Fr. Paschal Mary | October 3, 2026
[This homily was part of a special celebration on the Vigil of the Solemnity of Saint Francis of Assisi. The ceremony begins with a narration of the “passing” of Francis of Assisi from the legend(s), then Vespers is said with Psalm 142 as the last psalm and John 13 is the reading. The responsory follows: “Francis, poor and humble, enters heaven rich in merit.”]
We have notice from the very beginning, in the Vita beata francisce of Celano (cf. 1Cel 109), that Francis erupted, as best he could, in Psalm 142, “I cry with my voice to the Lord…”
Certainly this psalm had been with Francis a long time: it was not the first time this prayer had come from his lips. He did not memorize it on the way down from Assisi to the Portiuncula…
In fact we find psalm 142, verse 5 at the center of the Later Rule, chapter 6, which Francis lives out particularly in his death:
1Let the brothers not make anything their own, neither house, nor place, nor anything at all. 2As pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, let them go seeking alms with confidence, 3and they should not be ashamed because, for our sakes, our Lord made Himself poor in this world. 4This is that sublime height of most exalted poverty which has made you, my most beloved brothers, heirs and kings of the Kingdom of Heaven, poor in temporal things but exalted in virtue. 5Let this be your portion which leads into the land of the living. 6Giving yourselves totally to this, beloved brothers, never seek anything else under heaven for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Francis asked to be placed naked on the naked earth shortly before his death near a small little church which did not even belong to the Friars. By this time, Francis had finally released any claim of possession of the Order, it was the Lord’s. The last thing that he could beg for was release and for his inheritance promise as an heir and king in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the end he became more than a knight, he became a king! Having stripped himself of earthly dreams he acquired heavenly rewards. Having given himself totally to serving the Lord in poverty and humility, he received what he sought. As the responsory goes: “Francis, poor and humble, enters heaven rich in merit.”
Similar sentiments can be found all over the Office of the Passion, but in particular psalm 142 is found in the creative psalm V of sext. Francis created this collage of texts as a meditation upon the very height of the Passion at midday. As the sun was the brightest upon Our Lord, nailed to the Cross, Christ cries out to the Father with all His voice, pouring out the prayer of lament. Francis places sentiments of surprise and complaint in the mouth of Christ. Should not the Father who knew the ways and paths of His beloved not preserved him from the trap laid out for His Son?
Francis, “in-grained” physically with the seeds of the passion, the very wounds of Christ in the stigmata, enters finally upon his hour. As so many times before he links together verses by a single word, he breaks off after verse five (I cry to thee, O Lord; I say, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living) to enter into the place of the portion, the washing of the feet in John chapter thirteen as we are told in the next chapter of the Vita, 1Cel 110. Yes, Francis has been washed from head to toe by tears, he had entered into the Lord’s portion (cfr. Jn 13:1-10).
What have we left to give? I am afraid far too much. We have kept far too much for ourselves. Let us then give ourselves totally to this, beloved, never seeking anything else under heaven but poverty and humility for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.