The first daily readings on the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi come from the Book of Job. The perspective I have developed during my reflection time is that St. Francis, in a sense, is a newer Job. I would even make the argument that while I have not seen it directly mentioned in St. Francis’ timeline, St. Francis was inspired by Job. Job’s steadfast faith is remarkable because even though Job had every blessing taken away from him on this earth, he still found true peace, knowing that God was with him through it all. Like Job, St. Francis also knew that God was with him, to the point that he could not see himself gaining the world at the expense of his soul. In this way, I look to St. Francis as a model. For me, the remarkable difference between the two that makes St. Francis stand out is that St. Francis, unlike Job, had a wealthy father and access to some of the world's riches at his disposal that God did not take away from him. Yet he, with his free will, rejected worldly things and desires without any of those things being taken away from him, hoping to grow closer to our Almighty Father, something to be grasped.

As I am now amid my new graduate program at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and I’m away from home and from the life and the great city of Brooklyn that I knew all my life, I reflect on the idea that for me to be where I am now, took a great deal of faith for me to give up the place and material things that I knew and felt comfortable with all my life so that I can carry out God’s Will that He has in store for me to the fullest. As we reflect on this Franciscan month, I pray that all of us, during the Franciscan month and beyond, will boldly live out St. Francis’ example without being afraid to do so. May we all let go of and surrender whatever earthly and material things in our lives that hinder us from fully seeing Jesus Christ for who He is and from following Him boldly. May we find in our own lives, in our unique ways, the true peace of Christ that St. Francis found by completely ‘denying himself, taking up his cross, and following our Lord’ (Mt. 16:24), just as Jesus commands each of us, His disciples, to do on Good Friday. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Daniel Cutrone
St. Francis College