Today is the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis!

The reception of the Stigmata by the saints is an intensified calling to accomplish what is common to all Christians: to offer our sufferings in union with Christ and thereby participate in the redemption of humanity won for us on the Cross. It is a living out of the Passion of Christ in the particular circumstances of a person's life, offered for the conversion of sinners and a participation in Christ's act of reparation on the Cross. This is among the reasons why St. Francis is a patron saint of reparation.

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church." (Col 1:24)