SÃO FRANCISCO MARTO, O EVANGELHO VIVO EM CARNE E OSSO

SAINT FRANCIS MARTO,
THE LIVING GOSPEL IN THE FLESH

Ana Luísa Castro, asm
Article originally published in the newspaper “The Messenger of the Infant Jesus of Prague”

P. Andreas Lind SJ

Venerable Sister Lucia reveals that she missed her cousin Francisco as soon as he left this life in 1919.[1] And the seer defines this word, so Portuguese, so ours, as “the memory of the past [that echoes] always in eternity.”[2] Eternity is Francis' current home. We can be sure of that. Eternity has always been his home, even while he inhabited this finite and imperfect world, given to mere mortals like us.

It was therefore a hundred years ago that Francisco Marto left for his final meeting with the Father. Furthermore, the saint who left this life as a child would have turned 111 today, June 11. Therefore, as we celebrate such an advanced birthday of someone who has always been and will always be a child, we are invited to listen to the words of Jesus through the figure of St. Francis Marto. “Let the children alone and do not prevent them from coming to me... the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them” (Mt 19:14).

A birthday celebrates the gift of the person who has been given life: the whole person in all their life, in what is most simple and genuine about them. So let's leave aside for a moment the great moments, the great successes, the particular graces; none of this is necessary for us to celebrate a birthday. It's enough to be, to exist.

Let's leave in abeyance the private revelations that Francis received “through the internal senses” in the so-called “miracle of Fatima”.[3] Let's focus for now on the heart that welcomed the grace of such visions. For, as Sister Ângela Coelho says *:

“To celebrate the holiness of a servant of God is to celebrate, first of all, the holiness of God, the All-Holy One who sanctifies every woman and man willing to accept the gift of his grace.”

Sister Lucia's Fourth Memoir gives us a portrait of the person we are celebrating today. The first characteristic trait of Francis“ personality is expressed by the adjectives ”peaceful“ and ”condescending".[4] There is something fascinating about this saint, because you expect a child to be tantruming and to demand everything he thinks rightfully belongs to him. On the contrary, Francisco seemed to enjoy doing his sister Jacinta's every bidding and when the other children took away things that rightfully belonged to him, he would say: “Never mind! What do I care?”[5] In her simplicity, Sister Lucia affirms that “if [he] had grown up, his main defect would be that he was a no-gooder.”[6] O don't laugh Francisco Marto expresses the Gospel of Christ, not so much in words, but in gestures, in a life of flesh and blood. Or would it not have been Jesus who commanded: “Love your enemies (...) Whoever takes away your cloak, do not deny him your tunic” (Lk 6:27-29).

In fact, the Gospel was impregnated in his person, in his being. Proof of this is the love he showed for prayer. The seer of Fatima tells us that “Francis was a man of few words, and to say his prayers and offer his sacrifices, he liked to hide himself.”[7] He preferred to pray alone, without the company of his sister and cousin, who often found him hiding in prayerful poses. Furthermore, Francis preferred “consoling Our Lord” to “converting sinners” or “making sacrifices.” All this shows the enormous intimacy with Jesus, who was God, that nourished his heart.

He probably never read the Gospel from one end to the other, but Jesus“ words seemed to be part of his nature - ”When you go to pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret" (Mt 6:6).

It may seem paradoxical, or even contradictory, to prefer to pray alone, without the company of those you want to do your bidding. The vertical relationship with God was so intimate that Francis needed exclusive times, just between him and Jesus, the Father or the Spirit. As a consequence of this vertical relationship, his heart opened up to horizontal ties with his fellow human beings, his neighbors.

As a child, Francisco Marto showed himself to be a simple and genuine man. And it is this simplicity, this authenticity, of someone who knows that nothing in this life is owed to him, that allows him to open his heart to the gift of divine grace.
As we contemplate little Francis, in the flesh, with his “pifarito”, in the meadows of Fatima, with all the graces that God has given him, we can hear and understand the words of Jesus: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth! For while you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, you have revealed them to little children” (Mt 11:25).

Thank you Francisco Marto. Congratulations! Intercede for us!

[1] Cf. Memories of Sister Lucia I, Secretariado dos Pastorinhos, 13th edition, Fátima 2007, pp. 164-165.

[2] Ibid., p. 165.

[3] Cf. Joseph Ratzinger, “Theological commentary [on the message of Fatima]”, in Memoirs of Sister Lucia I, 13th edition, Fatima 2007, p. 225.

[4] Memories of Sister Lucia I, p. 136.

[5] Ibid., p. 136.

[6] Ibid., p. 137.

[7] Ibid., p. 155.

*Article - The Canonization of the Blessed is only one miracle away - Fatima Shrine

About the author P. Andreas SJ:

Born on July 16, 1981, Andreas Gonçalves Lind was baptized on April 11, 2004, in Lisbon, his hometown. After graduating in Economics and starting his professional career in Lisbon, he chose religious life. Lisbon, he eventually chose religious life. He entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Coimbra on September 25, 2005. September 2005. Since then, he has followed the usual path of formation for a Jesuit: two years of Novitiate, followed by periods of philosophical and theological formation, interspersed with two years of teaching at the São João de Brito College in Lisbon. He was ordained a priest in 2016. He is currently in Namur (Belgium) doing a doctorate in philosophy.

Andreas read and prayed the Memoirs of Sister Lucia. Touched by the Andreas wrote this brief chronicle at the request of the same sister.

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