Francis of Assisi had well understood the evangelical lesson of Jesus addressed to his own: whoever wants to be first will be servant of all.
The Poverello defined by Celano in the Second Life as "the servant and friend of the Most High" (FF 583) had asked Jesus to show him when he was truly his servant and the answer had been: "Recognise yourself as my servant truly, when you think, say, act holily" (FF 743).
And in the Letter to the Faithful he illustrates how the superior must be: "and he to whom obedience is entrusted and who is considered the greater, let him be as the lesser and servant of the other brothers" (FF 197).
And again Celano in the Vita prima informs us:
"It was in fact he who founded the Order of Friars Minor; and on what occasion he gave it such a name.
As those words were written in the Rule: "Let them be lesser", as soon as he heard them he exclaimed:
"I want this Fraternity to be called the Order of Friars Minor".
And truly they were "lesser"; "submissive to all" and sought the last place and offices to which some humiliation was attached, so as to lay the solid foundation of true humility, on which the spiritual edifice of all the virtues could be built" (FF 386).
Clare herself, who defined herself as a servant of Christ and the other Poor Clares, adhered deeply to the Gospel of minority.
In fact, the Sources say that "very often in the cold of the night by her own hand she covered them (her daughters) while they slept and wanted those whom she saw incapable of observing common austerity to be content with a less severe regime" (FF 3233).
Yes, at S. Damiano Chiara served... and in silence, defining herself in the fourth letter, addressed to her spiritual daughter Agnes of Bohemia "an unworthy servant of Christ and useless handmaiden of the Lord's servants who dwell in the monastery of S. Damiano in Assisi" (FF 2899).
29th Sunday in O.T. B (Mk 10,35-45)
