"You shall love the Lord your God with
your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all
your mind, (and) you shall love your neighbor as
yourself." (Jesus's words as recorded in Matthew
22:37-38)
Archives 2012-2013: Following
Francis, Following Christ
ARCHIVES:
FOLLOWING FRANCIS, FOLLOWING
CHRIST
A monthly reflection on the
life and teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi as
they relate to a life of penance
(2012-2013)
Click on the following blue
links to access the articles.
June 2012: Three Hours of
Penance
May 2012: Happy Death Society
April 2012: Forgiving in
Imitation of Christ
March 2012: Lenten Alms
February 2012: The
Twenty-Eighth Admonition: Hiding the Good Lest
It Be Lost
January 2012:
The Twenty-Seventh
Admonition of Saint Francis: Virtues Which Put
Vices to Flight
2012
Articles
Three Hours of Penance
I recently did three hours of penance. I planted
our garden's pole beans and corn. This meant
turning over, with fork and shovel, three raised
garden beds, smoothing the soil, adding manure
and lime to the garden, planting the seeds,
inserting the poles for the beans, and putting
into place rock slabs that I use between the
rows to keep out the weeds. I had not thought of
this as penance until I discovered, in my
research for a book on Saint Francis, that
medieval penitents considered manual labor to be
penance.
Well, they were right! However, I can't congratulate
myself on my three hours of penance when many
people around the world daily spend eight to
twelve hours or more doing manual labor, that
is, doing penance.
How many of us know that we are doing penance
when we do manual labor? How many of us think of
God while working? Saint Francis wanted his
friars to work with their hands. Even on his
deathbed, he said that he always worked with his
hands and he still wished to. He saw the value
in manual labor because Jesus was a manual
laborer when He was a carpenter. Francis, in his
profoundly simple theology, realized that if he
could imitate Christ, he would draw very close
to God. This is what motivated Francis all
during his life of conversion. Francis wanted to
pray and assist the needy because Jesus did
these things. He fasted and wore poor clothing
in imitation of Christ. He walked the roads of
Italy and exhorted the people to penance because
Jesus did this. And Jesus worked with His hands.
So did Francis.
We know that Francis rebuilt three churches. We
know that his friars carried water for others
and worked in the fields beside the day
laborers. Francis and many of his brothers cared
for lepers, tending their gardens, bathing their
sores, and begging for them. Unlike the noble
monks who lived in monasteries and had lay
servants, the friars wanted to earn their
living. Begging was an afterthought, done out of
necessity if those for whom they worked were
niggardly and refused them any food as payment
(the friars refused to take money for their
work, but they would accept food for the day).
We follow Francis well if we do manual labor,
but only if we do it to glorify God as best we
can. How do we do that? By thinking of Him,
praising Him, working the best we can for Him,
no matter how mundane the task.
Every season of the year brings its own manual
labor, even to those who live in apartment
buildings and work in offices. They may not be
tilling gardens or shoveling snow, but they will
have housekeeping chores to do, cars to
fix, and clothes to mend. How much time per day
do you spend doing penance while doing manual
labor? Might the labor go better for you if you
offer it up, not just as something you have to
do, but as a gift of penance (conversion) to
God? You will be aware of your conversion to Him
if you think of Him as you work, giving to Him
the work of your Hands, for He made the hands
with which you work.
May God be praised in all his works, forever.
Madeline Pecora Nugent
HAPPY DEATH
SOCIETY
Many years ago I heard a person in the Secular
Franciscan Order (SFO) say that the group used
to be a “Happy Death Society”. I believe that
this was meant to be a sarcastic comment
implying that the people in the Franciscan group
were more concerned with the salvation of their
souls than with humanistic values and building
up society and people in this life. This comment
reveals a shift that has occurred in many
religious orders and even in some lay orders
from a “religious spirituality” to a “secular
spirituality” since the 1960’s. This means that
the emphasis has shifted in some religious and
lay orders from personal sanctification to an
emphasis on social action apostolates.
Can the CFP be accused of being a “Happy Death
Society”? I believe that the answer is a
definite “yes”since the CFP is certainly
oriented to a “religious spirituality”. The goal
of the CFP rule of prayer, fasting, and dress is
the personal sanctification of members and all
others who heed the call to a life of penance.
This does not mean that we are unconcerned or
cut off from the concerns of society. It means
that we understand that any “good” we do is
empty and meaningless without God.
To understand the goal of a “religious
spirituality” we just have to look at the
Transitus or “Happy Death” of St. Francis. At
his death, St. Francis was enduring great
physical suffering as well as the spiritual
anguish of seeing the Friars Minor slipping away
from the vision the Lord had given him. Yet he
died in peace. Why? In the maturity of his life,
Francis had totally endeavored to please and
obey the Lord. He had loved, served, and sought
the Will of the Lord. Now, Francis was about to
experience the Lord on an infinitely higher
level. Why should he not be in peace?
The spirituality of Francis, oriented toward
prayer, poverty, and joy was certainly a
“religious spirituality”. Yet St. Francis was
definitely concerned for his fellow humans as
manifested by many events in his life. Francis
did not go about making laws to remedy the many
injustices which were rampant in Assisi and many
other places at that time. Instead, he and his
friars preached by word and example about living
a life converted to the Lord. This transformed
medieval society more than any social reforms
ever could. Francis saw and experienced the
evils of medieval society. The Church and
religion were very powerful in thirteenth
century Italy, and yet many had lost the Love of
the Lord in favor of money, power, or other
idols. He knew that the evil lay in the
unconverted human heart and not in this or that
structure of society. St. Francis saw that a
society which has forgotten God was a degenerate
and decaying society. St. Francis and his friars
showed people that the “religious spirituality”
of a converted life could be a joyful, fruitful,
and fulfilled life. A life totally oriented to
this world, no matter how affluent or
comfortable, was ultimately empty. Francis
experienced this emptiness in his “carefree”
life before his conversion.
In our modern world, many who have lost faith in
God have tried to replace the love of God with
love of the world and the building of a
peaceful, prosperous, and just world. This is
understandable, since once you destroy the
cohesion that faith in God brings to society,
you need to replace it with something else.
Unfortunately, many who profess faith in God,
including some in religious orders and the
clergy, also have embraced this “secular
spirituality”. Any spirituality or religious
practice is done for the sake of building a
“better world”. Some of these well-meaning
people even reject the moral teachings of the
Church in favor of those embraced by many of
those who lack faith.
The “secular spirituality” of the 1960’s has
been around for almost 50 years. Has it worked?
Have people cast aside the old divisions of
religion, culture, and nationality to embrace
peace, freedom, and justice? Traditional
religious faith and practice certainly has
declined since the coming of the “secular
spirituality”. Has Western society become more
cohesive and harmonious since that time? It does
not look like it.
In 1972, the academic theologian, Joseph
Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI wrote: Man
needs politics, social and economic planning and
activity. But when that becomes
all-encompassing, when politics purports to be
the redemption of man, it is trying to play the
role of theology or of faith and then becomes
the total enslavement of man. Without a meaning
that goes deeper than the ordering of the
economy, man perishes. Since that time he has
written many similar warnings. It seems as
though Joseph Ratzinger has a similar
understanding of what we need as did St.
Francis. We need God. Life is ultimately empty
without Him. We have to look “above” to God to
know what we need to do in this world.
Jim Nugent
Forgiving in Imitation of Christ
One day Francis was walking at Colle, the place
where he had fought in battle years before and
had been taken prisoner. There he met a man whom
he had known for many years. “Brother, how are
you doing?” Francis asked. The man began to heap
curses on his lord who owned the property on
which the battle had taken place. “Thanks to my
lord, may the Almighty curse him, I’m very bad
off.” The lord had taken all the man’s
possessions, leaving him with very little to
live on, a common but unjust practice of the
times when lords enriched themselves at the
expense of those who tended their properties.
Francis felt pity for the man’s thin body and
his ragged appearance, but he felt even more
pity for his soul which was so consumed with
hatred. So he encouraged the man to forgive his
lord. The man refused so Francis gave the man
his own mantle and said, “Take this now and
forgive your lord.” The man was so moved that
Francis, who had nothing but what he was
wearing, was willing to give away his mantle
that the man broke into tears and forgave his
lord. History does not record any change in the
lord. In fact, it seems as if this selfish,
self-centered noble continued in the same
behavior throughout his life. Francis’ teaching
and example in Assisi does not seem to have had
much effect on this wealthy and powerful man.
Francis wanted to pattern his life on Christ.
His thought was, “If I do what Christ did, then
I have to be saved because He is God and He
would behave perfectly. If His perfection is
divine, my imitating it will get me a bit closer
to heaven.” So Francis did not just talk about
forgiving. He did not just ask others to
forgive. He himself forgave because Jesus
forgave His enemies. “When
he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he
suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted
himself to the one who judges justly,” (1 Peter
2:23) Saint Peter wrote about Jesus. Francis
took these words to heart. He tried to act like
Jesus when he suffered a great deal of abuse
from his father and then from the town of Assisi
upon his conversion. Francis returned a blessing
instead of a curse whenever he was insulted. He
was beaten as a fool by robbers, mocked by his
brother, laughed at by his friends, and pelted
with stones and mud by children. None of these
received a nasty word. All of these he forgave,
remembering Jesus Who said from the cross,
“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what
they do.”
In this Easter season we remember Christ’s
sacrificial death for us who have insulted,
mocked, and abused Him and His message. Who have
we hurt by our insults and mockery? Who has hurt
us? Is there anyone we feel we can’t forgive or
don’t want to forgive? Whatever someone has done
to us, who are sinners, how does it compare to
what Christ, Who is innocent, suffered? We are
harmed unwillingly, and we cry out and complain.
Christ was tormented and crucified willingly,
out of love for us, and “he opened not his
mouth.” May the Lord give us the virtue of
imitating Christ a bit more closely by forgiving
others and asking forgiveness of others, so that
we may merit the gift of eternal life He gave us
by His death.
Happy Easter Season to all!
Let us pray for one another and for all doing
penance worldwide.
Madeline Pecora Nugent
Lenten Alms
The early lives of St. Francis relate a charming
story about the saint. One of the brothers who
was living in the hermitage at Reiti came,
during Lent, to the hermitage of the brothers in
Greccio where Francis was then staying. The
brother had walked over fourteen miles on
medieval roads, across plains, up and down
hills, and through forests because he wanted to see Francis and receive his
blessing. However, when the brother arrived, Francis had already eaten
his single meal of the day and
had returned to his cell where he prayed and
rested. Because it was Lent, Francis made
an extra sacrifice and did not
leave the cell except at mealtime, and he
returned there immediately afterward. So the
brother missed seeing Francis and felt very badly
about it, especially since the friar had to return to
his own hermitage that same day. He confided in
the other brothers that he must have missed
Francis because of his sins, so, with grief in
his heart, he turned around to go back home.
He had not gone "a stone's throw," the histories
say, when Francis came out of his cell and
called one of the other brothers to him. "Tell
that brother to look back toward me," he said.
And when the brother from Reiti did look back,
Francis made the Sign of the Cross and blessed
him. This caused the brother much joy,
especially since no one had told Francis about
his arrival nor would any brother have dared to
approach Francis unless the saint had called him
(this was Francis' policy wherever he stayed).
This minor Lenten incident is used by historians
to show that Francis could read hearts and be
aware of situations without being told. It also
illustrates his charity in that he was willing
to interrupt his prayer time and solitude to
give a brother a gesture of love and concern
through a blessing which the brother craved.
Lent is traditionally a time to practice
increased prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Francis illustrates all three in this incident.
Prayer is obvious. Francis went to his cell to
pray, and that took his full attention. He did
not want to be disturbed.
Fasting is less obvious, but Francis was known
to fast severely all his life, and he certainly
fasted as much as possible during Lent. We can
speculate about what that one meal per day
consisted of. Clare was admonished by Francis
because she fasted too severely. He put her
under obedience to eat at least half a roll of
bread a day. Was half a roll of bread what
Francis ate when he was fasting? Francis' Rule
for Hermitages stated that no food was allowed
in the cell. So Francis had to emerge once a day
to eat with the brothers; otherwise, he would
starve.
Since this incident mentions no money exchange
(Francis forbid his friars to handle money),
were any alms given? Most certainly. The brother
from Rieti came looking for an alms, in the form
of a blessing, and Francis gave it without being
asked.
What alms are we giving during Lent? Are we
giving pieces of ourselves away to others who
need them, or do we cling to our time, our
money, our preferences, our plans, and our
possessions without wanting to sacrifice for
someone else? Ultimately how we treat prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving will indicate how
sanctified we are. A good question to ask during
Lent is, "Who comes first in my life? Me? Or
you?"
Francis insisted that his brothers be subject to
all, and this they willingly did. This he
willingly did. As penitents, how willing are we
to follow his example which, of course, is the
example of Christ Who subjected Himself even to
death for our sake. If Lent is not about
recalling, praising, and imitating the
self-emptying of Christ, then what is it about?
This Lent, may St. Francis intercede for us to
do for us less and to do for others.
Happy Lent!
Madeline Pecora Nugent
Saint Francis’ Twenty-Eighth Admonition: Hiding
the Good Lest It Be Lost
St. Francis’s Twenty-eighth admonition concerns
hiding good lest it be lost.
Blessed is the servant who treasures up in
heaven the good things which the Lord shows him
and who does not wish to manifest them to men
through the hope of reward, for the Most High
will Himself manifest his works to whomsoever He
may please. Blessed is the servant who keeps the
secrets of the Lord in his heart.
This admonition speaks to those souls who
through prayer, penance, and good works have a
personal relationship and, in fact, a union with
the Lord. If this is true, the Lord may choose
to confide some of the secrets of God and of
Heaven to that soul just as one close friend
will confide in another, things which he or she
would not say to everyone else. This makes the
relationship or union even closer. But this
closeness can be violated if the confidence is
violated. This would happen if the receiver of
the confidence blabs it all about. This can
surely happen on a human level, but it could
also happen in our relationship with the Lord.
St. Francis explains that even if these are good
and holy things which are talked about, it is
wrong to reveal what the Lord has told us in
secret unless we are explicitly told to do so.
Why? Since the Lord can “manifest his works” to
whomever his pleases. The Lord has ways to
reveal what He wants to reveal. When we reveal
what we should not reveal without the Lord’s
permission, we may be doing it for some reward.
This reward then displaces the Lord as our
center, and our relationship with Him is thereby
damaged.
Even if we do not reveal the Lord’s secrets for
the sake of reward, the Lord Himself tells us
why we should keep His secrets. Do not give
dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under food
and turn to attack you. (Mt 7:6) Here Jesus
is telling us that people are spiritually in
many different places. While He wants to call
all to Him, many are not yet ready and are still
“carnal”. They cannot appreciate the secrets of
Heaven because they are still too much bound to
this earth. Like dogs who simply are not capable
of grasping things that are beyond them, these
people will interpret spiritual things in a very
worldly or carnal manner.
There may also be people like the swine who are
opposed to Christians or even Jesus Christ
himself. When they hear of spiritual things,
they will ridicule and even attack Christians
because they think that such things are nonsense
or even evil. Of course, God can reach even
those people, but ultimately God has to do it.
To keep the secrets of the Lord in our hearts,
as St. Francis recommends, can be very
difficult. We want to share what we have
received either for the sake of vanity or reward
or even for more noble reasons. Yet, we have to
understand, as St. Francis did, that it is
better to be obedient to the Lord than to
wrongly attempt to do what we think is good.
There are times when the Lord may command us to
spread a certain message when we would rather
keep quiet. The best path is always that of
obedience.
St. Francis certainly received things from the
Lord which he may have wanted to share with
others, but he knew that it would not be wise to
do so. He knew that the “servant is not greater
than the Master” (Jn 13:16; Jn 15:20) St.
Francis wanted always to do the Master’s will.
May we always do whatever He commands us.
Jim Nugent, Life Pledged Member of the Confraternity of Penitents
The Twenty-Seventh Admonition of Saint Francis:
Virtues Which Put Vices to Flight
St. Francis’s Twenty-Seventh Admonition is about
the Virtues which put Vices to flight.
Where there is charity and wisdom there is
neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is
patience and humility there is neither anger nor
worry. Where there is poverty and joy there is
neither cupidity nor avarice. Where there is
quiet and meditation there is neither solicitude
nor dissipation. Where there is the fear of the
Lord to guard the house the enemy cannot find a
way to enter. Where there is mercy and
discretion there is neither superfluity nor
hard-heartedness.
When St. Francis says Where there is charity
and wisdom there is neither fear nor ignorance,
he is telling us that we need to cultivate
charity and wisdom to root out fear and
ignorance. What St. Francis is teaching us is
surely based on scripture. St. John says “There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out
fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he
who fears is not perfected in love.” (1 John
4:18)
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with
his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever
insults his brother shall be liable to the
council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be
liable to the hell of fire.
(Mt 5:22) St. Francis also tells us here that
anger and worry are rooted in a lack of patience
and humility. Since most of us do experience
these emotions, St. Francis shows us the virtues
we need to cultivate to overcome them.
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say
to you, it will hard for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of heaven”.
(Mt 19:23) St. Francis sees poverty as the
remedy for the greed for money which we call
avarice or cupidity which certainly hinders our
entering the kingdom of heaven. This was one
reason why Francis himself embraced poverty so
strongly. The result is joy which St. Francis
also possessed in abundance.
Tremble: give up sinning, spend your night in
quiet meditation.
(Ps 4:4) St. Francis echos this advice from the
psalms when he counsels us to embrace quiet and
meditation to avoid the extremes of dissipating
ourselves with self-indulgence or being overly
wound up in worldly affairs.
When St. Francis says “Where
there is the fear of the Lord to guard the house
the enemy cannot find a way to enter.”
he is advising us on how to armor ourselves
against the devil. Of course, “fear of the Lord”
does not mean fear of a wild and unpredictable
tyrant. We should fear offending Him and
concentrate on obeying His Laws and doing His
Will. Then the devil cannot get a hold on us.
St. Paul advised the Philippians to do the same
thing: Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
is gracious, if there is any excellence, if
there is anything worthy of praise, think about
these things. (Phil 4:8) If we fill our
minds with the good things of God, there is no
way for evil and unworthy thoughts to get in.
Finally, St. Francis counsels us to avoid the
extremes of being hard-hearted or over indulgent
with the virtues mercy and discretion or
prudence. In this admonition, St. Francis gives
us very wise counsel on how to avoid the vices
which afflict us. We have to cultivate the
corresponding virtue which then leaves no room
in our souls for these vices. But how do us weak
and frail humans do this? St. Francis and the
other saints, both canonized and non-canonized,
knew how to do this for the Lord himself told
us. Therefore do not be anxious, saying,
‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’
or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek
all these things; and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them all. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things shall be yours as well. (Mt 6:31-33)
While the Lord is speaking of material things
here, this also applies to spiritual things.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
What father among you, if his son asks for a
fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;
or if he asks for an egg, will give him a
scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more
will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask him! (Lk 11:10-13) Of course,
when the Lord gives us a gift, we have to use
it. St. Francis certainly did. We need to do the
same.
Jim Nugent
Confraternity of Penitents
520 Oliphant Lane
Middletown RI USA
02842-4600
401/849-5421
bspenance@hotmail.com
copenitents@yahoo.com
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