It's the
X Sunday after Pentecost,
2nd Class, with the color of
Green. In this episode: the meditation: "The Pride of the Pharisee", today's news from the Church: "We need cement… and a lot of generosity!", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- "The Pride of the Pharisee" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
- "We need cement… and a lot of generosity!" (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook!
The Feast of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula celebrates one of the smallest churches in the world, a tiny chapel that became the heart of the Franciscan movement and one of the most beloved shrines in Christian history.
The Portiuncula, whose name simply means "the little portion," stood just outside the walls of Assisi. By the time Francis of Assisi first discovered it around the year 1205, the little chapel had fallen into disrepair. Its roof leaked, its walls were crumbling, and it had been largely forgotten.
Francis loved it immediately.
At first, he simply repaired the building with his own hands, believing that was what God had asked him to do. Only later did he realize that God was calling him to rebuild something much greater: the Church herself through a life of poverty, joy, and fidelity to the Gospel.
The tiny chapel of Saint Mary of the Angels became the birthplace of the Franciscan Order. It was there that Francis welcomed his first companions. It was there that Saint Clare received her religious habit, beginning the Poor Clares. It was there that Francis gathered his friars for their annual meetings, sometimes with thousands of brothers camping in the surrounding fields because the little chapel was far too small to hold them all.
In many ways, the Portiuncula became Francis' earthly home.
It was also there that one of the Church's best-loved indulgences began. According to Franciscan tradition, while praying in the little chapel, Saint Francis received a vision of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary surrounded by angels. He asked not for wealth, influence, or privileges for himself, but for a complete remission of temporal punishment for those who would visit the chapel with sincere repentance and confession. Pope Honorius III granted the request, establishing what became known as the Portiuncula Indulgence. Today, Catholics throughout the world can receive that same indulgence on August 2 by visiting a parish church under the usual conditions, a beautiful reminder that God's mercy is never confined to one place.
Perhaps the most touching detail is how Francis wanted his own life to end.
In 1226, as death approached, he asked to be carried back to the Portiuncula. There, lying on the bare ground of the little chapel he loved so dearly, he quietly returned his soul to God.
Today, pilgrims visiting Assisi experience something remarkable. Instead of finding the tiny chapel standing alone, they discover that centuries later an enormous basilica was built around it. The little church still stands exactly where Francis knew it, protected inside the vast Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, reminding visitors that sometimes the greatest movements in history begin in the smallest places.
Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula, Mother of the Franciscan family, pray for us.
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