800 Years of St. Francis · Day 31 of 31 · Saturday, October 31, 2026

Tomorrow the Church celebrates All Saints: not only the famous ones, but the countless, unremembered people whose lives quietly made the world more loving. Francis would be glad to be counted among them. He never thought of himself as extraordinary. He thought of himself as a brother.

We have walked with him for a month, from the bare ground of the Portiuncula, through the leper on the road, the square in Assisi, and the song written in the dark, to the Sultan’s tent and the wolf at the edge of town. Every one of those moments began the same way. He stopped, he looked, and he responded with love.

Here is what I hope you’ll carry into November. The saints aren’t a different kind of person. They are ordinary people who did it on purpose. The burning bush was burning before Moses arrived. He turned aside and looked, and that single act was enough for the whole conversation to begin.

Eight hundred years from now, someone may still be carrying a trace of you. The question is not whether you are leaving a footprint. You are. The question is what kind.

Notice today: If someone found your footprint eight hundred years from now, what would you hope it says?

You were anointed. You only need to notice.

Thank you for walking this month with me. If you’d like to keep going, A Spiritual Break continues every week at spiritualbreak.com. The book, The Practice of Sacred Noticing, takes the practice further, and the monthly Gathering is open to all.

At San Damiano: Saturdays with St. Francis — “You Are a Saint!” with Bro. Mark Schroeder, OFM, Saturday, November 7, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, lunch included. Details

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Day 31 of 31 · 800 Years of St. Francis: A Daily October Companion · spiritualbreak.com
Reflection © 2026 Michael J. Cunningham OFS.

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