These three days will be what we make them: it depends on each of us whether they become an intense moment of prayer and exchange in the presence of St. Francis.
Whether we go to Assisi or stay home, we are all part of this pilgrimage—before, during, and after.
With only days until departure, let us gather in prayer and final preparation.
Each day will have its own theme. There will be moments of visiting, meeting, sharing, prayer, and celebration.
But what will bind these three days together is the message of St. Francis. That message is a lifetime's answer to the words of Jesus: "Blessed are the poor." What if that answer became ours too?
Friday: Poverty
We arrive from different places, by different roads. Yet we form a single family where each person belongs.
Here we are, gathered as we are, without masks or labels.
Responding to the call of St. Francis, we discover ourselves poor—empty-handed, our hearts perhaps empty as well. We come sent by those who could not join us, and we carry our ordinary lives with us.
Tonight, a new journey begins.
The theme of poverty can guide our prayer as we travel. We set out because, with Francis, we want to follow Jesus, the "little poor man" of Nazareth.
- After dinner, the pilgrimage opens at the Cittadella. We have come from far away, in great numbers, to seek near Francis the love of Jesus along the path of the poor.
- At Mass, we will focus on the penitential part of the liturgy. Testimonies will help us be honest before God and before our brothers and sisters.
To recognize our poverty is also to recognize that we need Jesus' forgiveness, his light, his strength.
He is the one who gathers us at his table to receive our lives and to share his with us.
Saturday: Mary
Mary is present in Assisi, everywhere that God's children are, for she is the mother of Jesus and our mother. With Francis, Clare, and all the others, we form a single family because we are her children, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and children of the Father.
More than any other creature, Mary possessed that heart of poverty to which God cannot resist. Her maternal gaze watches over all our misery, even the most hidden, and invites each of us to follow her Son, who is "the way, the truth, and the life."
This day will be filled with meetings and exchanges, in the company of Mary, who deeply desires that we be together to welcome her Son.
In the morning (or afternoon, depending on groups), we will visit the city in small groups. To know one another better, each group will include people from different cities and countries. Many routes have been planned to pass through the most meaningful places. This visit will help us understand St. Francis and his message, which remains alive today.
In the afternoon (or morning, depending on groups), we will offer several dialogue topics, and each person can choose the "encounter" that appeals to them.
These encounters are not lectures or debates, but fraternal exchanges on subjects that touch our lives closely.
At the same time, others will join different activities: preparing the vigil, viewing slides, and so on.
In the evening, Mass in the basilica of St. Clare. This liturgy will make room for silence—the silence of Mary, who "treasured all these things in her heart." With her we will thank God for his wonders.
Mary invites us, but she also humbly becomes our guest, present with Francis and with us, listening intently to the Word and to Life.
After dinner, vigil at the Cittadella: we will celebrate the family joy of encounter. The theme will be "The Joy of the Poor." Each group will present what they have prepared, leaving room also for spontaneity, in joy and song.
Sunday: The Church
The message of Assisi is the message of the Church of Jesus. St. Francis did not invent another church. The call he felt was unusual and new for the Church of his time.
Yet he never abandoned this call, and he never tried to live it outside the Church of Jesus.
Our gathering today will embrace the dimensions of the Church and the world.
This theme helps us understand that the pilgrimage's end is not a farewell, but a sending forth: we leave some behind, but together we are sent out to those we will soon meet again.
In the morning, the Sunday Mass, concelebrated in the basilica of St. Francis. In the light of the Paschal mystery, still near to us, the Eucharist unites us with the prayer of the Church on its way toward Jesus.
We adore him, we thank him for the encounter we have had, and for helping us to meet our brothers and sisters more deeply.
Jesus rose for every person in the whole world. He lives for all. Alleluia!
In early afternoon, before we return home, there will be a celebration of "until we meet again" in the square. Dancing, singing, colors.
We return to our homes to share the joy of being saved together by the risen Jesus. What we have lived in Assisi, near Francis, we want to live everywhere with others, as brothers and sisters.
This theme will guide the pilgrims on the journey home.
Each person's faith will now shine more brightly from this great celebration without borders, which has been our pilgrimage.
"Blessed are the poor; theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
For each community, the task now is to grow in this love of Jesus and of one another—a love we have lived intensely and deeply near St. Francis during the pilgrimage to Assisi.
Father Louis Sankalé, 1978