“When Francis heard Jesus say, ‘Go and repair my house,’ he first thought about rebuilding a crumbling chapel. But gradually he realised that Christ was calling him to something much greater: to renew hearts, to renew the Church, and to renew a world wounded by greed, division, and violence,” Perth Vicar General Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn said in celebrating the Mass for the patronal feast of Maida Vale Parish, Sunday 4 October.
This year’s feast marked 800 years since the death of St Francis of Assisi, who died at the Portiuncula, below Assisi, on 3 October 1226.
Fr Glynn was principal celebrant at St Francis of Assisi Church, together with Parish Priest Fr Benna Calanza as concelebrant and Deacon Trevor Lyra assisting.
More than 350 people came together for the occasion, which included a procession with the statue of St Francis of Assisi and a Multicultural Food Festival.
Saint Francis still speaks to us 800 years later, Fr Glynn said, because he took Jesus seriously.
“He listened to the Gospel, opened his heart, and decided to live exactly as Christ taught.”
Our world today is not so different from the world of Francis, he said. We are surrounded by material abundance, yet many people feel spiritually empty. We are connected through technology, yet many feel isolated.
“Into this world, Francis speaks with remarkable freshness.”
“The secret of Francis was his profound love for Jesus Christ,” Fr Glynn said.
“Everything in his life flowed from that relationship.”
In September 1224, two years before his death, Francis received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, in his own body.
Fr Glynn linked this to the day’s reading from Galatians, where St Paul writes: “I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.”
The Church remembers this, he said, because it reveals the ultimate goal of every Christian life: to become more like Christ.
“Holiness is allowing Christ to live in us.”
He put three questions to the parish for the anniversary.
The first, what God is asking each of us to repair, went back to Christ’s call before the damaged chapel of San Damiano. Fr Glynn named a neglected prayer life, a broken relationship, a wound within our family, a lack of trust in God.
“The renewal of the Church always begins with the renewal of the individual heart,” he said.
On simplicity, he said Francis discovered that possessions can easily possess us. Simplicity creates space for God.
The third came from the prayer associated with Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace”. Our families, workplaces, schools, and communities need peacemakers, Fr Glynn said.
The parish was established on 23 October 1956 and first kept its patronal feast in 2019, at the initiative of then Parish Priest Fr Joseph Rathnaraj.
At the end of his life, Francis gathered his brothers and said: “I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours to do.”
“Those words are addressed to us today,” Fr Glynn said.
