Sixth & Seventh Of Many Prayers Of Francis Of Assisi

A Salutation of the Blessed Virgin Mary "suggests a close tie between this piece and the following, the A Salutation of the Virtues, and, therefore, presents the Virgin Mary as the model for every Christian who responds to God's virtuous presence in his or her life." [1]

A Salutation Of the Blessed Virgin Mary is quoted verbatim [2]:

Hail, O Lady,

Holy Queen,

Mary, holy Mother of God,

Who are the Virgin made Church,

chosen by the most Holy Father in heaven

whom he consecrated with His most holy beloved Son

and with the Holy Spirit the Paraclete,

in whom there was and is

all fullness of grace and every good.

Hail His Palace!

Hail His Tabernacle!

Hail His Dwelling!

Hail His Robe!

Hail His Servant!

Hail His Mother!

And hail all You holy virtues

which are poured into the hearts of the faithful

through the grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit,

that from being unbelievers,

You may make them faithful to God.

A Salutation Of the Virtues is quoted verbatim, italics original [3]:

Hail, Queen Wisdom!

May the Lord protect You,

with your Sister, holy pure Simplicity!

Lady holy Poverty,

may the Lord protect You,

with Your Sister, holy Humility!

Lady holy Charity,

may the Lord protect You,

with your Sister, holy Obedience.

Most only Virtues,

may the Lord protect all of You

from Whom You come and proceed.

There is surely no one in the world world

who can possess any one of You

without dying first.

Whoever possesses one

and does not offend the others

possesses all.

Whoever offends one

does not possess any

and offends all.

And each one confounds vice and sin.

Holy Wisdom confounds

Satan and all his cunning.

Pure holy Simplicity confounds

all the wisdom of this world

and the wisdom of the body.

Holy poverty confounds

the desire for riches,

greed,

and the cares of this world.

Holy Humility confounds

pride,

all people who are in the world.

Holy Charity confounds

every diabolical and carnal temptation

and every carnal fear.

Holy Obedience confounds

every corporal and carnal wish;

binds its mortified body

to the obedience of the Spirit

and obedience to one's brother,

so that it is

subject and submissive

to everyone in the world,

not only to people

but to every beast and wild animal as well

that they may do whatever they want with it

insofar as it has been given to them

from above by the Lord.

[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 163. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid, 164-5.

A Choice: What I Am Or Who I Am?

It seems so normal to know people by what they majored in, what they do, what neighborhood they live in and what they drive.  That takes a couple of minutes.  To know who they are, that will take longer.  But first, does one even know oneself?  How often do people look in the mirror and ask who am I?  If one is not humble, honest, kind or good, then what is there to offer?  Nothing, for there is no inherent richness in ability, intellect, wealth or pride.  That all goes away at death.  What is left is the soul.  A boastful, dishonest, cruel and hateful soul is a bankrupt soul and it will end up in Hell.  There are no bankrupt souls in Heaven.  A humble, honest, kind and good soul is a rich soul and it will return to Heaven.  The souls that are able to return to Heaven had in their incarnated lives majored in their own conscience, done all that is good, lived in God's favor because they drove themselves earnestly to be more like Christ. 

Francis Of Assisi's "Our Father" Prayer

"[T]his writing is perhaps the only instance in which we find an example of how Francis responded to his brothers' request to teach them how to pray." [1]  The prayer is quoted below (italics original) [2]:

O Our Father most holy:

Our Creator, Redeemer, Consoler, and Savior:

Who are in heaven:

In the angels and the saints,

enlightening them to know, for You, Lord, are light;

inflaming them to love, for You, Lord, are love;

dwelling in them and filling them with happiness,

for You, Lord, are Supreme Good, the Eternal Good,

from Whom all good comes

without Whom there is no good.

Holy be Your Name:

May knowledge of You become clearer in us

that we may know

the breath of Your blessings,

the length of Your promises,

the height of Your majesty,

the depth of Your judgments.

Your kingdom come:

That You may rule in us through Your grace

and enable us to come  to Your kingdom

where there is clear vision of You,

perfect love of You,

blessed companionship of You,

eternal enjoyment of You.

Your will be done on earth as in heaven:

That we may love You

with our whole heart by always thinking of You,

with our whole soul by always desiring You,

with our whole mind by always directing all our intentions to You,

and by seeking Your glory in everything,

 with all our whole strength by exerting

all our energies and affections of body and soul

in the service of Your love and of nothing else;

and we may love our neighbor as ourselves

by drawing them all to Your love with our whole strength,

by rejoicing in the good of others as in our own,

by suffering with others at their misfortunes,

and by giving offense to no one.

Give us this day:

in remembrance, understanding, and reverence

of that love which [Your son] had for us [3]

and of those things that He said and did and suffered for us.

our daily Bread:

You own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Forgive us our trespasses:

through Your ineffable mercy

through the power of the passion of Your beloved Son

and through the merits and intercession

of the ever blessed Virgin and all Your elect.

As we forgive those who trespass against us:

And what we do not completely forgive,

make us, Lord, forgive completely

that we may truly love our enemies because of You

and we may fervently intercede for them before You,

returning no one evil for evil

and we may strive to help everyone in You.

And lead us not into temptation:

hidden or obvious,

sudden or persistent.

But deliver us from evil:

past,

present,

and to come

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. 

[1] Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 158. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[2] Ibid., 158-160.
[3] In the book, the words within the bracket are: "our Lord Jesus Christ."  I do not think that is correct and therefore I chose the words "Your Son" because throughout the prayer, before and after this missing part Francis of Assisi was directing his prayer to God.  The words "our Lord Jesus Christ" sounds detached, not personable like the rest of the prayer.  The words "Your Son" is more personable.  Furthermore, "our Lord Jesus Christ appears in the next paragraph.  From the context of the prayer, it ought to be the first time, not the second, because the stress is on "our daily Bread" which is "Your own beloved Son" Who is being introduced as "our Lord Jesus Christ."  By having a paragraph unto itself and by the strategic placement of a comma, the introduction of "our Lord Jesus Christ" to the Lord's Prayer was intended to be a momentous occasion.  Mentioning "our Lord Jesus Christ" ahead of time would have been anticlimactic; it would have deflated the importance and diminished the moment of transubstantiation when "our Lord Jesus Christ" became "our daily Bread."

Fourth & Fifth Of Many Prayers Of Francis Of Assisi

The following is quoted verbatim, italics original [1]:

At Terce

Antiphon:  Holy Virgin Mary

Psalm [ IV ]

Have mercy on me, O God, for people have trampled me underfoot;*
all day long they have afflicted me and fight against me.
All day long my enemies trampled upon me*
for there were many waging war against me.
All my enemies have been thinking evil things against me;*
they made an evil plot against me.
Those who were guarding my life*
have conspired together.
They went out*
and spread it everywhere.
Seeing me everyone laughed at me;*
they whispered and shoot their heads.
I am a worm and no human.*
the scorn of men and the outcast of the people.
I have been made despicable to my neighbors;+
far beyond all my enemies,*
a thing of fear to all my acquaintances.
O holy Father, do not keep your help from me*
but look to my defense.
Come to my aid,*
Lord, God of my salvation.

At Sext

Antiphon:  Holy Virgin Mary

Psalm [V]

I cried to the Lord with all my voice;*
with all my voice I begged the Lord.
I pour out my prayer in His sight*
and I tell the Lord of all my trouble.
When my spirit failed me*
you knew my ways.
On the path where I walked,*
the proud hid a trap for me.
I looked to my right and saw:*
there was no one who knew me.
I have no means of escape:*
there is no one who cares for my life.
I have borne abuse because of you*
and confusion covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,*
a stranger to the children of my mother. [2] 
Holy Father, zeal for your house has consumed me;*
and the insults of those who blasphemed you have fallen on me.
They rejoiced and united together against me.*
Blows were heaped on me and I knew not why.
More numerous than the hairs of my head*
are those who hate me without cause.
My enemies, who persecuted me unjustly, have been strengthened;*
I then repaid what I did not steal.
The wicked witnesses who rise up
asked me about things of which they are ignorant.
They repaid me evil for good and harassed me*
because I pursued good.
You are my most holy Father*
my King and my God.
Come to my aid.*
Lord, God of my salvation. [3]



[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Pages 144-5. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[2] Page 144 of the book has two footnotes.  The first footnote says the verses for Terce form the prayers of Jesus during the scourging, the crowning with thorns and the mockery and abuse of the crowd.  The second footnote says Sext was seen as the hour of crucifixion in which Christ was abandoned and He was consumed by His zeal to return to His Father.  There is no third footnote on page 144 and none on page 145, so I am left to wonder what these words in the prayer mean: "I have become an outcast to my brothers,* a stranger to the children of my mother."  I suppose "brothers" could refer to the disciples since they all left Him to die alone except John, but "the children of my mother"?  Who could they be?  I am thinking they are John, to whom Christ gave His mother, Mary, and Christ Himself since Mary had only one child, Jesus.  It is easy to see how Jesus saw that He had become a stranger to John since He was so bloodied, his flesh so deformed from the deep gashes, so exhausted, so thirsty, so painful and helpless on the cross, but how could Jesus be a stranger to Himself?  I suppose when Jesus was so obedient to God, to be willing to endure so much pain and humiliation that He had to think that He was not Himself for no ordinary person in the flesh would be willing to go through the torture and the crucifixion, especially when there were so many chances to avoid both, to stop what He was doing, to keep quiet, to move to a different place and  assume a new identity.
[3] There are many more prayers in the book but I have decided not to transcribe all of them except those I like best.

Third Of Many Prayers Of Francis Of Assisi

The following is quoted verbatim, italics original [1]:

At Matins

Antiphon:  Holy Virgin Mary

Psalm [ III ]

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me*
because my soul places its trust in you.
I will hope in the shadow of your wings*
until wickedness pass by.
I will cry to the Most High God, my most holy Father,*
who has done good to me.
He has sent from heaven and delivered me;*
He has disgraced those who have trampled upon me.
God has sent His mercy and His truth;*
He has snatched my life from the strongest of my enemies +

and from those who hated me for they were too powerful for me.
They prepared a trap for my feet*
and bowed down my soul.
They dug a pit before my face*
and fell into it themselves!
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready;*
I will sing and chant a psalm.
Arise, my glory, arise psalter and harp,*
I will arise at dawn.
I will praise you among the peoples, O Lord,*
I will chant a psalm to you among the nations.
Because your mercy is exalted even to the skies,*
and your truth even to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God.*
and may your glory be over all the earth. [2]

 

[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 143. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[2] The book's footnote says this prayer is said at Prime, remembering Christ's appearance before Pontius Pilate and Christ's resurrection.

Second Of Many Prayers Of Francis Of Assisi

The following is quoted verbatim, italics original [1]:

At Matins

Antiphon:  Holy Virgin Mary

Psalm [ II ]

Lord, God of my salvation,*

I cry day and night to you.

Let my prayer enter into your sight;*

incline your ear to my prayer.

Attend to my soul and free it;*

set me free because of my enemies.

For it was you who took me out of the womb,+

you, my hope from my mother's breasts.*

I have been cast upon you from the womb.

From my mother's womb you have been my God;*

do not depart from me.

You know my disgrace, my confusion*

and my reverence.

All those who trouble me are in your sight;*

My heart has expected abuse and misery.

I looked for someone to grieve together with me+

and there was none,*

for someone to console me and I found none.

God, the wicked have risen against me,*

the assembly of the powerful has sought my life;*

they have not placed you in their sight.

I am numbered among those who go down into the pit.*

I have become as someone without help, cut off among the dead.

You are my most Holy Father,*

my King and my God.

Come to my aid,*

Lord God of my salvation. [2]

[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 142. New York: New York City Press, 2000.

[2]  In the book, the footnote to this prayer says that Francis of Assisi said this prayer during Holy Week as was the first prayer I quoted several days ago even though my initial, and mistaken, thought was that these were prayers Francis of Assisi said because he himself was suffering rejection, loneliness and pain.  I made the mistake because I believed and still believe that Francis of Assisi was sometimes as lonely as Christ was because he was a true follower of Christ and he must have hurt inside as much as Christ did.  I also think that anyone who goes against an educated or popular mentality and acts alone out of true goodness that is borne out of humility will feel this loneliness, a loneliness that God understands and shares.

Goodness And Kindness

I never really understood what "woe to those ..." really meant.  What is woe?  Is woe something slightly bad, or something really, really bad, or a life-long torment?  I never liked the fact that I would be subject to some kind of woe.  Woe is ominous; it is scary, sounds like a curse of sorts, something no one wishes to have.

I thought I would never use the word "woe," thinking that it was an ancient word that carried a threat, or a promise, empty or not, I did not know.  Tonight, I know.

"Woe" is not a threat; it is a promise and not an empty one.  Woe can come from God when one abuses things that flow from God and/or God's gifts.  What kind of woe I do not know but it is some kind of woe and it is not going to be pleasing.

When will woe arrive I do not know either but I do know that one will have a woe or two when one takes advantage of another person's goodness and kindness, thinking that persons with those characteristics are weak and easy targets but they are not because God is on their side.

How am I so sure that God is on their side?  Goodness and kindness are not Satanic traits; they can come only from God through God's grace. [1] Therefore people who are good and kind have not only the grace of God, but also the support of God.  When people have God's backing, they are strong, very strong.  My advice is not to take advantage of these people because that would mean taking advantage of God.  Good cannot come from that.

What is worse is taking advantage of people who are good and kind by using (more accurately, abusing) God's gifts.  For example, when intellect, a gift of God, is being used dishonestly to gain an advantage over a person who is good and kind, a gift to that person by the grace of God, then the user is being cruel to God twice.  Good cannot come from that either.

So tonight, I will be bold and state:  Woe to those who abuse God's gift to take advantage of goodness and kindness.


[1] How come God does not give to everyone goodness and kindness?  God only allows goodness and kindness to fill the spirit of those who freely choose to love God.  In other words, one has to exercise Free Will to be good and kind to love God and to love God one must necessarily and freely choose to be good and kind.

The Protector

"Do not betray my trust in you and I will be your Protector."  Even though I put quotation marks around those words I just typed, they were not said by anyone I know.  I just came up with them, so they could be from my imagination or part of my life's philosophy influenced by the teachings of Christ.  There is an outside chance that the thought could be the Truth.  Why should I be privy to the Truth since I am not an effective messenger?  I am merely an ordinary person who happens to write and by writing in a blog on the internet, perhaps I have a hope that someone would read it and perhaps agree or be upset with me.  Either way, I would be flattered to have anyone read any of my stuff.  Even if my audience is zero, I am nonetheless motivated to write, to share what is on my mind today with my physical tomorrows that will eventually end and with my energy that will not, so my thoughts had better be good since I do not want to exist as bad energy beyond the end of time.  That would be hell.

Back to my thought:  Do not betray my trust in you and I will be your Protector.  The Lord God could easily have said these words but so could a drug lord but they have so much more meaning and power if God said them.  If God said them, then what exactly do they mean?  Unlike Judas who betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver when Christ was in the flesh, how does one betray God?  Who will consider giving up a penny to another to betray God when God could very well be an unproven or unprovable concept, or even a failed concept? [1]  But God is not a "concept."  God represents all that is good and goodness is as real a component of life as life itself and it was personified in Christ.

When Judas betray Jesus, he was betraying goodness, not just ordinary goodness but perfection in goodness.  When we betray God's trust in us, we also betray perfection in goodness.  Without 30 pieces of silver to show as evidence of betrayal, how can one prove that a betrayal of God has taken place in one's daily life?  Betrayal of God is not as amorphous as it seems; it is in fact painful, far more for God than the person betrayed because God had endowed everyone with goodness and trusts all to exercise their Free Will to reject Satan, act and be good but the person betrayed never truly believes the betrayer but only wishes the betrayer to be true to the point of delusion.  Thus a person who has been betrayed does not hurt nearly as much as God who has been betrayed by the betrayer taking advantage of God's gift of Free Will by turning it into a sword to cut off God's love and kindness in order to side with Satan rather than God.

The number of ways God can be betrayed is almost countless and the most heinous ways are similar to Judas' kiss.  Intellectual dishonesty comes close; feigned care and love toward a friend is even closer and a person's feigned care and love toward a parent is closer still.  There is not enough internet space to itemize an exhaustive list and I am not going to start.  One's true conscience can always tell a betrayal.  Listen to it, follow it and God will become the Protector.


[1] Some religions are still waiting for God to arrive even though people have been living their lives without God, paying only lip-service to God's teachings. 

First Of Many Prayers Of Francis Of Assisi

The following is quoted verbatim, italics original [1]:

At Compline

Antiphon:  Holy Virgin Mary

Psalm [ I ]

God, I have told you of my life;*

you have placed all my tears in your sight.
All my enemies were plotting evil against me;*
they took counsel together.
They repaid me evil for good*
and hatred for my love.
They slandered me in return for my love,*
but I continued to pray.
My holy Father, King of heaven and earth, do not leave me*
for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
Let my enemies be turned back+
on whatever day I shall call upon you;*
for now I know that you are my God,
My friends and my neighbors have drawn near
and have stood against me;*
those who were close to me have stayed far away.
You have driven my acquaintances far from me;*
they have made me an abomination to them.+ [2]
I have been handed over and did not escape.
Holy Father, do not remove your help from me;*

my God, look to my aid.
Come to my help,*
Lord, God of my salvation.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen

[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 140. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[2] This particular portion of the prayer is of interest: "My friends and my neighbors have drawn near and have stood against me;* those who were close to me have stayed far away.  You have driven my acquaintances far from me;* they have made me an abomination to them.+"  Why would Francis of Assisi include these words in his prayer?  Was it the truth that he was speaking or the manner that he was acting so repugnant to everyone that even his friends and neighbors would deny and betray him, and those closest to him would rather be far away and in denial rather than to hear or look at it respectively?  I think Holy Francis was alone and stressed out, perhaps his spirit might even have been a bit low, since in the prayer before and after making the observation, he said these words: "My holy Father, King of heaven and earth, do no leave me * for trouble is near and there is no one to help " (before the observation) and "Holy Father, do not remove your help from me" and "My God, look to my aid[,] [c]ome to my help, Lord, God of my salvation (after the observation)."  My conclusion is that a true man of cloth who is genuinely committed to become a disciple of Christ has to endure a solitary life living the reality of holy poverty and filling his heart and soul with his love for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Sex & Sin

No conclusion on the sins of sex is satisfactory even though it is that certain kinds of sex originate from sin.  Sin is defined here as an act of Free Will that violates the God's law or the laws of Nature, whether that free will is exercised consciously by the perpetrator or subconsciously, or perhaps unconsciously, by the victim, or consensually by the participants involved.

To begin, let me go back to my theory on incarnation that postulates the existence of spirits and claims that they are waiting desperately to experience flesh in the human form.  That can only happen when an infant is born, a product of procreational sex. [1]

When the infant reaches a certain age, he/she becomes sexually curious and it is during this period of vulnerability that Satan wields its significant power, heightening the carnal urge to the point where it overpowers and starves the spirit.  This period can last long into adulthood.  Satan's power over ungodly sexual desires is so overwhelming that even some who have taken the vow of celibacy to serve Christ may have succumbed to the temptations of the flesh that Satan dangles before them.

Not all sexual desires are against the laws of nature, however.  One school of thought advocates only procreational sex to the exclusion of recreational sex of any kind. [2]  This doctrine would allow the maximum number of spirits to incarnate.  Whether God truly intended for the descendants of Adam and Eve to populate the world to the point of unsustainable population growth is questionable.  It therefore seems reasonable to conclude that procreational sex, restrained by voluntary and responsible abstinence, is consistent with God's law since it allows for a rate of incarnation that resolves the issue of sustainability while maintaining a size of population that is sufficiently large and diverse to enrich the meaning of life.

Aside from those limited occasions where a righteous and monogamous married couple engaging in procreational sex out of wholesome and simultaneous love for each other [3] and for the good of society would be classified as sinless sex, sex could be considered as sinful the rest of the time. That would include all kinds of non-procreational sex, i.e., recreational sex, such as heterosexual sex with contraceptives and homosexual sex.

Can that be right, to have so many people sinning at all times around the world just because they are having some naked fun?  Are people sinners because they like having sex?  How can an act of consensual sex be a sin when no harm is done to others?  I do not believe there are clear cut answers and I certainly cannot judge one way or another unless a sexual conduct is so repugnant that it offends God and extinguishes the light of the spirit that inhabits the flesh, which is what pleases Satan.

Satan wants people to go to the far end of sinful sexual practices, to drown in their insatiable desire to fornicate with as many others as possible in a single night, over a weekend or on a cruise time and again because such kind of seemingly "harmless" fun can become an addiction as well as a challenge to be met, in order to claim fame (or infamy) in a community and bragging rights among friends and fellow competitors.  The result of this kind of sinful sex is not limited to the risk of being infected with a transmittable disease, but also the risk of infecting others and the certainty of starving the spirit, by leaving it with no time at all to find inner peace and  fulfillment which come only from God.  Since God is absent in sin, the spirit whose flesh is being so satanically abused is tormented and is always screaming in hunger for true and lasting fulfillment.  The flesh that continues to freely will to be under Satan's domination will be fed tantalizing banquets of sexual decadence, a virtual fulfillment that only leaves the being (flesh and soul) to crave for more and more of it until the life of the flesh is completely exhausted and the light of the spirit is completely extinguished.  At that moment, the soul departs the flesh and is spun deep into Satan's vortex of total darkness and simultaneously loses completely and eternally God and light.  Anyone fallen into this satanic spiral of sexual merry-go-round must sober up and fight to walk away because Satan, as evil and powerful as it is, is unable to take away Free Will given by God.

Between wholesomeness and perversion lies all kinds of sexual behavior.  I imagine that each is assigned a number commensurate with the frequency, manner and intent (conscious, subconscious or unconscious)of the conduct.  While no consensus can be reached on earth as to how sinful (or not) a certain sexual act is, it is clear in Heaven.  While on earth, it is left up to each person's conscience to determine what sexual act arises out of love and its measured needs as compared to what arises out of lust and its insatiable desires.


[1] No judgment is passed here on whether the intercourse leading to conception is consensual or not, incestuous or not, moral or not, or sinful or not.
[2]  It also advocates that procreational sex can only occur after marriage. Therefore, procreational sex before a union between a man and a woman is officially certified is deemed to be sinful.  (To me, marriage is a strange practice that human beings around the world seem to accept as normal, even natural, and a most unnecessary, unnatural and pointless ordeal that is a complete waste of time and resources since neither marriage nor the institution of marriage regulated by a state or government is a part of God's law or the laws of Nature.) 
[3] Procreational sex out of, say vengeance, or without love (for example, either party fantasizing that he/she is having sex with someone else) would be sinful sex.

The Lord's Prayer - Chanted

This is beautifully meditative - The Lord's Prayer, [1] [2], based on a Rimsky Korsakov theme.

"Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as in Heaven.  Give us Your day our daily bread.  Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are Yours, now and forever. Amen." [3]

[1] Click on the link, then the volume icon under "Chapter 1, Introductory," for a listen.  If you wish to download it, go to the end of that paragraph and click on the word "HERE" next to "Music details", then click on "Lord's Prayer" next to "Mirfield," "Rimsky Korsakov" and click Save File.

[2] http://www.katapi.org.uk/Abba/master.html?http://www.katapi.org.uk/Abba/ContentsCh1.htm

[3]  The prayer as chanted, somewhat different from the one I say.

Francis Of Assisi On Criticizing The Clergy

"Blessed is the servant who has faith in the clergy who lives uprightly according to the rite of the Roman Church.  

"Woe to those who look down upon them; for even though they be sinners, no one should judge them because the Lord alone reserves judgment on them to Himself.  For just as their ministry is greater in its concerns for the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they receive and they alone administer to others, so those who sin against them commit more of a sin than against all other persons in this world." [1]

My first question is to whom was Holy Francis [2] addressing?  I think he was addressing his brothers and not the laity which includes me.  This conclusion ought to be correct, not because I enjoy criticizing men and women of cloth and wish to be exempt from all woes, but because he used the word "servant" in the first sentence and implied it in the second when he wrote "woe to those"  and I am not per se a "servant" of an order committed to serve the Lord .  Secondly, Holy Francis' audience was probably the brothers of his Order who are not priests since the words are "just as [the priests'] ministry is greater in its concerns for the most holy Body and Blood of .... Christ, which [the priests] receive and they alone administer to others." [3]  In other words, it would not make sense for Holy Francis to tell the world that it would be fine for the laity to criticize a brother who is not a priest just because he cannot administer the Body and Blood of Christ [4].

However, Holy Francis could have been deliberately vague in the use of words and would have preferred that no one except the Lord alone to judge men and women of the clergy even though they maybe sinful because they serve to uphold the Church.  Francis of Assisi was of course correct because he knew of the sins of the members of the clergy and if their sins ever became known, the standing of the Church would suffer, and it has, in light of the likely mismanagement of Church funds and property and a number of confirmed pedophiles who abused children sexually and damaged them emotionally.

My dilemma remains: should I stop criticizing members of the Catholic Church in accordance with Holy Francis' wishes, when they are interpreted broadly, or continue to point out what I believe to be the truth, even though I do not know all the facts, when his wishes are interpreted narrowly?

For now, I will stop my negative comments unless I have been allowed to see the absolute truth that only God holds. [5]



[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 136. New York: New York City Press, 2000
[2] Holy Francis is the same person in my writings as Francis of Assisi.  I address Francis of Assisi as Holy Francis rather than Francis to distinguish him from all the people named Francis before and after him.  I have not addressed Francis of Assisi as Saint Francis in this writing because these words were written by a holy follower of Christ before he was declared a saint.
[3] Armstrong, op.cit., p.136.
[4] In order to administer the Body and Blood of Christ, the bread and wine must be transubstantiated and such substantiation is done by priests.
[5] It would not come as a shock to me to find out that God's absolute truth dwells in an eternal reservoir of compassion, forgiveness and unconditional love which can be accessed by exercising one's free will by truly and absolutely repenting all sins.  The love is unconditional because it is readily and immediately forgiving but if one chooses to reject God and accept Satan permanently (the willful and final refusal to repent all sins), there is no amount of unconditional love, however immense, that could change the finality of free will. In other words, unconditional love is for one to move toward to embrace willingly; it does not move toward anyone and force acceptance upon him or her.  Therefore, it would be incorrect to conclude that God's love is conditioned upon the repentance of sins -- it is not.  God's love is here, there and everywhere for anyone who desires it, and for those who reject it permanently in favor of Satan exist forever in darkness and without love.