In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples about humility and the greatness of serving: simply doing what we are commanded.

Thanks to the light received from the Spirit, Francis and Clare had learnt to incarnate the Word of God on a daily basis.

The target of their action was Christ to be recognised and served in the brothers or sisters, but also to be helped in those who knocked on the door or met along the way.

The children of the kingdom of heaven do not dominate, but humbly serve their neighbour.

Jesus' disciples do not aspire to prestigious positions, but to conform to the identikit outlined in the Beatitudes.

Hence the active understanding of what the Sources propose.

"They [the brothers] occupied the day in prayer and working with their hands, so as to resolutely avoid idleness, the enemy of the soul [...].

They loved each other with a deep affection, and served and provided for each other as a mother would do with her only tenderly loved child.

Such was the affection that burned in their hearts, that they were ready to give themselves up to death without hesitation, not only for the love of Christ, but also to save the souls or bodies of their brethren" (FF 1446).

"When you have done all that you have been commanded, say:

"We are servants of no account. We have done what we had to do" (Lk 17:10).

And Clare herself, enclosed within the Damianite walls, offered in simplicity to her sisters the testimony of all-round service.

"From then on she no longer refused any servile duties, to the point that she was the one who poured water over the sisters' hands, stood to assist them while they sat and served them at table while they ate.

She barely gave any orders: but she did them spontaneously, preferring to carry them out herself rather than command her sisters" (FF 3180).

The Minim and the Poor Woman of San Damiano had received as a gift a pure heart, inflamed by Charity, at the service of the Kingdom.

Looking upon Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of the Law, they had acquired His physiognomy as fraternal servants, to redeem the multitudes.

Tuesday, 32nd wk. in O.T. (Lk 17:7-10)

Jesus emphasises the necessary forgiveness to be offered to the brother who has done wrong.

Francis had many special qualities, but excelled in one: the stable and solid memory of divine Mercy bending over him, to the point of condoning all the errors of his past life.

He had experienced the fatherhood and motherhood of God, absorbed in those bowels of mercy that had visited and healed him inwardly.

For him, pity and forgiveness - as well as taking back, where necessary - were basic attitudes in the fraternal journey.

By now he carried carved in his heart Jesus' answer to Peter's question: how often to grant forgiveness.

The Lord answered him: «I say to you not seven times, but seventy times seven» (Mt 18:22). As if to say: "always".

Francis of Assisi, in a passage from his Letter to a Minister, explains well the continuous readiness to forgive, and to begin again without tiring. The accents are moving.

"I tell you [...] that those things that are an impediment to you in loving the Lord God, and every person who will be an obstacle to you [...] all this you must hold as a grace [...] And love those who act with you in this way [...]" (FF 234).

Again: "And in this I want to know if you love the Lord and love me his servant and yours, if you will act in this way, namely: that there be no brother in the world, who has sinned, as much as it is possible to sin, who, after he has seen your eyes, does not go away without your forgiveness, if he asks for it; and if he does not ask forgiveness, you ask him if he wants to be forgiven. And if, afterwards, he sins a thousand times before your eyes, love him more than me for this: that you may draw him to the Lord; and always have mercy on such brothers" (FF 235).

The letter, a true jewel among those written by the Poverello, continues:

"If any of the brothers, at the instigation of the enemy, has mortally sinned, he is bound by obedience to have recourse to his guardian. And all the brothers who know of his sin, let them not shame him nor speak ill of him, but have great mercy on him and keep their brother's sin a great secret, because not the healthy need a doctor, but the sick" (FF 237).

«If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him» (Lk 17:3)

Monday 32nd wk. in O.T.  (Lk 17,1-6)