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after me, deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow me.a Inwardly, this both kindled his heart with the fire of love and filled it with the painfulness of compassion. His soul melted at the sight, and the memory of Christ was so impressed on the innermost recesses of his heart, that with the eyes of his mind he continually, as it were, discerned interiorly the wounds of his crucified Lord and could scarcely contain his tears and sighs. When now for the love of Christ Jesus he despised all the goods of his house by considering them as nothing, he felt that he had found the hidden treasure and the brilliant pearl of great price. Moved by the desire to possess it, he arranged to leave all his possessions, and by a divine method of commerce, he exchanged the business of the world for the business of the Gospel.
Fifth Lesson
One day when he went out to meditate in the fields, he walked near the church of San Damiano, which was threatening to collapse because of age. Impelled by the Spirit, he went inside to pray. Prostrate before an image of the Crucified, he was filled with no little consolation as he prayed. When his tear-filled eyes were gazing at the Lord's cross he heard in a marvelous way with his bodily ears a voice coming from that cross, telling him three times: "Francis, go, rebuild my house which, as you see, is all being destroyed!" At the wonderful suggestion of this astonishing voice the man of God first was indeed thoroughly terrified, then filled with joy and admiration. Coming back to himself, he arose immediately to carry out the command of repairing the material church; although the principal intention of the voice referred to that Church which Christ purchased by precious exchange with his own blood, just as the Holy Spirit taught him, and as he revealed later to his close companions.
Sixth Lesson
Soon afterwards Francis, for the love of Christ, put aside all the things he could and offered money to the poor priest of that church for the repair of his church and for the use of the poor. He humbly asked the priest that he be allowed to stay there for a short time. The priest agreed to his staying there, but out of fear of Francis's
- This encounter with the Crucified Christ, which is not present in Thomas of Celano’s account of Francis’s life, has a heightened sense of immediacy compared with LMj I 5, where Francis appears to grasp the personal import of Mt 16:24 later. Subsequent reference to vision and memory has a narrative function, as prelude to the San Damiano event, and anticipate the stigmata. Heard in a liturgical context, however, these same terms encourage meditation on the image of the Crucified Christ prominent in early Franciscan churches.
Legenda Maior, Fontes Franciscani, p. 967-969
Qui vult venire post me abneget semetipsum et tollat crucem suam et sequatur me, ut mentem ipsius intrinsecus et incendio dilectionis adureret et absinthio compassionis impleret. 2Nam et ad praemissae, visionis contuitum liquefacta est anima eius, 3et memoria passionis Christi visceribus cordis ipsius adeo impressa medullitus, ut et crucifixi Domini plagas oculis mentis interius quasi iugiter cerneret et vix exterius a lacrimosis gemitibus continere valeret. 4Igitur cum iam pro dilectione Christi Iesu omnem substantiam domus suae quasi nihil reputando despiceret, thesaurum sentiebat se repperisse absconditum pretiosumque margaritae fulgorem, 5quorum desiderio tractus, sua disponebat cuncta distrahere divoque mercandi modo negotiationem mundanam in evangelicam commutare.
Lectio quinta.
5 1Egressus itaque semel ad meditandum in agro, cum deambularet iuxta ecclesiam quamdam Sancti Damiani, quae minabatur prae nimia vetustate ruinam, et instigante se Spiritu, eamdem causa orationis intrasset, prostratus ante imaginem Crucifixi, non modica fuit in orando consolationis suavitate repletus. 2Cumque lacrimosis oculis intenderet in dominicam crucem, vocem de ipsa cruce ad se miro quodam modo dilapsam corporeis audivit auribus ter dicentem: 3« Francisce , vade , repara domum meam, quae, ut cernis, tota destruitur! ». 4Ad cuius stupendae vocis commonitionem mirificam vir Dei primum quidem perterritus, dehinc gaudio et admiratione repletus, protinus exsurrexit, totum se recolligens ad perficiendum mandatum de reparanda materialis ecclesiae domo, 5licet principalis intentio verbi ad eam ferretur, quam Christus sui sanguinis acquisivit pretioso commercio, sicut eum Spiritus sanctus edocuit, et ipse postmodum sibi familiaribus revelavit.
Lectio sexta.
6 1Mox cunctis, ut potuit, pro Christi amore distractis, ecclesiae praefatae sacerdoti pauperculo ad ipsius reparationem et pauperum usum pecuniam obtulit, 2et quod eum ad tempus secum morari permitteret, suppliciter requisivit. 3Acquiescente autem illo de mora, sed timore parentum recusante pecuniam,