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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241004
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DTSTAMP:20260525T210303
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UID:12573-1728000000-1728086399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Francis
DESCRIPTION:THE HUMILITY OF ST FRANCIS \nFrom “The Life of St Francis” by St Bonaventure1 \n◊◊◊ \nIn order to render himself contemptible to others\, he did not spare \nhimself the embarrassment of bringing up his own faults when he preached \nbefore all the people. Once it happened that when he was weighed down with \nsickness\, he relaxed a little the rigor of his abstinence in order to recover his \nhealth. When his strength of body returned\, he was aroused to insult his own \nbody out of true self-contempt: “It is not right\,” he said\, “that the people should \nbelieve I am abstaining while\, in fact\, I eat meat on the sly.” \nInflamed with the spirit of true humility\, he called the people together in \nthe square of the town of Assisi and solemnly entered the principal church with \nmany of the friars whom he had brought with him. With a rope tied around his \nneck and stripped to his underwear\, he had himself dragged before the eyes of \nall to the stone where criminals received their punishment. He climbed up upon \nthe stone and preached with much vigor and spirit although he was suffering \nfrom a fever and the weather was bitter cold. He asserted to all his hearers that \nhe should not be honored as a spiritual man but rather he should be despised \nby all as a carnal man and a glutton. \nTherefore\, those who had gathered there were amazed at so great a \nspectacle. They were well aware of his austerity\, and so their hearts were struck \nwith compunction; but they professed that his humility was easier to admire \nthan to imitate. Although this incident seemed to be more a portent like that of \nthe Prophet [Isaiah] than an example\, nevertheless it was a lesson in true \nhumility instructing the follower of Christ that he should despise the fame of \ntransitory praise\, suppress the arrogance of bloated bragging and reject the lies \nof deceptive pretense. \nHe often did many things like this so that outwardly he might become like \na discarded utensil while inwardly possessing the spirit of holiness. He strove \nto hide the gifts of his Lord in the secret recesses of his heart\, not wanting them \nto be exposed to praise\, which could be an occasion of a fall. For often when he \nwas praised by the crowds\, he would answer like this: “I could still have sons \nand daughters; don’t praise me as if I were secure! No one should be praised \nwhose end is still uncertain.” This is what he would say to those who praised \nhim\, and to himself he would say: “If the Most High had given so much to a \nbrigand\, he would be more grateful than you\, Francis.” He often used to tell the \nfriars: “No one should flatter himself for doing anything a sinner can also do. A \nsinner\,” he said\, “can fast\, pray\, weep and mortify his flesh. This one thing he \ncannot do: be faithful to his Lord. Therefore\, we should glory in this: if we give \nback to the Lord the glory that is his\, if we serve him faithfully and ascribe to \nhim whatever he gives to us.”
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-francis-2/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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