August 2019: Traveling Retreat in Assisi

Members of an Association of Franciscan spirituality, we wanted to live, in order to better understand it, the experience that Francis and Clara of Assisi experienced in their relationship with Christ. By their example, we wanted to be closer to the Creation and the Gospel to better fulfill our mission of Pilgrims of Charity

In order to help us in our approach, three themes characterizing the spirituality of these two great saints have been proposed to us:

 

  - Rooting in History

  - The meeting of the Gospel and History

  - Universal Communion.

Throughout this pilgrimage, Brother François Marie, as well as Fra Antonio and Paride, guided us to deepen them by their precious teaching.
 

 

 

 

It was in Greccio that Saint Francis created the first crèche. This crib was a great success and all the locals came to visit and pray for Christmas

It is therefore in a spirit of recollection, of humility but also of confidence and curiosity that our small group of a dozen people undertook this great adventure.
 
Walking through roads and paths, from Terni to Assisi, we went to meet the beautiful landscapes that inspired Saint Francis.
 
Seized by the beauty of the place, remembering the Song of Songs, we, in union with him, paid tribute to God for 
the wonders of creation.
 
Thus, from stages to stages, from hermitages to hermitages, we have experienced the main phases of his conversion.
 



On the way we make a stop in front of an oratory evoking Our Lady of Lourdes.
Impressed by a great emotion we visit Lo Speco del Santo (This is the crack in the rock "specus", which gave its name to the sanctuary)
 
St. Francis was meditating, working, resting there. It was here that he began to write the first rule of life for his community. This rule would have been dictated by the archangel Saint Michel.
 
On the rocky walls of the cave appears for the first time the Tau which will become the sign adopted by all the Franciscan fraternities.


 Les Pèlerins de la Charité | 7 Allée des Brigamilles | FR-18570 Trouy
e-mail: pilgrimsofcharity@gmail.com