Easter Sunday

We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ…

During the Stations of the Cross in Lent we have used the traditional prayer “We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world”. 
 
However this isn’t the complete prayer which was actually composed by St Francis of Assisi who whenever he caught sight of a Catholic church in the distance, would kneel down and give praise to God. We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this church and all the churches of the world, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen
 
He  encouraged his followers to clean up churches physically and to ensure that the Blessed Sacrament and the Scriptures were reserved reverently, while also “not neglecting to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, work to alleviate the suffering of people suffering from leprosy, and engage in every possible corporal and spiritual work of mercy—never with the assurance that their best efforts would be enough to wipe out these and other pressing human needs. They did these things always with the confidence that their small contributions are precious in God’s eyes”
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In all of this, vowed Franciscans and admirers of Francis have been mindful over the centuries of our need to give the good example that God rightly expects of us. The “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you” prayer has kept them focused both on current needs and the heavenly banquet “where God will be everything in all of you,” as Saint Paul wrote