** SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI ** "To all those men and women who are not living in penance and do not receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; who practice vice and sin and follow wicked concupiscence (Col 3:5) and the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16); who do not observe what you have promised to the Lord, and bodily serve the world by the desires of the flesh (1 Pet 2:11), the anxieties of the world and the cares of this life; you who are held fast by the devil, whose children you are and whose works you perform (cf Jn 8:41): You are blind, since you do not see the true light, Our Lord Jesus Christ. You do not have spiritual wisdom, since you do not possess the Son of God, Who is the true wisdom of the Father. It is said of such people: Their wisdom has been swallowed up (Ps 106:27), and: Cursed are those who turn away from Your commands (Ps 118:21). You see, acknowledge, know and do evil deeds, and knowingly, you lose your souls. See, you blind ones, you who are deceived by your enemies: by the flesh, the world, and the devil; because it is sweet to the body to commit sin and it is bitter for it to serve God; and because all vices and sins come forth and proceed from the heart of a man, as the Lord says in the Gospel (cf. Mk 7:21). And you have nothing in this world or in the one to come. And you think you posses the vanities of this world for a while, but you are deceived, since the day and the hour will come to which you give no thought, of which you have no knowledge, and of which you are ignorant (cf. Mt 25:13). The body becomes sick, death approaches, and this man dies a bitter death. And no matter where or when or how a man dies in the guilt of sin without doing penance and satisfaction, if he is able to perform some act of satisfaction and does not, the devil snatches up his soul from his body with so much anguish and tribulation that no one can know it unless he has experienced it. And every talent and power and knowledge and wisdom (2 Chron. 1:12) which they think they posses will be taken away from them (cf Lk 8:18; Mk 4:25). And they leave their substance to their relatives and friends, and these have taken and divided the inheritance among themselves and afterwards they have said: "May his soul be cursed since he could have acquired more and given more to us than he did!" Worms eat the body. And so they have lost body and soul in this passing world, and both will go down to hell where they will be tormented without end. In the love which is God (cf. Jn 4:16), we beg all those whom these letters reach to accept with kindness and a divine love the fragrant words of our Lord Jesus Christ which are written above. And those who do not know how to read should have them read to them frequently. And, since they are spirit and life (Jn 6:64), they should preserve them together with a holy manner of working even to the end. And whoever shall not have done these things will be held accountable on the day of judgment (cf. Mt 12:36) before the tribunal of Our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rm 14:10)"
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:53:59 +0000
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