St. Francis of Assisi is known for his radical following of Jesus Christ. He did not do this alone, but as a part of the Church. Central to his Catholic faith was his belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist. He did not write many things, but in his writings the theme of the Eucharist is very strong. In these months I would like to reflect on three themes from the writings of St. Francis of Assisi concerning the Body and Blood of Christ.

When I was growing up and hearing about Jesus and His followers, I thought how much easier it would be if we, like the Apostles, had Jesus right in front of us, to teach us and help us to live His words. Maybe St. Francis of Assisi thought the same thing too, yet as this quote from one of his teachings (called the Admonitions) shows us, he realized that Jesus gives us the same opportunity and challenge as He gave to His earliest followers: to see beyond what our senses tell us to find the presence of God in our midst.

While our faith is based on a historical reality, the real life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, who lived in a certain place and a certain time, we also know that we are not called merely to honor these historical facts or simply admire Jesus from afar. He promised us in so many ways to be a living presence in our midst. He said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt. 18:20)

St. Francis realized that merely seeing Jesus’ bodily presence was not enough. Many had seen Jesus during His earthly ministry and yet had not believed. Pontius Pilate not only saw Him, but spoke with Him and heard Him declare, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (Jn 18:36) Yet Pilate in the end did not see the Son of God there in front of him.

The Apostles had to learn how to see Jesus not only as a human being but also as the Word made Flesh. Despite such events as the Transfiguration and Jesus’ miracles, it took them a long time to see the reality of who Jesus was. As St. Francis says, they had to learn to look on Jesus with “the eyes of the Spirit.” It was this Spirit that Jesus promised to send down upon His Church, the same Spirit which guided the Church not only from its earliest days, but throughout the ages.

In a very real way, the sacrament of the Eucharist is the way the Lord invites us to see, in our own day and age, “with the eyes of the Spirit.” We are invited to look with faith on the elements of bread and wine and believe that they really become for us the Body and Blood of Christ. In the Eucharistic prayer at every Mass, we call down the power of the Spirit to transform the elements. We ask to be able to see with our minds and hearts that what appears unchanged really is the sacramental presence of Jesus Christ….

Father Bobby Barbato, OFM Cap. is the rector or the National Shrine of St. Francis.

From the San Francisco archdiocese