CW6 – St. Francis –  The “Never-Enough”  – The Great Cloud of Witnesses: Guides for Prayer with Fr. Mark Cyza

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Fr. Mark Cyza discusses the witness of St. Francis and how he was transformed through his encounter with Christ.

Fr. Cyza reflects on the passage from the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis,  when Brother Leo, the faithful companion of St. Francis,  heard him cry : “Love is not loved, Love is not loved”.  Leo asked: “Why are you crying, Brother Francis?” Francis did not reply, he simply continued to say, “Love is not loved, Love is not loved…”

Leo said to him: “But Francis, do you not think that you have done enough for Jesus by leaving you father and mother, your friends and a future of glory? And Francis answered: “No, it is not enough”.

“But Francis, – Leo continued to say -, does it not seem to you to be enough to have removed your clothes before everybody, to beg alms along the streets of the town, to embrace a leper… so that you are looked upon as a fool by your own?” “No, it is not enough”, responded Francis again.

For the third time Leo insisted: “Francis, does it not seem to be enough to suffer as you are suffering because of the stigmata, the rebellion of the Ministers, the illness of your eyes?” And once again Francis, this time in a loud voice, shouted: “No, it is not enough, it is not enough, it is not enough”. And he concluded saying: “Write it and remember it in you heart, Brother Leo, God is the never-enough”.