St. Francis and the Franciscan Admonitions
Francis of Assisi was born in 1181, and was taught to read and write in Latin as a young boy. In 1205 Francis had a vision; this vision was interpreted to be a message from God to repair the church. After renouncing all of his belongings and receiving blessings from the pope, Francis set out to preach with his new order of monks, known as the Franciscans. To preserve the religious vocations of his brothers, Francis created the Admonitions. They were written during the foundational period of the Franciscan order. The Admonitions are instructions created to emphasize important virtues such as obedience, poverty, and humility.
In “Perfect and Imperfect Obedience” Francis speaks of the Lord’s Gospel “Every one of you who does not renounce all that he posses cannot be my disciple… He who would save his life will lose it” . In doing so, Francis is explaining that true obedience is not to one’s self, but, to God as well as one’s neighbor. True obedience is also shown through the sacrifice of themselves for their beliefs. Rather than renouncing one’s beliefs, the religious would suffer persecution for their brethren. In addition, Francis also emphasizes that with obedience comes understanding. As the Lord tells us to serve, it is important to know that we are the givers. Francis reminds us that those who have obtained high authority are no more important than those who wash their feet.
In another of Francis’ chapters “No One Should Be Scandalized at Another’s Fall”, we are told that sin is the only thing that should upset a religious; if any religious finds themselves “upset or angry for any other reason except charity, he is only drawing blame upon himself” . Religious’ live good lives by r...
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...s of the Lord” Francis speaks of the one thing all can boast about, humiliations and picking up the cross of Jesus .
The Admonitions served as short exhortations to Francis of Assisi’s Franciscan brothers in order to persevere their vocations. By creating Admonitions, Francis revived the significant virtues of obedience, humility, and poverty; while each one is scripturally based, they also address the aspects of living a Christian life. Although the Admonitions contain only minor points, the cumulative effect on the Franciscans is substantial. In the world we live in today moral values and kindness to one’s neighbor are hard to come by. Franciscan or not, there can still be much to learn from the Admonitions.
Bibliography
Francis of Assisi, Admonitions, in Mark A. Kirshlansky, ed. Sources of the west, Vol. 1, 7th edition (New York: Pearson Longman,2008) 182-186
Chapter one, ‘Beginnings at Assisi,’ offers a vivid description of the social, political, economic, cultural, demographic description of Assisi and its inhabitants. Here, the author describes the life of Francis and the situations and circumstances prompting his journey to spread the ideal gospel life to the world. This chapter is relevant in determining the circumstances that instigated a need for reforms in the Catholic Church. This chapter is applicable in my life because it offers insight on the fundamental Christian I can rely on in my daily life.
With this in mind, the objective of this essay is to focus on the main ideas of each theologian, and discuss how each theologian’s ideas are compensatory to the other. This is important because even though each theologian’s writings were inspired by the harsh realities of the societies, and also by the effect each writer experienced in their moment in history, their critiques specifically of Christian institutions remain a consistent amongst all three writings. Furthermore, not only are their critiques consistent, but their goals for providing new frameworks for the future of the Church and Christian discipleship are consistent as well.
Carleton- Munro, Dana. The Speech of Pope Urban II. At Clermont, 1095. The American Historical Review. 11. no. 2 (1906): 231.
Aquinas, St. Thomas. COMMENTARY on SAINT PAUL'S EPISTLE to the GALATIANS. Trans. F. R. Larcher. Albany: Magi Books, 1996.
... of sainthood requires an excess of self-restraint that makes it impossible to attain the moral mean. The saint may tell himself that the denial of worldly pleasures will bring him true happiness, but in fact he is pursuing a kind of perverse pleasure in self-restraint. Saint Augustine is looking for happiness from beyond life; but happiness, as Aristotle says, comes from achieving the moral mean in life. If we aspire to the moral mean, we must consider moral martyrdom to be like any other excess. In this view, the denial of worldly pleasures is not a virtue; rather, it is a vice that leads us away from the balance that we seek in our lives.
Although Father Latour may possess few worldly desires, one may argue he wants what others can benefit from as well as pleasing himself. Along his journeys, Latour encounters various people, most associates of the Catholic Church like himself. It seems as each time Latour detects a sense of deceit in a person, he progresses in his own mission of morality. When one is trying so hard to embrace and follow the rules and restrictions of religion, as well as enjoy the worldly luxuries, a divided character is created within oneself. It is not until true and total devotion is committed to ones religion that material things become irrelevant and one can be at peace.
...Gospel with the greatest amount of individual liberty and the minimum of regulation. Cardinal Hugolino, the late Gregory IX, assisted Francis in the completion of the Rule of in 1223. All this effort took its tool on the health of Francis, he started realizing that he was nearing the end of his life. Since he believed he had lived like Christ, he pleaded to die like Christ.
During the Great Jubilee year, John Paul II gave a relevant speech of apology on behalf of the entire Catholic Church for the serious sins committed by its members for over 2,000 years. Since John Paul II did that, he wished the Church to enter the new millennium with a clean slate, allowing it to speak to and discuss freely with the other religions of the world, including the cultures and nations from a place not only of permanency but also of moral and religious power, having acknowledged in specific ways the crimes, from time to time unbearable, committed by its human origins throughout history. These apologies were hardly accepted, and common apologies for sins committed against the Church and its members have not been imminent. “Catholics distinguish between the holiness of the inevitable sinful nature of men, including the men who serve the Church stated by Thomas E. Woods Jr.” From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one directing on the weaknesses of the Church's human members suffering from sin, which does not prevent it from receiving God's forgiveness through the sacraments, however troubled it may be by the sins of its members.... ...
Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria in the early 1180’s. His fath er was Pietro Bernadone, a very wealthy cloth merchant. His baptized name was Giovanni but it was changed to Francesco. Francis received a decent amount of schooling as a child although he did not show much interest in it. He was very spoiled and did not want to go into his father’s business. He had high status, was handsome, wore fine clothing, and was very well known with the people of Assisi.
...Today as a Christ follower, we will never be satisfied if our life is not bearing lasting fruit because we are not fulfilling the purpose for which we were “grafted “into the Vine. Let’s examine the “fruit” of our lives. Is it the kind of fruit that reveals the character of Christ? Let’s not settle for fruitless Christianity. God will do the work of making us fruitful – we must only abide, surrendering our lives to His mission of making disciples of all nations through us. The whole notion of mission is to stretch out to work the work of evangelism not through hierarchy, sovereignty, rather through humbleness, hospitality, affection love for the others. That is what Jesus who portrayed as the one who we do not deserve to untie His sandals straps in the first Chapter of John, later become feet washer, intimate with humanity leaving His equality with God.
Francis was famous for his love of all creation. He called for simplicity of life, poverty, and humility before God. He worked to care for the poor. Thousands were drawn to his sincerity, piety, and joy. In all his actions, Francis sought to follow fully and literally the way of life demonstrated by Christ in the Gospels. He died in 1226, at the age of 44.
Saint Francis of Assisi was a uniquely spiritual man who gave up a life of wealth and position to lead a life of poverty in accordance and service to God. Embracing a life according to the Gospels, Francis went on to establish a Monastic Order, known as the Franciscans. In the midst of the political climate within the religious community of Italy, Francis emerged a champion for the poor and sick, with humility and no regard for himself. Francis exhibited his love for God through his love and admiration for all of God's creation including nature. The principles of Saint Francis are as relevant today as they were in thirteenth century Italy; service and love to all of God’s creation.
This passage reflects what Christianity care teachings “taught by Jesus” are to good by everyone, which can be observed i...
In Book Thirteen of Confessions, Saint Augustine’s subject matter is the Holy Spirit, who is love. We are enlightened to the main point of his entire work. He believed that everything and everyone is connected to love. He said, when we share this love, which comes from the Holy Spirit, we are closest to God. In this essay, I will summarize Augustine’s final work and I will compare it to the teachings of Plotinus, Stoics and Skepticism. I will evaluate its value through different philosophical viewpoints shared through various texts.
When considering morality, worthy to note first is that similar to Christian ethics, morality also embodies a specifically Christian distinction. Studying a master theologian such as St. Thomas Aquinas and gathering modern perspectives from James Keenan, S. J. and David Cloutier serve to build a foundation of the high goal of Christian morality. Morality is a primary goal of the faith community, because it is the vehicle for reaching human fulfillment and happiness. Therefore, great value can be placed on foundations of Christian morality such as the breakdown of law from Aquinas, the cultivation of virtues, the role of conscience in achieving morality, and the subject of sin described by Keenan.