"St. Francis used to say that a good Lesser Brother should emulate and possess the virtues of these holy brothers: ......Brother Bernard--perfect faith and love of poverty; ....Brother Leo--simplicity and purity; ....Brother Angelo--courtesy and kindness; ....Brother Masseo--gracious bearing and common sense and noble and devout eloquence; ....Brother Rufino--mind lifted up to God; ....Brother Giles--constant prayer; ....Brother Juniper--state of perfect patience by keeping the truth of his low estate constantly before him and whose supreme desire was to follow Christ; ...Brother John--physical and spiritual courage; ....Brother Roger--charity; ....Brother Lucidus's caution, for when he began to like a place, he would leave immediately, saying 'Our home is not here, but in heaven.'" --Mirror of Perfection, 85What I noticed was that no one possessed all of these traits. They were parceled out amongst the brothers and St. Francis seems to be fine with this. Perhaps this is why we are called to be in community with one another. Each of us has a strength we can offer to a group to build it up and to set an example. Our weaknesses in certain areas won't be a detriment if our brother or sister has a strength in that area to contribute to the community. This works only if we are not jealous of others' strengths or prideful of ours, or resentful of our weaknesses or judgmental of theirs. There are many scriptures warning against being jealous or critical (which is usually just jealousy turned inside out). Instead we are to not think too highly or too lowly of ourselves. We are called 'with humility to think of others as being better than ourselves'. It's not that anyone is any better than anyone else, but rather to think this way helps us stay humble. Remember, but for God's grace, which we receive through humility, we, too, are in danger of stumbling.
