Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

The fourth chapter of First John gives us in depth direction on loving each other and how God’s love models that for us. We learn that love is of God; that when we love one another, God’s love remains in us; and that we can’t claim to love God and hate another person. St. Francis showed his love for his fellow brothers and sisters in a variety of ways. One story is told of his visit to the village of Poggio Bustone. Brother Hycinth Blocker, OFM, describes his arrival: “As he entered the village and swung down the main street, many of the people were just getting up and preparing to go to work in their hillside vineyards and terraced farms. More than likely they thought they were still dreaming when they saw this stranger in their midst, his thin, wiry body covered with a rough tunic, held together indifferently at the waist with a piece of knotted rope. We can easily picture the shutters flying open like umbrellas, heads popping out of the windows and necks craning with curiosity. We can picture doors being pulled ajar and uncombed, tousled heads peering around the corners, followed by shivering bodies in rumpled night clothes. We can see the many dark eyes dilating with wonder and hear the note of puzzlement in the buzz of excited voices. “Who’s that funny little fellow out there in the street?” they were probably saying. Francis, with a large, disarming grin, waved his hands informally to everyone, from one side of the street to the other, and sang out cheerily, ‘Good morning, good people!’ The peasants of Poggio Bustone have never forgotten that first bright greeting of the poverello. Even today, over 800 years later, near the centre of the village you will find a stone slab, green now with moss and mildewed with age, commemorating the coming of Francis. In faded, dimly legible letters, it says simply:

"Good morning, good people, the rousing greeting of Saint Francis when he entered Poggio Bustone in 1209.”

Blessed Angela: “Practice love of neighbor by being amiable and in general doing good to others.”