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Discipline must be learned and practiced |
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Written by John Thomas OBrien
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008 |
Discipline comes in all sizes and shapes There
is a discipline of simplicity. It is not practiced for the pleasure it
brings. It is not the most pleasant. However it is one of the more
important. Of all the spiritual discipline, this one needs the most
practice. Some of us define ourselves by our possessions, status, and
all manner of social expectations. Remember the difference between men
and boys is the price of their toys. He who dies with the most toys
wins. Participation in a disciple requires throwing off from ourselves
of anything that dims our vision of Christ. Look at the life and
example of Francis of Assisi.
Francis of Assisi's father, wealthy in is own right, being a Italian
cloth merchant,, had wide land holdings around Assisi. He taught
Francis, as a teen, the family business. When Francis entered his early
twenties, he thought life was much too busy and intertwined with the
status of position and wealth.
Thinking independently, and acting on impulse, Francis took the fine fabric from the family shop and sold it in the market. In the same frame of mind, he sold the family horse. To top everything off, the money went to the poor.
With in a month of these events, Francis was a begging walking the streets of Assisi. He brought much laughter down on himself and his family. He father tried to bring him back to his senses. Francis was brought home home, punished and locked in a cellar. He was limited to bread and water. The family hope that this treatment would bring him around to his senses. It did not work. Naturally the family was upset. Francis before the bishop. Maybe Franicis would be “brought home” again.
The lesson that was advanced to Francis that this: no matter one's motive, it is not right to steal. He told Francis to return what he had taken. Francis said nothing; He stepped into an adjoining room while the bishop waited for words or some acknowledgement of lesson learned. .
A few minutes later Francis came back in, completely naked. His clothing was carried in a neat pile. He walked up to his father, placing them at his feet. Then he said: "Up to now, I have called Pietro di Bernardone father. Hereafter I shall not say, 'Father Pietro di Bernardone, 'but 'Our Father Who Art in Heaven!' "
The bishop was so moved, he took off his cope and wrapped it around Francis. Francis just turned and walked out of the cathedral. It was less a break with his father than with everything his father represented — comfort, wealth, status. Francis wanted nothing to stand in the way of his following Christ. So began his famous life of simplicity.
Some of us are called to make such complete breaks with our surroundings. However think of this point;.One doesn't have to be filthy rich to see how material things mess with the spiritual life. From time to time it is good to shed our “stuff” and focus on Christ again.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 February 2008 )
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