About 800 years ago, Saint Francis of Assisi heard Jesus speak to him through a crucifix. Jesus said, “Go, rebuild my church which is falling down.” Immediately, Saint Francis began to rebuild the Saint Damiano church that he was praying in.
He would later discern that God really wanted him to be part of the reformation of the Catholic Church through prayer, poverty, and peace. That is a homily for another time.
But, Saint Damiano wasn't the only physical church Saint Francis rebuilt. He also rebuilt the small church, known as Portiuncla or “small portion”, which we visited earlier. It was abandoned and dilapidated. However, this church became the base for the Franciscan movement and the place where the mortal life of Saint Francis would come to an end.
Portiuncla is also the place where the very first plenary indulgence was granted. During a night of fervent prayer, Saint Francis saw our Lord, our Lady, and a host of angels. The Lord said to him, “Francis, ask me what you want regarding the salvation of the world and the honour and reverence of God, since the salvation of the nations and the reparation of the earthly Church are in my power.” Saint Francis humbly replied, “Most holy Father of ours, I am a miserable sinner but I beg you to grant this grace to the human race, namely that of conceding to all and single persons who come to this place and enter this church forgiveness and indulgence of their sins after having confessed to a priest and received their penance. And I beg the most blessed Mary, your Mother, who is the advocate of the entire human race, that she may help me in all ways and intercede in front of your most holy and clement majesty.”
Mary turned to her Son and pleaded, “Most High and Almighty God, I plead your divinity and I intercede with humility so that your majesty will condescend to give heed to the prayers of Brother Francis, your servant.”
Christ immediately answered, “Brother Francis, what you are asking for is very great, but it is worthy of even greater favors, and therefore, you will receive great rewards and I will listen to your prayers and accept your petition.”
From that time, pilgrims who visit the Portiuncla receive a total remission of temporal punishment for any sins that have been forgiven through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you recall from the other day, through the indulgence, what we owe has been reduced to nothing.
Remember my example from the other day, about the windows we broke growing up playing baseball. We were generally forgiven relatively quickly, but the window still needed to be fixed.
The forgiveness did not fix the window. Either we needed to pay to have the window replaced or we were granted an indulgence by our parents where it was fixed for us.
Saint Francis would say the following on his death bed: “For this place is truly holy and is the dwelling place of God. Here He enlightened the hearts of his poor ones by the light of His wisdom; here He set our wills on afire with the Flame of His Love. Here he who prays with a devout heart will obtain what he prays for.”
The Portiuncla, and really all of Assisi, is a special place. Like the Jews in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, when we come to the Portiuncla, we can rejoice because the Lord does great things for us.
Thanks be to God!
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