THE RULE - Chapter Two –The Way of Life - 9

The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order
Chapter Two –The Way of Life

9.
The Virgin Mary, humble servant of the Lord, was open to His every word and call. She was embraced by Francis with indescribable love and declared the protectress and advocate of his family. The Secular Franciscans should express their ardent love for her by imitating her complete self-giving and by praying earnestly and confidently.

BENEDICT THE BLACK, First Order

Benedict was born in San Fratello near Messina, Italy in 1526. His parents were negro slaves who had been transported from Africa to Italy where they converted to Christianity. At the age of eighteen Benedict was given his freedom. He was popularly called the holy black by the poor and the sick who benefited by his charities and benevolent services. He was chosen the leader of a group of independent hermits on the death of the founder. When Pius IV disbanded this and the similar groups, Benedict was received into the Order of the Friars Minor. Though illiterate he soon became the guardian of the Franciscan Friary of Saint Mary in Palermo. Because of his extraordinary gifts of prayer and counsel people of every class sought his guidance. He died in Palerno in 1589 and is venerated as the patron of the Blacks in North America.

From the common of holy men: religious, 1470

True Brotherhood

The life of every saint presents a challenge and offers to others encouragement to holiness. The time, place and circumstances of life are peculiar to each saint, and they vary with each one. It is the use of divine grace and conformity to the divine will which consecrate the circumstances and sanctify the person using them. Use of grace and conformity to God's will constitute the challenge and the power of example that give courage to all Christians to apply the same means to achieve the same basic goal, each in his own way, in his own time, and to his own situation.

The challenge which Saint Benedict the Black presents to us is his total response to the Lord's command at the Last Supper; I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so should your love be for one another. The integration of Benedict the Black into a community of Franciscan confreres racially and ethnically different from himself, their mutual acceptance and love for one another, the choice which the Friars made to have Benedict, through illiterate, become the superior and the guardian of their religious community - these present a timely challenge. They are the source of great encouragement toward holiness through love of neighbor for the love of God. And this challenge and encouragement are further enhanced by the power of Benedict's example not only to love his neighbor as himself but to love as Christ loved, as he said to his apostles: Your love for one another must be such as my love has been for you. In this love we find the true brotherhood for all mankind.

From: Proper Offices of Franciscan Saints and Blesseds in the Liturgy of the Hours

The Admonitions I – THE BODY OF CHRIST

ADMONITIONS I – THE BODY OF CHRIST
St. Francis of Assisi

The Lord says to his disciples: I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except though me. If you knew me, you would also know my Father, and from now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip says to him: Lord, show us the Father and it will be enough for us. Jesus says to him: Have I been with you for so long a time and you have not known me? Philip, whoever sees me sees my Father as well. (Jn 14:6-9)

The Father dwells in inaccessible light, and God is spirit and no one has ever seen God. (1Tim 6:16; Jn 4:24; Jn 1:18) Therefore, He cannot be seen except in the Spirit because it is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh has nothing to offer. (Jn 6:63)  But because He is equal to the Father, the Son is not seen by anyone other than the Father or than the Holy Spirit.

All those who saw the Lord Jesus according to the humanity, therefore, and did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity that He is the true Son of God were condemned. Now in the same way, all those who see the sacrament sanctified by the words of the Lord upon the altar at the hands of the priest in the form of bread and wine, and who do not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity that it is truly the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are condemned. This is affirmed by the Most High Himself Who says: This is my Body and the Blood of my new covenant which will be shed for many; and Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. (Mk 14: 22,24; Jn 6:55)  It is the Spirit of the Lord, therefore, That lives in Its faithful, That receives the Body and Blood of the Lord. All others who do no share in this same Spirit and presume to receive Him eat and drink judgment on themselves. (1 Cor 11:29)

Therefore: children, how long will you be hard of heart? (Ps 4:3) Why do you not know the truth and believe in the Son of God? (Jn 9:35)  Behold, each day He humbles Himself as when He came from the royal throne (Phil 2:8; Wis 18:15)  into the Virgin’s womb; each day He Himself comes to us, appearing humbly; each day He comes down from the bosom of the Father upon the altar in the hands of a priest.

As He revealed Himself to the holy apostles in true flesh, so He reveals Himself to us now in sacred bread. And as they saw only His flesh by an insight of their flesh, yet believed that He was God as they contemplated Him with their spiritual eyes, let us, as we see bread and wine with our bodily eyes, see and firmly believe that they are His most holy Body and Blood living and true. And in this way the Lord is always with His faithful, as He Himself says: Behold I am with you until the end of the age. (Mt 28:20)

Source: St. Francis of Assisi, The Saint, Early Documents

Saint Francis Speaks on the Passion of Christ

And as His Passion was near, He celebrated the Passover with his disciples and, taking bread, gave thanks, blessed and broke it, saying: Take and eat: This is My Body. (Mt 26:26) And taking the cup He said: This is My Blood of the New Covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Mt 26:28) Then He prayed to His Father, saying: Father, if it can be done, let this cup pass from me. (Lk 22:42) And His sweat became as drops of blood falling on the ground. (Lk 22:44) Nevertheless, He placed His will in the will of His Father, saying: Father, let Your will be done; not as I will, but as You will. (Mt 26:42; 26:39) His Father’s will was such that His blessed and glorious Son, Whom He gave to us and Who was born for us, should offer Himself through His own blood as a sacrifice and oblation on the altar of the Cross: not for Himself through Whom all things were made, (Jn 1:3) but for our sins, leaving us an example that we might follow His footprints. (1Pt 2:21)

From Saint Francis of Assisi, “Later Admonition and Exhortation to the Brothers and sisters of Penance”