On Saturday, September 21, 2024, at 8:30 a.m., a formation day for members of the Franciscan Family in Costa Rica took place in the gymnasium of the College of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters in San José, Costa Rica. Those attending the event included many members of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS), members of Franciscan Youth (YouFra), a number of groups associated with various Franciscan institutes and members from seven different religious communities. The theme of the event was St. Francis receiving the stigmata.
Friar Isidoro de Jesús MEJÍA HERNÁNDEZ, OFM Conv., Guardian of the San Francisco de Asìs Friary in San José led the opening prayer. Next the different participating fraternities were introduced. Then, there was a presentation by Friar Marcos A. QUESADA NAVARRO, OFM Conv., a confrere from Costa Rica who lives in Rome.
His lecture was an educational journey on the historical and hagiographical aspects of the stigmata. He enriched the topic with historical facts and dismantled some deep-seated prejudices about the stigmata. Friar Marcos skillfully reconstructed a historically reliable and spiritually faithful image of Francis after he received the stigmata. Moreover, Friar Marcos talked about the stigmata themselves as being God’s response to Francis. It was this response that led St. Francis to an Easter reconciliation with himself and with others. The formation day concluded with an updated reinterpretation of the stigmata, posed in the form of questions.
Friar Isidoro de Jesús MEJÍA HERNÁNDEZ
