Today is the celebration of a Eucharistic miracle - in Assisi they celebrate June 22, the day when St. Clare, armed only with the Blessed Sacrament, repelled an invading army - they got only as far as the cloister at San Damiano, and when they saw the consecrated host, held up by St. Clare in a monstrance, they fled.
Yesterday we visited San Damiano, the first little church St. Francis rebuilt, which later became the convent for the Poor Clares, and Rivotorto, the first hovel where St. Francis and the first few friars lived, and then the Porziuncola, another small church that St. Francis rebuilt, and the hermitage where he lived for much of the rest of his life with his friars, and where he died.
Today we visit the tomb of St. Clare, and the chapel with the actual crucifix from which Jesus first spoke to St. Francis.
For some reason, wi-fi has become less reliable since I got here, and it turns out that Saturday is going to be a travel day for us anyway, so I think I will have to skip The Journey for this week, but I'll do my best with updates, and once I'm back in good ol' Florida, we'll get back to The Journey, as well as some new regular content - more to come...
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
This is Michael Knowles' commentary on the murder of Charlie Kirk, and directly on the press conference about the arrest - In the middle is a great speech by the governor of Utah - overall excellent stuff if you have 1.5 hr to spend on it
with some Florida colleagues - all of them Protestant, but with varying traditions on the Eucharist - it was encouraging to hear how there are some Protestant denominations that have a real respect for the Sacrament (and I'm not talking about Anglicans or even Lutherans):
