On Union With GOD (Saint Albert The Great) + The Little Flowers Of Saint Francis Of Assisi (O.F.M.)

Surely the most deeply rooted need of the human soul, its purest aspiration, is for the closest possible union with God. As one turns over the pages of this little work, written by Blessed Albert the Great towards the end of his life, when that great soul had ripened and matured, one feels that here indeed is the ideal of one’s hopes.
Simply and clearly the great principles are laid down, the way is made plain which leads to the highest spiritual life.
Albertus Magnus, also known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar and Catholic bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his lifetime as doctor universalis and doctor expertus and, late in his life, the term magnus was appended to his name. Scholars such as James A. Weisheipl and Joachim R. Söder have referred to him as the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church distinguishes him as one of the 36 Doctors of the Church. For Erdmann he is definitely greater and more original than his pupil Aquinas.

Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone; Italian: Francesco d’Assisi; Latin: Franciscus Assisiensis; 1181 or 1182 – 3 October 1226), venerated as Saint Francis of Assisi, also known in his ministry as Francesco, was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon, mystic, and preacher.[3] He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in Christianity.[1]

Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on or near his feast day of 4 October. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades.[4] By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs.

Francis is known for his love of the Eucharist.[5] In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene.[a][6][7] According to Christian tradition, in 1224 he received the stigmata during the apparition of Seraphic angels in a religious ecstasy,[8] which would make him the second person in Christian tradition after St. Paul (Galatians 6:17​) to bear the wounds of Christ’s Passion.[9] He died during the evening hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142 (141).