SECOND WEEK OF LENT: "ADMONITIONS"
Each Sunday during this Holy Season of Lent, we will offer a reflection based on the lives and writings of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi. We hope and pray that you will find these reflections helpful as you walk with Christ Jesus on the long road toward his passion, death, and resurrection.
An Admonition by Saint Francis of Assisi
There is a great shame for us, the servants of God, that while the saints actually performed such deeds, we wish to receive glory and honor by merely talking about them (From Admonition Six).
Saint Francis wrote the "Admonitions" as a supplement to his growing community's "Rule." The Rule governed the community's way of life. It is like the constitution of a country, the charter of a town or city, or the bylaws of any organization. The Rule of Saint Francis is a simple code of conduct for life that commands and expects obedience.
The Admonitions are a set of twenty-eight exhortations that were common among the religious orders of the thirteenth century. Then and now, an admonition can be defined as an authoritative counsel or warning; or as a cautionary reminder. One thinks of a judge admonishing a jury to consider or disregard a certain point or piece of evidence. One might also think of a parent admonishing an adolescent with a new driver's license about speeding or text messaging while driving.
The purpose and style of the Admonitions of Saint Francis, however, are singularly spiritual with titles like "The Evil of Self Will" or "The Chastisement of the Body" or "Patience" or "Purity of Heart." The Admonitions were intended to instruct the friars about how to live the life of the gospel; and to warn them against various temptations that would lead them astray. The short quotation above is from Admonition Six, which is entitled "The Imitation of the Lord" and reads in full:
"Let all of us look to the Good Shepherd who suffered the passion of the Cross to save his sheep. The sheep of the Lord followed him in suffering and persecution, in insult and hunger, in infirmity and temptation, and in everything else, and they have received everlasting life from the Lord because of these things. There is a great shame for us, the servants of God, that while the saints actually performed such deeds, we wish to receive glory and honor by merely talking about them."
Harsh Words
These are harsh words. Imagine being one of the first followers of Saint Francis: you have renounced all possessions; you have professed chastity and obedience; you have left your family and your home for a hard life of preaching the gospel and begging for shelter and sustenance. Despite these heroic acts, Francis, your father in faith, admonishes you for basking in the good works and holy deeds of others!
Harsh or not, Francis is right. During Lent, we resolve to sacrifice sweets or to fast on Fridays. We attend Mass. We volunteer or contribute funds to some good cause. We read spiritual books. We pray. We visit a sick friend or perform some sincere act of charity. We might even begin to think of ourselves as "Good Christians." And that's the problem!
Francis always worried that his friars and followers would become complacent and confident in their spiritual lives; in their efforts to live according to the gospel; in their efforts to imitate Christ Jesus. He worried that his followers -- even those just called to be "Franciscans in Spirit" -- would think of themselves as "Good Christians."
Read again these words: "There is great shame for us, the servants of God, that while the saints actually performed such deeds, we wish to receive glory and honor by merely talking about them."
As Christians, we must remember always that we are imperfect. We are wounded in heart and soul. We are weak. We are small. Despite our best intentions, we are destined to stumble, destined to fall. After Mass, we might gossip about our priest or a fellow parishioner. We might fail to forgive someone who has angered us, insulted us, or slighted us in some way. We might set aside our prayer books for our favorite television show. We might sacrifice our time for prayer itself because we believe that we are too busy or too tired. We might convince ourselves that we are "good" because we think that we are "good."
Harsh Words & Great Hope
Again, these are harsh words. They are true words. They are the timeless folly of the human experience. Francis traveled the known world -- on foot. He experienced such folly in his own life, in the lives of those who sought to follow him down the gospel's narrow path, and in the lives of those to whom he preached. Francis knew the ultimate weakness of the human will. He knew the ultimate smallness of the human heart.
Francis also knew and he teaches us through his admonitions that there is a way to overcome our weakness and our folly: the way of Christ Jesus. Read again and pray over his words:
"Let us all look to the Good Shepherd who suffered the passion of the Cross to save his sheep. The sheep of the Lord followed him in suffering and persecution, in insult and hunger, in infirmity and temptation, and in everything else, and they have received everlasting life from the Lord because of these things. There is great shame for us, the servants of God, that while the saints actually performed such deeds, we wish to receive glory and honor by merely talking about them."
There is great hope in this warning! Through this admonition, Francis teaches us that we must be ever vigilant, ever mindful of our thoughts, words, and actions. He teaches us that like the true saints (those "sheep of the Lord"), we are called to follow Christ Jesus in all suffering and persecution, all insult and hunger, all sickness and temptation, and in all things, always. As believers called to be "Franciscans in Spirit", we are called to follow the way of Christ Jesus, the way of the Cross. We are called through our smallness and through our weakness to be holy, to suffer with joy, to hunger with happiness, to forgive without reservation -- all for the sake of heaven.
In this harsh and hopeful light, we remain human. We will stumble. We will fall. But we are called to rise, to lift high our cross, and to carry it -- in imitation of the true saints, in imitation of the One who suffered for us, for love of us, for ever and ever. Amen.
Saint Francis, pray for us!
Saint Clare, pray for us!
Holy men and women of Assisi, pray for us!
