Once the followers of St. Francis were walking in such fervor of love for Christ, Avarice, taking the name of Discretion, began to say to them: "Do not show yourselves so unbending before men and do not despise in this way the honor they show you; but show yourselves affable to them and do not outwardly spurn the glory they offer you, but do so at most inwardly. It is good to have the friendship of kings, acquaintance with princes, and familiarity with the great, for, when they thus honor and revere you, when they will rise and come to meet you, many who see this will be the more easily turned to God by their example."
..."They esteemed themselves to be also inwardly what they were proclaimed to be outwardly, placing their glory in the mouths of those who praised them, like foolish virgins giving oil to those who sold it, and like an unprofitable servant."
Saint Francis of Assisi
Sacrum Commercium
Chapter IV
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