In John 10:10 Jesus reminds us how much He loves us and wants to bless us.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
I thought of that verse many times today, on this very special day, October 4th, the feast day of the great St. Francis of Assisi. This is also the Jubilee Year of St. Francis in the Catholic Church, the 800th Anniversary of the death (or Transitus) of this amazing saint. The Jubilee Year runs through January 10th of next year.
Today, the Lord certainly gave me and my husband, Deacon Dom, great examples of His abundance.
Living part-time in central Italy, we have the blessing of attending Mass in Assisi on a somewhat regular basis. Normally, we attend the 11am Sunday English Mass at St Mary of the Angels Basilica. This church a very important place in life of Francis as it was considered the headquarters of the Friars Minor and also the place where St Francis died.
Today, on the saint’s Feast Day, this Mass was moved to the lower basilica of St. Francis. Since Deacon Dom normally serves at the 11am Mass, he decided to request permission to serve at the special Mass just above the tomb of Francis. We were so excited when he received a thumbs up, and we did our best to get to Assisi early so we could make our way through the massive crowds that were gathering. Given that this was a major event for the entire Catholic Church around the world, we assumed that Dom would be one of many deacons having the special opportunity to serve.
Weren’t we surprised to learn that Dom was the only Deacon, and therefore would be reading the Gospel. If that weren’t enough, we also learned that Bishop Robert Baker, Bishop Emeritus of Birmingham, Alabama was the celebrant. I’ve gotten to know him over the years through my work at EWTN. In addition to being a wonderful, holy Bishop, he is also such a kind and dear man.
The Mass was aired on EWTN and we’re still pinching ourselves, as I said in the accompanying video, that we were able to not only attend the Mass, but have Dom serve on this feast day, and all in the Year of St. Francis. What makes this even more powerful is that the fact that the saint we’re honoring was also a deacon,
Talk about God’s abundance. Today took our breaths away!
St. Francis pray for us!
You can watch the special Mass in Assisi HERE.