Faith

While it’s comforting to imagine that God will reward us in this life if we remain close to Him, the reality is that our faithfulness will be tested through hardships

Remember Jesus’ parable about separating the sheep from the goats? Anthony and Francis became sheep by following different paths

Anthony was more educated than Francis, but both received their learning from prayer and contemplation, their teacher being the Holy Spirit

Both Anthony and Francis did not shy away from martyrdom, and both evaded it through Divine Providence

IN 1181, at a time when the Church was going through one of its most difficult periods in its history, a sun was born: St Francis of Assisi. He was a sun of such strength that in only a few years he had gathered around himself an army of young men ready to give their own lives in the service of God and neighbor: the Friars Minor...

Our Saint uses the expression ‘middle-earth’ in his sermons, a term he may have derived from Nordic mythology