deceptive glories, attempts to reduce to nothing that which is greater than heaven itself? ²¹Indeed, it is now clear that the soul of a faithful person, the most worthy of all creatures because of the grace of God, is greater than heaven itself, ²²since the heavens and the rest of creation cannot contain their Creator; only a faithful soul is His dwelling place and throne, and this only through the charity that the wicked lack. ²³The Truth says: Whoever loves me will be loved by My Father, and I too shall love him, and We shall come to him and make Our dwelling place with him.²⁴As the glorious virgin of virgins carried [Him] materially, ²⁵so you, too, by following in her footprints,^a especially [those] of humility and poverty, can, with- out any doubt, always carry Him spiritually in your chaste and virginal body, ²⁶holding Him by Whom you and all things are held together possessing that which, in comparison with the other transitory possessions of this world you will possess more securely. ²⁷In this, certain worldly kings and queens are deceived, ²⁸for, even though their pride may reach the skies and their heads touch the clouds, in the end they are as forgotten as a dung-heap!²⁹Now concerning those matters that you have commissioned me to clarify for you, ³⁰namely, what were the feasts that³¹Your prudence should know, then, that except for the weak and the sick, for whom he advised and directed us to show every possible discre- tion in matters of food,^{b 32}none of us who are healthy and strong should eat anything other than Lenten fare, either on ferial days or on feast days. ³³Thus, we must fast every day except Sundays and the Nativity of the Lord, on which days we may have two meals. ³⁴And on ordinary Thursdays everyone may do as she wishes, so that she who does not wish to fast is not obliged. ³⁵However, we who are well should fast every day except on Sundays and on Christmas.

³⁶During the whole of Easter, as the writing of Saint Francis tells us, and on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the holy Apostles, we are not obliged to fast, unless these feasts occur

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²⁰Quis non abhorreat humani hostis insidias, qui per fastum momentaneorum et fallacium gloriarum ad nihilum redigere cogit quod maius est caelo? ²¹Ecce iam liquet per Dei gratiam, dignissimam creaturarum fidelis hominis animam maiorem esse quam caelum, ²²cum caeli cum creaturis ceteris capere nequeant Creatorem, et sola fidelis anima ipsius mansio sit et sedes, et hoc solum, per caritatem qua carent impii: ²³Veritate dicente: Qui diligit me diligetur a Patre meo, et ego diligam eum, et ad eum veniemus et mansionem apud eum faciemus. ²⁴Sicut ergo Virgo virginum gloriosa materialiter, ²⁵sic et tu, sequens eius vestigia, humilitatis praesertim et paupertatis, casto et virgineo corpore spiritualiter semper sine dubietate omni portare potes, ²⁶illum continens, a quo et tu (et) omnia continentur, illud possidens quod et comparate cum ceteris huius mundi possessionibus transeuntibus fortius possidebitis. ²⁷In (quo) quidam mundani reges et reginae falluntur, ²⁸quorum superbiae usque ad caelum licet ascenderint, et caput earum nubes tetigerit, quasi sterquillinium in fine perduntur. ²⁹Super his autem quae me iam tibi reserare mandasti, ³⁰quae scilicet essent festa quae forte, ut te opinor aliquatenus aestimasse in varietate ciborum gloriosissimus pater noster, sanctus Franciscus, nos celebrare specialiter monuisset, caritati tuae duxi respondendum. ³¹Noverit quidem tua prudentia, quod praeter debiles et infirmas, quibus de quibuscumque cibariis omnem discretionem quam possemus facere nos monuit et mandavit, ³²nulla nostrum sana et valida nisi cibaria quadragesimalia tantum, tam in diebus ferialibus quam festivis, manducare deberet, die quolibet ieiunando, ³³exceptis diebus dominicis et die Natalis Domini, in quibus bis in die comedere deberemus. ³⁴Et in diebus quoque Iovis solitis temporibus pro voluntate cuiuslibet, ut quae scilicet nollet, ieiunare non teneretur. ³⁵Nos tamen sanae ieiunamus cotidie praeter dies dominicos et Natalis.

³⁶In omni vero Pascha, ut scriptum beati Francisci dicit, et festivitatibus sanctae Mariae ac sanctorum apostolorum ieiunare etiam non tenemur, nisi haec festa talia in sexta feria evenirent;