Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
We're continuing our reflections today on Franciscan spirituality, looking at Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, as he says in John 14 verse 6.
They will look at those first two aspects, Christ as the way and the truth.
Saint Bonaventure, in writing his life of Saint Francis, tells us that Francis saw Christ everywhere, saw him in the universe, in creatures, even in every person too.
Bonaventure writes this, he says, Aroused by all things to the love of God, Francis rejoiced in all the works of the Lord's hands, and from these joy-producing manifestations he rose to their life-giving principle and cause, meaning God.
In beautiful things, he saw beauty itself, with a capital B, and through his vestiges imprinted on creation, he followed his beloved everywhere, making from all things a ladder by which he could climb up and embrace him who is utterly desirable, writes Bonaventure.
We know, even from experience, love wants to see something of its beloved, even if it can't enjoy its physical presence.
This is why we hold on to letters from loved ones, or pictures we have, or photos of them in our homes.
Saint Francis headed to Palestine, the country of Jesus.
He went there to go over the footsteps of Christ, so that he could see the places where his beloved Jesus had walked.
He was able to admire the hills, the sky, to kiss the ground on which the blood of the Lord fell.
He saw where Jesus cried as a child in Bethlehem, where he lived his hidden life in Nazareth, where he sat with his disciples in the upper room, where he agonized in Gethsemane, where he died on Calvary.
And Francis presented to others Christ in his most heartening and heart-rending realities.
To those who were more timid and afraid, he made them contemplate Jesus in his lovable fragility as a child in the manger of Bethlehem.
To sinners and to those who were worn down by their sorrows and pains, Francis presented Christ in the living image of the crucified on Calvary.
To those who yearned for union with God, he presented Christ in the mystical beauty of the Eucharist itself.
It's from these gestures of Saint Francis that a real devotion to the sacred heart and to the sacred humanity of Christ spread among the people, a devotion which we've noted in previous reflections rests on solid theological foundations and which is also very rich in affectivity and urges us to imitate Jesus, to be conformed to him, especially in his poverty, in his humility, in his suffering too.
Seeing our Lord in these mysteries encourages us to love him and becomes one of the most practical ways to help us to reach mystical union with God.
Saint Bonaventure said that in order for us to obtain a deep union with God, the best way, reflect on Jesus on the cross, reflect on our Lord's passion, essentially.
Francisco de Osuna, 16th century Spanish Franciscan, he says, if all creatures are like a ladder by which the feet of the wise climb up to God, how much better will the sacred humanity of Christ, who's the way, the truth, and the life, how much better will his humanity serve to bring us to God?
In Christ, who's our ladder, as Saint Bonaventure calls him, the soul climbs up to God.
There's no other way to God, says Saint Bonaventure, except by having an ardent love for the crucified one.
So Christ is, first of all, the way, in this way.
Secondly, he's also the truth.
Saint Francis looked for no other truth in life, and he looked for it, he looked for Christ with all the strength that he had, everything he had.
Francis wasn't a great theologian or a philosopher, he was led more by prayer and by intuition.
He had a mystical intuition of Christ, and he was able to delve into the profundity of that same mystery.
And through his intuitive abilities, he was wise with a wisdom that knows how to truly taste and embrace the things of God.
Saint Bonaventure himself was of the opinion that everything we know, everything we know, we actually know by means of the Word, by means of the second person of the Trinity, who illuminates us, who enlightens us, lightens our souls, and makes things intelligible to us, too.
To understand Christ and to penetrate into His mystery is to have a clear vision of all things grasping each thing's worth and their hierarchy too.
All of creation is illuminated and acquires significance when we grasp the mystery of Christ.
So life, death, pain, joy, everything finds its proper place if it's put in relation to Jesus.
And who can understand the mystery of Christ?
Only the person to whom Christ reveals himself, essentially.
Jesus manifests himself to those who pray to him with insistence and with persistence.
He promises that in the Gospel.
He says, I will manifest myself to him, John 14, verse 21.
And to borrow from Psalm 36, verse 9, it's the simple and humble soul who will see the light in his light, who will see the light in the light of Jesus.
Just as St. Francis learned to do.
In his commentary on the Our Father, St. Francis prayed, hallowed be thy name, and he interpreted that to mean, he said, may our knowledge of you, Lord, become ever clearer, so we may know the breadth of your benefits, the length of your promises, the height of your majesty, and the depth of your judgments.
To those who want to follow him in his understanding, Francis points only to one book, essentially.
The book is the cross of Jesus.
That's Francis's main book.
That was St. Bonaventure's main book, too.
By meditating on the cross, we arrive at the splendor of truth.
We do so by means of stages, too.
So one step at a time, not everything all at once.
This is why St. Bonaventure calls the cross the book of wisdom, and he says that the one who frequently reads this book, the one who frequently meditates on Jesus on the cross, will become inflamed with love, and the blessed Francis who always read this book had his heart exceedingly inflamed with the love of God, says St. Bonaventure.
So it's through the cross of Jesus that the Franciscan soul really does find the shorter way.
It's really the only book and the key to all the mysteries that we need to know.
The one who meditates on the cross frequently and carries and loves his own crosses, that person doesn't walk in the dark.
They have the light of life, to borrow from Jesus's words in John 8, verse 12.
So if you want supernatural light, if you want to grow supernaturally, spiritually, learn to meditate on Jesus's cross, and learn to embrace the ones that he sends to you, as well.
In our next reflection, we'll speak about Christ as our life, so let's ask Our Lady today for the grace to follow more closely Her Son, who is the way, for the grace to embrace His truth by embracing our crosses, just like He did.
Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.

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Ave Maria.