Saturday, December 24, 2016

Francis of Assisi – The Seven Peace and Goodwill Virtues

Francis of Assisi lived from 1181—1226. The legacy of his 45 years is one of incredible spiritual presence. Here is an Admonition of Francis, and below it, a commentary:
Hail, queen wisdom! May the Lord save you with your holy sister, pure simplicity!
O Lady, holy poverty, may the Lord save you with your sister, holy humility!
O Lady, holy charity, may the Lord save you with your sister, holy obedience!
O all of you most holy virtues, may the Lord, from whom you proceed and come, save you!
There is absolutely no person in the whole world who can possess one among you unless they die first. She who possesses one and does not offend the others, possesses all; and he who offends one possesses none and offends all; and every one confounds vices and sins.
Holy wisdom confounds Satan and all his wickedness.
Pure, holy simplicity confounds all the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of the flesh.
Holy poverty confounds cupidity and avarice and the cares of this world.
Holy humility confounds pride and all the men of this world and all things that are in the world.
Holy charity confounds all diabolical and fleshly temptations and all fleshly fears.
Holy obedience confounds all bodily and fleshly desires and keeps the body mortified to the obedience of the Spirit and to the obedience of one’s brother and makes a man woman subject to all the men and women of this world — and not to men and women alone, but also to beasts and wild animals, so that they may do with him whatsoever they will, insofar as it may be granted to them from above by the Lord.
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My Commentary:
Holy wisdom is a principal virtue beyond summary description. One may study her for their entire lives and never know her more other than to grow into her. God knows it is a supreme gift that becomes us, which is beyond mere knowledge, that beholding a mystery is the essence of holy wisdom. In sum, with holy wisdom, Satan is defeated. Those in whom Jesus inhabits, by the Holy Spirit, are married incontrovertibly with all-conquering holy wisdom.
The purveyor of pure, holy simplicity knows without knowing, that there is nothing of the wisdom of this world or the wisdom of the flesh that ought to be cherished for the acquisition. Holy simplicity has an aversion to both, remaining pure, appearing naïve — which, in this way, is God’s hiddenness — to the world.
When holy poverty absorbs us into herself, the folly of cupidity and avarice and the cares of this world is implicit. Not only is there no need of them, again, there is spiritual aversion.
That one with holy humility resists pride and all the men of this world and all things that are in the world with the other virtues: simplicity, poverty, wisdom… and the others. These join together, making humility a super virtue.
Having the other virtues, holy charity has the foretaste and is the foreclosure of goodness, which is the vision of all evil in all diabolical and fleshly temptations and all fleshly fears.
Holy obedience upholds the sanctity in and of all relationships, creating in us the transcendent and the paradoxical; the power of subjugation, where no man or woman could be as Jesus was, and the Martyrs were, and the Persecuted Church are, otherwise.
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Francis of Assisi, a Saint, was a champion of the poor. As an exemplar of Christ’s teachings, he shows us that peace-and-goodwill is the spiritual virtue of life.
Pax et Bonum (peace and the good) was the motto of Saint Francis. You may counted only six virtues in this Admonition of Francis’. The seventh is the Pax et Bonum that superintends them all.
Through virtue, vice is overcome; virtue confounds vice without vice knowing how or why.

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