Jesus Christ under the banner of St.Francis: "St.Margaret of Cortona saw, when in ectasy, a magnificent throne in heaven; it was so beautiful that she could not find words adequate to describe it. On this throne, from whence, according to the revelation vouchsafed to her, pride had hurled the prince of the fallen angels, she saw the humble Francis seated. Our Lord afterwards addressed these words to her: "tell your Fathers, the Minor, that the resplendent throne which you have seen in the choir of the Seraphim was once Lucifer's; your blessed Father, my chosen one, Francis, is now seated there in radiant glory. Did you observe the wide empty space around that throne? It is to be filled by the Brethren of his Order who shall have followed in his steps."

Therefore, may we whole heartedly repent of our failures, of our sins, may we rise with confidence and follow the angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God, the blessed Francis! May we refuse to follow the errors of modernism prevalent in our day, and return to the Traditions and practices of our fore-fathers. In the spirit of St. Francis may we spread the Divine Love of Jesus Christ wherever we may be, making most of all a good example, living a life pleasing to Almighty God. Amongst the lepers and spiritually sick of our times, our Lord is raising up the little flocks of St. Francis, instruments of Eternal peace, to rebuild and restore all things in Christ. Deo Gratias. Laudauter Jesus Christus in aeternum! Posted by Mr. Barber at 12:57 PM No comments: Post a Comment

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