Love is palpable this time of year, but it is often intertwined in the occasions of visiting, decorating, gift giving, baking, and other activities that we often look forward to because they are comforting, nostalgic, and bring us cheer. This Christmas, let us accept the challenge of stepping out of this place of contentment to practice sacrificial love.

Francis knew he couldn’t live the way the Lord asked and still remain part of the social structure. The only way he saw to accomplish this other way of living was to commit to a life of voluntary poverty – what he called non-possession. When Francis started his order of brotherhood, he told his brothers: “We do not want to possess anything in this world.”