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| St. Francis |
"We are told that S. Anselm of Canterbury… [observed that]
a hunted hare took refuge from imminent death beneath the Bishop’s horse, the
hounds clamoring round, but not daring to drag it from its asylum, whereat his
attendants began to laugh; but the great Anselm wept, saying, “You may laugh forsooth,
but to the poor hunted beast it is no laughing matter; even so the soul which
has been led astray in all manner of sin finds a host of enemies waiting at its
last hour to devour it, and terrified, knows not where to seek a refuge, and if
it can find none, its enemies laugh and rejoice.” And so he went on his way,
sighing.
Constantine the Great wrote with great respect to S.
Anthony, at which his religious expressed their surprise. “Do you marvel,” he
said, “that a king should write to an ordinary man? Marvel rather that God
should have written His Law for men, and yet more that He should have spoken with
them Face to face through His Son.” When S. Francis saw a solitary sheep amid a
flock of goats; “See,” said he to his companion, “how gentle the poor sheep is
among the goats, even as was Our Lord among the Pharisees;” and seeing a boar
devour a little lamb, “Poor little one,” he exclaimed, weeping, “how vividly is
my Savior’s Death set forth in thee!”
Take the time to meditate upon these stories St. Francis relates.
+JMJ+
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