ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI : A WAY OF LIFE EMULATED BY BISHOP FRANCIS ANTHONY QUINN..........

Francis of Assisi was born late in the 12th Century of Catholic-Christianity, at a time when the Church founded by Jesus Christ was in need of reform and renewal.  A rich young man from an affluent family, Francis could have lived an extravagant life for his 44 years of living, but he renounced that and humbled himself  choosing poverty and a day to day experience of sbsistence in nature and creation.  Founding the Franciscan mendicant, religious order, as a way of life for men and women dedicated to a far simpler, more humble, holy, lifestyle serving the poor, in his teachings and example of caring concern of ecology, conservation, and animals.  Tonight at 6 pm, I will bless the pets and animals of parishioners in the Church parking in memory of St. Francis of Assisi's love for them.  Here in our Sacramento Diocese we have been blessed with our own contemporary St. Francis, in the person of Bishop Emeritus Francis Anthony Quinn.  His lifestyle, compassion care for the poor, and social justice, are very much in the tradition of compassion and gentleness of the master Franciscan himself.  And +Francis A. Quinn, is a 64 year diocesan priest and bishop, not a Franciscan.  Today, there are over 30,000 Franciscans ministering in the Church and the World, including the priests at our own St. Francis of Assisi Church at 26th and K Streets, in midtown Sacramento, across from Sutter's Fort.  As we commemorate this giant in discipleship of Jesus Christ, may we too, find in our depths, an appreciation and gratitude for the spirit of nature in creation, and the humble, holy, example of St. Francis of Assisi, who possessed the resources to live a selfishly different life..........As We Strive To Be Channels of Peace and Hope For Today's World And Church,   Fr.  Troy