"Just as the holy Apostles were marvels of holiness and humility throughout the whole world, and were filled with the Holy Spirit, so the companions of St. Francis were of such sanctity that not since the time of the Apostles were there such marvelous and holy men in the world...." --Little Flowers of St. Francis, Chapter 1Today's selection goes on to list how the various Brothers had experiences of earlier Saints: being caught up into the third heaven as Paul was; lips touched by an angel with a burning coal as did Isaiah; speaking with God as one friend to another as Moses did; having Divine Wisdom revealed to him and opening up the Scriptures in the most profound ways as John did. Since I've not had such radical experiences I wondered what I would write about today, but then I read another devotional that asked the question, "Can one obey without actually obeying?" It spoke of the desert hermits (such as St. Francis and his Brothers). The author, James Hannay says, "The desert hermits 'understood the sayings of the Lord and adopted them as a practical rule of life." He said for most of us we too often take the Lord's commands and reconcile them to our way of thinking because it would seem "absurd" to us to follow the command, 'If any man take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.' Hannay notes that "it did not occur to them to cast round for an explanation of the words which would enable them to think of themselves as obeying while they refused to obey literally." This is why we do not have experiences like Paul or Moses or John or the desert hermits. We do not obey literally. We are too often like the rich young man (see Mark 10:20-22).
