TRUE WEALTH lies not in possessions, recognition or status but in “a heart free enough to give,” Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jose Advincula said during the national commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi on Friday, Oct. 3, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
In his homily during the Mass, Advincula reflected on the life of St. Francis, who gave up a life of privilege to live in solidarity with the poor.
“He was born with privilege, but he chose to become a brother to the poor and the least,” Advincula said.
He said Francis could have pursued honor, status and worldly success but instead chose to follow Christ through humility and simplicity.
“Thus, he died poor in the eyes of the world, but he entered heaven rich in virtue,” he said.
Advincula said Francis’s life invited Christians to examine their understanding of wealth amid a culture that constantly encouraged people to “seek more.”
“And perhaps this is precisely the question that Saint Francis places before us today: What does it mean to be truly rich?” he said.
The cardinal said consumerism had led people to measure their worth through possessions, recognition and influence, attitudes that clashed with the teachings of Francis.
“But St. Francis reminds us of another kind of wealth, a wealth that cannot be bought: the wealth of a heart free enough to give, humble enough to serve, and empty enough to receive God,” he added.
Advincula said Francis learned to entrust his plans and work to God rather than insist that everything unfold according to his expectations.
“This is God’s work. I do not have to control it. I only have to remain faithful,” Advincula said, describing the disposition Francis learned throughout his life.
The cardinal said Francis’s understanding of poverty extended beyond the lack of material possessions to freedom from the desire to own and control everything.
Advincula concluded by recalling Francis’s death at the Portiuncula, or “little portion,” the small chapel of St. Mary of the Angels near Assisi, Italy. Francis died there on Oct. 3, 1226.
Transitus, which means “passage,” is the Franciscan term for the commemoration of St. Francis’s death and passage from earthly life to eternal life.
‘Christian life is a continual passage’
St. Francis experienced a series of “passages” throughout his life before his death, Bayombong Bishop Jose Elmer Mangalinao said in his keynote message.
“The Christian life is a continual passage,” Mangalinao said.
He described Francis’s final passage as the culmination of a life of surrender in which he was “stripped of every title, habit, and human security” to receive everything from God.
Mangalinao identified five passages in Francis’s life that traced his movement away from material attachments toward an understanding of death as the final passage of a life already surrendered to God.
“Every act of forgiveness when you want to hold a grudge is a transitus,” Mangalinao said.
The celebration marked the 800th anniversary of Francis’s death under the theme “800 Years of the Easter of Saint Francis of Assisi: Sowing Peace, Healing Creation, and Embracing the Poor.”
