MARY, OUR MOTHER

CHAPTER XVIII, BOOK IV,

'LITTLE FLOWERS'

OF THE REMEMBRANCE OF DEATH

If a man had ever before the eyes of his mind the remembrance of death and of the final eternal judgment, and of the pains and torments of the lost souls, certain it is that he would never have a will to sin or to offend God. And if it were possible for a man to have lived from the beginning of the world until now, and in all that time to have endured every kind of adversity, tribulation, grief, sorrow and affliction, and so to die, and then his soul go to receive the eternal bliss of heaven, what harm would he have received from all the evil which he had endured during all that time past?

Again, if for the same space of time a man had enjoyed every king of earthly pleasure and consolation, and then, when he came to die, his soul were to fall into the eternal torments of hell, what would all the good things profit him which he had enjoyed in the time past?

A begger man said once to Brother Giles: “I tell thee, I would right gladly live a long time in this world, and have great riches and abundance of all things, and be held in great honour.” To whom Brother Giles made answer: “My brother, wert thou to be lord of the whole world, and wert thou to live therein a thousand years in every kind of temporal enjoyment, pleasure, delight and consolation, tell me, what guerdon or what reward couldst thou look for from this miserable flesh of thine, which thou wouldst so diligently serve and cherish? But I say to thee, that he who lives according to the will of God, and carefully keeps himself from offending God, shall receive from God, the Supreme Good, and infinite eternal reward, great and abundant riches and great honour, and long eternal life in that perpetual celestial glory; unto which may our good God, Lord, and King, Jesus Christ, bring us all, to the honour of the same Lord Jesus Christ, and of his poor little one Francis.”

[Public Domain.]

And so ends the book "The Little Flowers of St. Francis." I hope everyone enjoyed reading it chapter by chapter. I certainly enjoyed posting it for you! The Holy Father, Pope Benedict had a few words to say about St. Francis the other day:

The Pope met with the priests in the Swiss Hall of his summer residence at Castelgandolfo.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, the Holy Father told the men that they should use the conversion story of St. Francis of Assisi as an example for young people in their diocese.

The Pope stressed that the young Saint’s conversion is his real significance for the Catholic Church.

Francis (1181-1226) was the son of a well-to-do merchant in the town of Assisi. Historians say that as a young man he lived a carefree and irresponsible life focused on pursuing the ideals of his day.

Young Francis was drawn by the “glamour” of the military life, but underwent a dramatic conversion during a year he spent as a prisoner of war in Perugia. Upon his return to Assisi he witnessed the terrible conditions in which beggars and lepers in his own city lived and renounced his former life.

Francis left his wealthy home to live as a hermit and devoted himself to looking after the sick and rebuilding decaying churches around Assisi. In 1209 he decided to live in total poverty and to spend his time preaching.

"First he was sort of playboy but then he felt that this was no longer sufficient," Benedict continued, according to ANSA.

Pope Benedict said the story was one which could "animate the young" and inspire them embrace the Church.

He also lamented that St. Francis name is sometimes "exploited" by being associated with political ideologies, apart from his Catholic message.

The Pontiff was apparently referring to a tendency by environmentalists and pacifists to evoke the medieval saint, who founded the Franciscan order of friars, as a champion of their causes. Francis, the Pontiff reportedly said, "was above all a convert."

God Bless Us All!
Deacon John