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| ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI: GREAT MODEL OF SIMPLICITY. Image from turnbacktogod.com |
Simplicity as a pillar of the Holy Friendship refers to living a simple life.
"So do not worry. Do not say,
'What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear'?"
[Matthew 6:31].
It is understandable if a person should ask the above questions since we are not as simple as God: we have body parts to take care of and sustain in order to live unlike God who is pure spirit. However, we must understand this: we eat to live not live to eat. This means that all the basic necessities of life are only for the purpose of sustaining the minimum bodily needs to survive and have the energy to do what we are supposed to accomplish in life: to live our lives in holiness, to proclaim the Gospel, and make disciples of the Lord.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" [Matthew 6:33]. It doesn't mean that we have to refrain from eating, drinking and wearing clothes until we have found the Kingdom of God. This is merely an admonition for us to prioritize the Gospel before running after other things in life [the wants, the pleasures, the comforts] for many have prioritized the other things in life before the Gospel and they have been led astray from the right path or misused the Gospel to suit their status.
Without simplicity, it would be hard to follow such admonition for the flesh seeks for pleasures, comforts and wants in life. That is why poverty is one of the so-called evangelical counsels because embracing the life of poverty means living a simple life, denying the self of the desires for wants, pleasures and comforts, and being totally dependent on the provisions of God.
Simplicity is not an alien virtue to Christians. It is a manifestation of the requirement to deny one's self. Unless we live in simplicity we cannot be true friends of the Lord. For simplicity allows us the more to conform to the person of Jesus Christ which inspires us to give ourselves to others in the same manner that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our salvation. This is because the simple person does not have anything to worry about in this life for his or her treasures are in heaven unlike the person who shuns simplicity and runs after the world's riches and concerns. So whatever happens, he or she would be so willing to offer himself or herself for the welfare, particularly spiritual and moral, of others.
One of the great exemplars of true simplicity - aside from the Lord Jesus Christ - is no other than St Francis of Assisi. He is actually considered the only person to closely live like Christ Himself. But St Francis's simplicity is a unique charism which even his followers cannot fully duplicate. Most of us, therefore, are not expected to be like him. Nonetheless, we are all called to live as simple as possible.
May we always meditate on the virtue of simplicity and never allow ourselves to be enticed by the temptations of the flesh. Let us strengthen ourselves spiritually and morally so that we may never be overcome by the deceptions of the world.
Simplicity is not an alien virtue to Christians. It is a manifestation of the requirement to deny one's self. Unless we live in simplicity we cannot be true friends of the Lord. For simplicity allows us the more to conform to the person of Jesus Christ which inspires us to give ourselves to others in the same manner that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our salvation. This is because the simple person does not have anything to worry about in this life for his or her treasures are in heaven unlike the person who shuns simplicity and runs after the world's riches and concerns. So whatever happens, he or she would be so willing to offer himself or herself for the welfare, particularly spiritual and moral, of others.
One of the great exemplars of true simplicity - aside from the Lord Jesus Christ - is no other than St Francis of Assisi. He is actually considered the only person to closely live like Christ Himself. But St Francis's simplicity is a unique charism which even his followers cannot fully duplicate. Most of us, therefore, are not expected to be like him. Nonetheless, we are all called to live as simple as possible.
May we always meditate on the virtue of simplicity and never allow ourselves to be enticed by the temptations of the flesh. Let us strengthen ourselves spiritually and morally so that we may never be overcome by the deceptions of the world.
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