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In the early days, soon after his humble conversion and the founding of the movement, St. Francis had great doubts about his vocation. He questioned whether he was called to constant prayer or to preaching—a contemplative or an active life. He wanted to know what would please God the most. So he humbly went to others in order to ask for their help in discerning God’s will.
He called Brother Masseo and said, “Go and find Sister Clare and Brother Sylvester and ask them to pray on my behalf to God, and to ask God if I should preach or devote myself entirely to prayer.” Masseo did as he was told.
Now Sylvester very often received immediate answers to his prayers, and he did this time as well. He quickly said to Masseo, “Tell Brother Francis this. God has brought him this far so that a harvest of souls will come about as a result. Many people will be saved through him.”
Then Masseo went back to Clare, to see if she had received an answer as well. She had. She told Masseo that God told her exactly what he had told Sylvester. At this, Masseo rushed back to Francis. The saint received him with love, washing his feet, preparing food for him to eat after his long walking. And once Masseo had finished eating, Francis asked him to sit with him in the forest outside. He knelt down beside his brother Masseo and said, “What does Jesus want me to do?”
“He wants you to preach wherever you are, for God did not bring you this far for yourself alone, but for the saving of many others.”
“All right then, let’s go!” Francis replied, leaping to his feet. He grabbed Brother Angelo, and the three ran down the nearest path with a spiritual passion that they didn’t even quite understand.
Soon they arrived at Cannara and there, Francis began to preach. Now there were a multitude of swallows in that place who were twittering so loudly that Francis’s voice could barely be heard. He asked them to be quiet and they did. The people of Cannara then heard Francis’s voice, and saw what the birds did at his command, and many of them wanted to follow him from that moment on.
“Don’t hurry away with me now,” Francis said. “I will advise you on what to do soon,” he said. (From that moment he began to plan for the Third Order.)
Leaving the people of Cannara behind him, he rushed on to Bevagna and there began to preach again until he realized that once again a flock of birds—many kinds—were gathering like an audience to hear him. Francis paused and looked on the birds. He thought of them as his sisters. “Wait for me a moment,” he said to his companions. “I am going to preach to them.” And he walked into the field where the flocks were all gathered in trees above. Upon hearing his voice, and his coming near, they slowly came down to the ground and gathered all around Francis. As he spoke to them, he deliberately touched them, when he could, with the fabric of his habit. Not one of them moved when he did this.
His sermon to the birds was basically this, as recorded by Brother Masseo:
“My little bird sisters, you should praise your Creator because he has given you the gift of flight and freedom, colorful clothing, food and water that you never need to sow, and such beautiful voices. The air is all yours! The mountains and crags and trees are yours! God gives you all that you need. Your Creator loves you. Therefore, always be grateful and praise him.”
At these words, the birds stretched their wings, opened their beaks, and moved their heads as if they were making slow bows. It was clear that they heard Francis and appreciated what he had to say. Finally, Francis made the sign of the cross over these creatures and told them that they could leave. At this, they all ascended into the air, in song, forming quickly into four different flocks, flying off to the east, west, south, and north. This signifies that the birds were just like Francis and his first companions. Under the sign of the cross, they flew to the corners of the world, preaching of Christ, possessing nothing of this world, committed entirely to God’s will. All of this to the praise of Jesus Christ. Amen. [#16 of 53]