Friday, May 14, 2010

The Teaching of St. Francis of Assisi


*Everyday I find so much sweetness in meditating upon the memory of the humble witness of the Son of God, that should I live till the end of the world, there would be little need of my hearing or meditating upon anything further in the scriptures.

*The contemplative life is to leave behind all earthly things for the love of God, to seek only the things of heaven, to pray without tiring, to read often and with concentration, to praise God continually with hymns & canticles.

*Blessed are you, servant of God, if you do not consider yourself any better when you are honoured & extolled by other than when you are considered low & simple & despise; for what you are before God that is what you are, and no more.

*If you, o servant of God, are upset, for any reason whatever, you should immediately rise up to prayer, and you should remain in the presence of most high Father as long as it takes for him to restore you to the joy of your salvation.

*When you are visited by the Lord in prayer, you should say:"Lord, you have sent me this comfort from heaven, even though I am sinner & unworthy, and I entrust it to your keeping because I feel like a thief of your treasures". And when you leave your prayer, you should seem to be only a poor little sinner, and not someone especially graced by God

*My dear brothers, obey a command immediately without waiting for it to be repeated. And don't say that it is impossible, for if you are commanded something beyond your strength, holy obedience will give you the strength you lack.

*What has always been and still is most dear to me and sweeter and more acceptable is whatever the Lord my God is most pleased to let them happen in me & to me. For my only desires is to found always conformed and obedient is his will for anything.

*The pure of heart are those who despise earthly things and seek those of heaven, and who never cease adoring and looking with pure heart and soul upon the Lord God living and true

*Blessed are those servants who do not talk in order to gain something and who do not reveal everything about themselves and not quick to speak, but wisely consider what they are going to say and how they are going to answer.

*In holy charity, which God is, I beg all of you; that removing every obstacle and putting aside every worry and every care as best you can, you strive to serve, love, adore and honour the Lord God with pure heart & pure mind, which is what He asks above all else.

If at any time the brother abandon their small, poor dwellings because someone has offered them something more spacious and comfortable, they thereby give the worst kind of scandalous example.

*A Prayer: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven", that we may love you with our whole heart by always thinking of you; with our whole soul by always desiring of you; with our whole mind by directing all our intentions to you and seeking your honour in all things; with all our soul by spending all the power and senses of body & soul in the service of your love & not in anything else; and that we may love our neighbour even as ourselves, drawing everything, to the best of your power, to your love; rejoicing in the good of others as in our own, and being compassionate in their troubles, and giving offense to no one.