Blessed Francis believed that asking for alms for the love of God was an act of the greatest nobility, dignity, and courtesy before God and even before the world. As a matter of fact, all that the heavenly Father has created for man's use, since sin has entered the world he has continued to give man gratuitously and by way of alms, to the worthy and unworthy, because of his love for his well-beloved Son. Consequently, blessed Francis used to say that the servant of Christ who goes and asks for alms for the love of God should do it more confidently and more joyfully than a man who, wanting to buy something, would say in proof of his generosity: "For something wirth a penny, I offer a hundred silver marks!" The servant of God offers a thousand times more; in exchange for an alms, he offers the love of God in comparison with which all the things of earth and even heaven are nothing.
St. Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 60
Monday, April 21, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment