St. Francis is, without a doubt, to be numbered among the all-time most loved Saints. The “Poverello” of Assisi draws us with his simplicity and his universal love, which is extended not only towards men, but even towards irrational creatures. However, both as regards their true content and their origin and end, St. Francis’ simplicity and love are unknown to most people.

Their foundation was supernatural charity, that is, love of God, from which then springs love of creatures. Charity, however, reaches its full perfection under the influence of the gift of wisdom, which is inseparable from charity and makes us judge rightly about God and things divine in their ultimate and highest causes. Under a special instinct of the Holy Spirit, wisdom enables us to savor divine things with a certain co-naturalness and sympathy.

To love God it is not enough to know that He exists; thus far goes the knowledge of even the philosopher. Even faith, which tells us who God is and what He has done and does for the salvation of men, is not sufficient. The greatest of theologians, who knows the whole of theology perfectly and is able to explain all its principles with clarity, cannot be considered, for this alone, a true lover of God. With good reason, the devil is said to be one of the greatest theologians ever; but while possessing angelical intelligence, he doesn’t love God and is damned for all eternity.

To love God we need charity to which wisdom is joined, as heat is to fire. This gift gives joy to the soul. It grants us a relish for God, and is the source of a knowledge that is not intellectual but experiential, making us understand God through union with Him. All of reality comes to be seen, as it were, in its source—in God—and thus all is judged rightly, not by way of the conclusion of a process of reasoning but by intuition. One who has developed the gift of wisdom by continually corresponding with the grace of God will speak and act in a way that is truly just, even if he would be unable to explain in detail exactly how he came to act thus.

Saint Francis’ simplicity, therefore, consists in this: he went to the essence of things, like an arrow that flies straight to its target, not allowing itself to be distracted by the winds of human reasoning. Thus, his love for creatures stemmed from the fact that he saw them in the light of the ultimate reason governing their existence: in some measure they reflected the perfections of God.

Much more than in Saint Francis, and even than in all the Saints put together, wisdom shone in the Immaculate Mother of God—so much so that not only to Her Divine Son, but also to Her, are attributed the words of Sacred Scripture: “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist…. Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent. And he said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance’” (Sir 24:3,8). These verses refer to the Eternal Wisdom of God, that is, to His eternal plan embracing Creation and the Redemption, and are to be understood as referring above all to the Incarnate Word. Our Lady, however, is also present as the center and apex of creation in whom the divine plan is perfectly fulfilled. This is why Mary is considered to be created Wisdom, intact (immaculate) and thus capable of becoming the Mother of the Word of God, who took flesh for our salvation.

Now, the gift of wisdom is in proportion to each one’s union with God, and there has been no union with Him greater or more perfect than that of the Most Holy Virgin. It follows that no knowledge of God has been greater or more full of relish than Mary’s. No one was as capable as Mary of evaluating and judging divine things and, as a consequence, the whole of creation and the history of mankind. Maybe it is for this reason that, in the ages spanning the time between the Incarnation and Christ’s return at the end of the world, God has entrusted the care of His people and all of humanity to Mary. This care Mary exercises both in an ordinary way as Mediatrix of Grace and of graces (and in particular, graces of supernatural light for understanding), and in an extraordinary way in apparitions and in the messages that often accompany them to indicate how, in practical terms, the teaching of Christ is to be applied during various epochs.

Let us pray, therefore, to the Blessed Virgin Mary as Seat of Wisdom, and ask Her to obtain for us by Her prayers an abundant measure of this supreme gift of the Holy Spirit.