Monday, September 12 : Saint Francis of Assisi

In the love that is God, I beg all my brothers – those who preach, those who pray, those who work manually, clerics and lay brothers – to make every effort towards being humble in all things; not to glorify themselves, to find their joy or to become interiorly proud because of good words and good actions, which God sometimes says or does in them or through them. According to the Lord’s word: “Do not rejoice (…) in the fact that the devils are subject to you.” (Lk 10:20) Let us be firmly convinced of the fact that of ourselves we have only faults and sins. Let us rather rejoice in trials when, in our soul and in our body, we have to bear all kinds of tribulations in this world for eternal life. Brothers, let us thus beware of all pride and vainglory; let us beware of the wisdom of this world and of selfish prudence. The person who is enslaved by his selfish tendencies puts a great deal of effort into making speeches, but much less into passing on to action. Instead of seeking the interior religion and sanctity of the spirit, he desires an external religion and sanctity that are very visible to the eyes of human beings. It is of them that the Lord said: “You can be sure of this much, they are already repaid.” (Mt 6:2) On the contrary, the person who is docile to the Lord’s spirit wants to humiliate what is selfish, vile and abject in the flesh. He puts great effort into being humble and patient, with pure simplicity and true peace of spirit. What he desires always above all other things is childlike fear of God, wisdom of God and love of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team