VERBUM SERAPHICUM
PAX ET BONUM NOVEMBER -- 2000 A. D. AVE MARIA
"If thou wilt be perfect, go,
sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
. . . and come follow Me." Matthew 19:21
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INTRODUCTION This is the eighth issue of VERBUM SERAPHICUM: a newsletter for vocations to traditional Franciscan life. The purpose of this publication is to provide information that assists in the discernment of a supernatural vocation to religious life and to the priesthood. O Mary, Mediatrix of every Grace, pray for us! The Humility of Bethlehem The Spiritual Goal of the Friar Minor "And She brought forth Her first born Son, and wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." (Lk. 2:7) For St. Francis of Assisi, it was not only the poverty of Christ which was the indispensable example to be imitated or the wonder of the ages to be proclaimed. It was also the humilty made manifest at Bethlehem that was to be the spiritual goal of his life. It is often forgotten that in addition to poverty, the Rule of St. Francis obliges humility. These are St. Francis' words: . . .that always subject and prostrate at the feet of the same Holy (Roman) Church, stable in the Catholic Faith, we may observe what we have firmly promised: the poverty and humility and Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. [Chapter XII] With these words St. Francis forever confimed the vocation of the Friars Minor to a life of meekness and self-effacement. How ardent was St. Francis' love of the humility of Christ is evident in all the major events of his life. At the beginning of his conversion, he would refuse nothing to the beggar who asked for the love of God, recognizing as he did the servitude he owed to so great a Lord. |
At that decisive renunciation of his inheritance before the Bishop of Assisi, he considered it a higher honor to be called a "son of God the Father" than a son of one of the wealthiest cloth merchants. Upon taking up the Apostolic Life and being set upon by a band of brigands, beated and thrown in to a ditch: he considered it a grand honor to suffer so, as a simple herald of the Great King. Finally, he consummated his love of Christ's humility by asking to be laid in death, bare upon the bare ground, that he might leave this world in the state in which he had entered it some 40 years before. St. Francis loved humility because he loved the real Christ, the humble Christ. The Son of God not only became poor, He became humble. Or rather, He manifested His infinite Humility in becoming a tiny child in a humble state: not entering into palaces or with triumphant acclaim; but being born quietly of a Virgin in a smal grotto reserved for the stabling of cattle and donkeys. This humility of Christ at Bethlehem was the goal of St. Francis's life. For this St. Francis embraced poverty, forsook all goods and property, forsook even money, forsook the world and a worldly way of life: in short forsook all, because at Bethlehem the Christ Child had forsaken all. For this, St. Francis forsook a bed, and slept on rock and on straw. For this St. Francis forsook heated buildings, prefering even in the dampness and frigidness of winter, with a fever and suffering terribly from tuberculosis, to spend day and night in a cold cave, used as a stable. Oh, the poverty of St. Francis! Oh, the humility of the Poverello! But how much more the poverty of Christ! And the humility of Christ! The one is but a frail creature servant, the Other the Majestic and eternal Lord. And thus is evident the reasonableness of St. Francis' poverty and humility. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! |
VERBUM SERAPHICUM
PAX ET BONUM NOVEMBER -- 2000 A. D. AVE MARIA
"If thou wilt be perfect, go,
sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
. . . and come follow Me." Matthew 19:21
|
For in Christ, He was doing what was above and beyond what He was obliged to do; but in St. Francis he was doing nothing more than what he ought and was to do. For a man is but a creature and servant and a sinner; and to live as one, a lowly one, is not unreasonable, it is rather truthful and fair and just. This spirit of justice and truthfulness and reasonableness is enshrined in the Rule of St. Francis. It is not the kind of justice so bandied about in recent times: the kind that seeks economic advantages for those who appear disadvantaged vis-a-vis the rich. It is the kind that seeks to become, as it were, disadvantaged even more, so as to be completely at the mercy of the Most High God, living a life which is a constant reminder of one's own insignificance and dependance. The Rule of St. Francis, then, obliges a return in spirit and in life-style to Bethlehem. It is very fitting and providential then, that in the year in which Franciscans the world over celebrate the 777th Anniversary of the Approbation of the Rule by Pope Honorius III [November 23, 1223 A. D.], the whole Church is caught up in the celebration of the 2000th Anniversary of the Birth of Christ Jesus at Bethlehem. The reckoning of time itself takes the Rule of St. Francis up into the Mystery of Bethlehem. It would be not unreasonable too, to take this providential co-incidence as a call to remember and to return. For just as the perfect bibilical number, thrice repeated as a measure of time, signifies the perfection of an age; so to does it call the soul to consider that it has been fashioned for a Thrice Holy Blessedness at the end of time. The consummation of the world is enrapped in the contemplation of the Son in the Trinity at the end of Time, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead. It is fitting then, that to prepare for this Day, the sons of St. Francis harken to this timely reminder to recall and return to Bethlehem. Published by The Franciscan Archive |
St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us! The Humility of Bethlehem is the humility of Christ and the Virgin and St. Joseph. For this reason, the Franciscan Friary of old, indeed the convents of the Poor Clares too, where so much like the grotto of Bethlehem. Little small buildings of humble material, poorly finished, poorly decorated, with poor tables and furniture, where the Friars ate simple meals, wore simply the habit, did the manual work that was necessary and devoted recreation primarily to prayer and meditation. Humility, however, is not essentially an outward state of bearing or living. It is more importantly an inward state of mind and heart and spirit. It recognizes that of itself, it is nothing; and therefore rests upon the form of all virtue, which is charity, the supernatural love of God for His own sake. It recognizes that of itself it cannot stand, and so it heeds the admonition of the Apostle: to pray always. It recognizes that worldly glory is its shame and a meek and lowly service its glory. It seeks not its own, since it values not its own. It seeks to obey God and its legitimate superiors; the former in all things, the latter when they command what is right. In this it fulfills itself; precisely because by this it looses what it considers so worthless. How stark the disharmony of contemporary life. There is television and air conditioning; cellular phones and faxes; wall to wall carpeting and central heating; fasting for the sake of vanity, and they call it dieting; manual work for the sake of vanity, and they call it exercise. There are all kinds of machines and building for gratification; and all kinds of technology to do wondrers of good and evil. For a Friar Minor it ought not to be like this. His is a vocation to remember, return and to embrace the humility of Christ, especially at Bethlehem. In the simplicity and purity of the Child Jesus is our only hope and refuge from a world shipwrecked in sophistication and impurity. The Humility of Christ, let that be our ideal and life long quest, so that while giving a good example, we might attain to that Kingdom where Our Most Sovereign Lord, lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. |