Time in Assisi

OK.. I promise that I will write more. I will try to make a post every week so that events don’t pile up and I forget to write about them. So last Friday we took an excursion to Assisi. That’s right, land of St. Francis and St. Clair. Now before I went I really knew nothing of these two people except for the fact that my stepdad and stepbrother’s conformation name is Francis and I’m pretty sure he is the saint that loves the animals..? Yea I think that was all I knew about him. I was raised in Christian schooling my whole life which I am so grateful for but one thing that bothers me is that we were never taught about these amazing servants of God! I’ll go on about that in a bit. So we get to Assisi and our first stop was visiting San Damiano, which is a church/monastery. It was here that St. Francis heard God’s voice coming from the crucifix at the front of the dilapidated chapel tell him to restore his church three times. I could go on and on about the life of St. Francis so I will narrow it down to a few of my favorites.  He is such an inspiration to me because he was so young when he started the Franciscan order! He was probably in his early 20’s or so and totally added this new radical element to the church. He believed that creatures were important and deserved to be loved because God loved them first. When St. Clare went to St. Francis and said that she wanted to be a part of this movement he was starting, she was only 18. She was from a very well off family and decided that none of that mattered but what did matter was helping those in need and serving the Lord and the brothers in prayer and service. Another one of my favorite parts was visiting the caves that St. Francis and his companions would retreat toin times when they needed solitude. You had to imagine the place without the modern facilities that are there now and realize that they were just caves in the mountainside; no electricity, running water, none of that. They needed that time alone to pray and get away from their surroundings. That space in general was just incredible. So serene and beautiful. Moss was dripping from every rock and the small space where he would pray was so perfect to me. A final place that was really remarkable was the small chapel that St. Francis built called Porziuncola. This was really the heart of the Franciscan order. This little chapel was built with the stones of the land and was surrounded by the little huts that the brothers lived in. I tried with all my might to imagine this little chapel in the woods with the huts, but now it is inside the Basilica si Santa Maria degli Angeli. They built this massive basilica to protect this little gem.  Another favorite moment was when we walked up this hill and sat in an olive grove that overlooked the city. We sat and sang songs and played instruments and just had a beautiful time in the sun singing to God. Moments like those give me the chills because it makes me see a little bit of what heaven will be like.