Francis, poor
and humble, enters rich into heaven! What thoughts must have
stirred in the heart of Clare of Assisi when she chanted this verse from the
liturgical Office for the feast of her beloved father and mentor? Poor and
humble, Francis had lived in this world, Poor and humble, he taught his
followers his Gospel-inspired way. Poor and humble, he left this world,
lying on the bare earth, and clad in a borrowed habit. And so he entered
heaven, rich in grace and rich in glory.
But what was the true triumph of the Little Poor Man,
which St, Clare sought to emulate? it was not that he simply liked being
poor or that he found humility a helpful virtue in the ascetical ascent. No,
Francis, Clare, and generations of Seraphic saints after them were poor and
humble because, first and foremost, JESUS was
POOR
AND HUMBLE. Their entire spiritual quest was summarized by the
Seraphic Mother in these simple words: the following of the
footsteps of the POOR AND HUMBLE JESUS CHRIST.
How often and how deeply St. Clare looked into the
Mirror who is Christ to contemplate the mystery of His poverty and humility.
Learn from me, the Divine Teacher declared,
for I am meek and
humble of heart. This Son of Man
who, laid poor in a manger, lived
poor in the world, and remained stripped on the Cross, opened to
Francis and Clare the secret of true wealth. Jesus had gone the way before
them: poor and humble He lived in this world: poor and humble, He taught His
followers the Gospel way; poor and humble, He handed over even His Spirit as
He tasted death for the sake of us all.
Every facet of Christ's life thus became a school in
which St. Clare learned the ineffable lessons of poverty and humility. When
she tarried by the Crib, Clare beheld in the POOR AND HUMBLE JESUS
the God who espoused our human littleness, our weakness and limitations. She
saw the God who touched and transformed what is most vulnerable on this
earth into what is most valuable in the Kingdom of Heaven: Unless you change
and become like little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
Beholding the POOR AND HUMBLE JESUS in His hidden
life, Clare grasped the deeper reasons for her own hidden life of prayer,
penance and humble labor, the consecrated obscurity which mirrored the
humility and the poverty of the Lord who lived unknown on earth.
But it was especially as St. Clare beheld the
POOR
AND HUMBLE JESUS on the Cross that she understood the poverty and humility
of God which had become not only the source of man's enriching, but also of
man's redemption. Then it became a matter not only of
following His
poverty and humility or of simply serving Him in poverty and
humility, but of becoming poor and humble like Him
end with Him and in Him.
It is only then that one is able to enter rich into
heaven. Beholding the
POOR AND HUMBLE JESUS with
faith and love, inevitably leads to becoming like the
POOR
AND HUMBLE JESUS. Even more, it is an invitation to our Lord to
take up His dwelling in us, to unite Himself to us, so that His Father
rejoices to see
JESUS, POOR AND HUMBLE, living in us.
