APPENDIX.
DOUBTFUL WORKS OF ST. FRANCIS*
* Wadding gives the above Short Sermons, etc., as doubtful works of St Francis. If not written by the holy Father himself, they are full of the unction of his spirit, and are therefore retained here.
SHORT SERMONS.
I. Of Humility and Patience.
In this short discourse we will not separate humility and patience, which were the inseparable companions of Christ on the Cross, and which are united together with the strong love of sisters. The servant of God ought to suffer much for Christ, since he hopes to enjoy with Him eternal happiness. The Apostle says that ‘the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the eternal weight of glory which shall be revealed in us.’ We cannot have, nor find, two perfect delights (earthly and heavenly), nor can this double joy be in all things complete. Christ began His teaching with humility in the Crib ; and, as a good Master, He completed it by patience on the Cross. He says : ‘Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake.’ He well knew that the suffering would be changed into glory ; persecution and fear into joy. A silversmith makes a cup or vase out of the metal he has, but he cannot make a silver chalice out of a mass of lead ; It is God alone Who can draw rest out of labour, and eternal joy out of torments. Loving, humble, and patient ought those servants to be who expect from their Lord His unspeakable reward.
II. Against Mortal Sin.
My Brethren, let us above all things avoid mortal sin. Consider how foul and horrible a dead body appears, deprived of the spirit of life ; and understand how much more foul and unclean is a soul without God, Who is its life, when it is plunged in mortal sin. If creatures have so much need of each other, how much more has the creature need of his Creator! Grace is further removed from sin than glory is from grace ; for the distance is infinite between grace and sin, whereas death alone stands between grace in holy souls and glory. He, therefore, who sins mortally, withdraws from God and draws near to hell, between which and the sinner life only is interposed, and this is often extinguished by an unforeseen and instantaneous death. How many have we not seen retire to bed at night in perfect health, and the next day carried to their grave! Let us humbly beg of God to persevere holily in His grace those who are now refreshed with it, and mercifully to restore it to unhappy sinners. O most strong and loving God, how ready Thou art to pardon the penitent — how powerful and severe in punishing the obstinate !
III. On the Value of Almsgiving.
O MAN ! give alms to the poor, through whom thou givest it to thy Creator. He makes Himself thy debtor in the poor man, and will give thee a full and abundant payment, and an overflowing reward. We can give our goods to God only through the poor, and He can stand in need of our goods only in the poor. See, therefore, my Brethren, how great is the happiness of the almsgiver, who can give to Him Who gives and repays to all most abundantly; to Whom not only the rich man who has much, gives much, but he gives most of all who gives whatever he has to the poor. The widow in the Gospel gave more than all the money that was in the treasury, when she gave willingly only the two mites she had. Hence Christ praised her hidden offering when He publicly declared it to be not a trifling, but a rich gift Then let us distribute to the poor and needy our earthly and perishable goods, by which we may acquire immense and endless happiness with God in heaven. Alms are the patrimony of the poor, which our Divine Brother, Jesus Christ, purchased for them. When, therefore, we bestow alms upon them, we do not give them what belongs to another, but we restore to them what is their own. I beseech my Brothers, the Friars Minor, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, since they have chosen to make themselves poor after His example, and to ask alms in His Name, not to be ashamed of begging from door to door. Our Lord Himself lived on alms. If, therefore, a vile creature does what he has first seen the Omnipotent Creator do, all will consider it to be not a dishonour, but an honour — not an ignominy, but a glory ; especially when the poor mendicant procures for the rich man, of whom he begs, far more abundant wealth, and provides him with an unseen occasion of gain and interest. Moreover, on the part of God, he teaches the rich not to despise nor think lightly of the poor, whose confusion (if they suffer any from the rich) the severe Judge will avenge on those who inflict it, but the Father of Mercies will reward in those who suffer it. Whatever men leave behind them on earth withers, only the alms they have bestowed will bloom for ever ; what they have given away in this world, they will find in heaven ; they dispense earthly goods, and they will receive eternal riches. Let him who asks alms give God equal thanks, whether he is mercifully relieved or cruelly denied ; when he is relieved, because God sends him where- with to clothe and feed his body — when he is denied, because he has an occasion offered him of merit and patience.
IV. Of the Love of our Enemies.
Listen, my Brethren, to the message which the Most High sends you from heaven, by means of the least of His servants. Love all, both your neighbours and those from whom you suffer anything. The former are manifestly your friends, the latter are by no means your enemies. Those who love you, who serve you, who give you food and clothing, do good indeed to your bodies ; but those who persecute you, who are angry with you, who injure you, do much more good to your souls. All men are therefore your friends, and no one is to be called an enemy ; all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves. If therefore you desire to hate your enemies, begin by hating your body and your sensual appetite. If you wish to be avenged of your adversary, scourge your body, and bring it into subjection to the spirit. May God Who created you, and Christ Who redeemed you, be with you, and keep you from all adversity !
V. Of Perfect Obedience,
We are all, my Brethren, creatures of God, on whom the Most High has mercifully bestowed many more gifts than on others. If we do not serve Him, nor fulfil His commandments as we promised in baptism He will deprive us of the inheritance of glory, and cast us into hell ; we shall lose the liberty of children, and undergo the slavery of captives. Let us not desire to have authority over anyone, but to be subject to all creatures for the love of the Creator. Upon those who act thus and persevere, the Spirit of God will rest, and He will make His abode in them. They will be children of the heavenly Father, brethren of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and spouses of the Holy Ghost. These nuptials are celebrated when the Divine Spirit and our souls are united to each other by charity. We are the brethren of Jesus Christ when we participate in His possessions, and we are called the children of God when we become like Him in our actions. Oh, how glorious it is to have a Father in heaven ! how sweet and happy to cling to such a Spouse ! how great and glorious to have for our Brother the Heir of the kingdom of heaven ! St. Paul calls Him the First-born ; St. John, the Only-Begotten Son. He is called the First-born in that nature which He took from us ; He is the Only- Begotten in the Godhead which He received from His co-equal Father from all eternity. Our Lord says in the Gospel : ‘Unless a man renounce all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple ;’ and, ‘He who wishes to save his soul, must lose it ;’ as though He said, that he relinquishes all who renounces his own will, and he saves his soul by losing it who abdicates all dominion over himself, and subjects all that he is to the authority of his Superior. There are some subjects who are deceived by their own sense, and whenever the command of the Superior is repugnant to their unconquered self-will, they immediately say it is contrary to the Rule, and to the good of their souls. Perfect obedience is that which makes a Religious omit what seems to him the best and wisest, that he may fulfil, at the sole command of his Superior, what he himself considers less right and fitting. In this he acquires great merit by renouncing his own opinion and yielding his own will to that of another. He who truly obeys his Superior obeys God, and gives an excellent example to his neighbour. The highest obedience is that in which flesh and blood have no share. The perfectly obedient man ought not to wait until a command is given a second or a third time ; for he who does not execute the orders of the Superior at once, obeys not with his free will, but only by compulsion. He who does not obey promptly, has no fear of God nor reverence for man, if he has no good reason for delay. Most fruitful is holy Obedience, for the truly obedient man passes no time without merit.
VI. Of the Value and Dignity of the Soul.
The greatest care ought to be taken of the soul, for man has not many, but only one. If God had given us two souls, as He has given us two eyes, or two feet, then should one be lost or taken away, we might guard and save the other. But as we have received only one, very weak and languishing, assailed by three most powerful enemies, and exposed to the fiery darts of the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is not lawful for it to repose securely for one single day, but it must always be striving and fighting. The Apostle gives us to understand how continual this warfare must be, when he says : ‘ Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.’ In war, or in a battle, some time is granted to the soldiers to refresh their bodies, to lay aside their arms, to rest from their labours, and to recruit their strength ; nor are they, during severe cold, compelled to rest at night exposed to the inclemency of the season, but are allowed to pass the winter in the city. But it is different with wrestlers ; for then only can they be permitted to breathe, when one being overcome and thrown to the earth, the other goes away in triumph. The strife with our enemies can never cease, the time of fighting is the whole time of our life, the end of our life will be the beginning of rest ; and only after death will the demonwrestler retire, after having endeavoured most strenuously to conquer us in death. Let us, therefore, most earnestly beseech Our Lord to protect us by His grace, and, in the midst of so many dangers, mercifully to defend us from our enemies. Nothing, alas! is more vile than the price for which we sell our precious souls. On the slightest occasion we cast it into hell, and for the smallest and most insignificant reward we deprive it of the inestimable treasure of Divine grace.
VII. Of the Obligation of Priests.
Reverend Fathers, you are the intimate friends and servants of God, and eat at His table ; understand well, then, your dignity. Esteem devotion highly ; be constant in contemplation. Let the Holy Spirit be the light of your intellect, and the fire of your will. Persevere in the observance of those things which you have promised to God, and never return in deed or in affection to the things you have abandoned. Fly from ambition; avoid superiority among your Brethren. Remember that He Who is infinitely above angels and men, when He entered this world made Himself inferior, not only to angels, but even to men, and calls Himself the least of all, saying : ‘ I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.’ Let those who are chosen for Superiors not command their subjects haughtily, as if they were masters, but correct them humbly, as becomes those who are called Ministers. Let them provide carefully for the necessities of all, taking great care about their temporal welfare, and greater still of their spiritual good. Let them remember that they are pastors over the souls of their subjects, of whom, according to the Apostle, they will have to give a strict account. When a sheep is lost, or perishes of cold, the shepherds try cunningly to satisfy their masters by showing the skin of the dead animal. The pastors of souls will be obliged to pay most strictly before the judgment-seat of God ; not a skin for a sheep, but skin for skin, soul for soul. Let them treat their subjects with the same care as they treat themselves, and minister to them as if they were themselves. God commands sinners to do penance for their sins, and to make a true confession of them to the Priests, who ought to reprove them for their sins, and lead them back through penance to virtue. They should exhort their penitents to frequent confession and Communion ; for if the holy Eucharist is the food of the soul, without which it languishes and dries up, why should not all desire to approach daily the holy Banquet in which it is offered to all ? He who is fatigued by the difficulties of a journey, has most need of the refreshment of food. If, then, we are all pilgrims travelling to our own country, why do we not desire to be supported by this precious and most delicious Food ? Elias partook of this Food in figure, and walked in the strength of it to the mount of God. If we often eat this Bread as we ought, we shall profit much in the way of virtue, and we shall more vigorously proceed towards our destined country.