Fr. Raffaele Pazzelli,
T.O.R
4. PROLOGUE
The words of St. Francis to his followers (1 Lf 1)
All who love the Lord with their whole heart, their whole
soul and mind, and with their strength, and love their neighbor as themselves, and who
despise the tendency in their humanity to sin, receive the Body and Blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ and bring forth from within themselves fruits worthy of true penance;
How happy and blessed are these men and women when they do
these things, and persevere in doing them because < the Spirit of the Lord will rest
upon them>>. And the Lord will make <<his home and dwelling place with
them>>. They are the children of the heavenly Father whose works they do. They are
the spouses, brothers and mothers of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
`We are his spouses when the faithful soul is united by the
Holy Spirit with Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are brothers when we do the will of the Father
who is in heaven. We are mothers when we bear him in our hearts and bodies with divine
love and with pure and sincere consciences; and we give birth to him through a holy life
which should enlighten others because of our example.
How glorious it is to have so holy and great a Father in
heaven; and to have such a beautiful and admirable Spouse, the Holy Paraclete; and to have
a Brother and Son, so holy, beloved, blessed, humble, peaceful, sweet, lovable and
desirable over all things: Our Lord Jesus Christ who gave up his life for his sheep and
prayed to the Father, saying: Holy Father, keep in your name those whom you gave me in the
world; they are yours and you gave them to me. And the word which you gave me I gave to
them, and they accepted it and believed that it came forth from you. And they have
accepted that you sent me. I pray for them and not for the world. Bless them and sanctify
them. I sanctify myself for their sakes. I do not pray only for these, but also for those
who, through their word, will believe in me, may they be holy in oneness as we are.
Father, I wish that where I am they too may be and that they may see my glory in your
kingdom.
This Prologue is the first part of the <<Recensio
prion>> (first draft) of St. Francis' Letter to the Faithful (I Lf). The text,
discovered by Paul Sabatier in cod. 225 of the Guarnacci Library in Volterra (Italy) and
published by him in 1900 contains, according to the thinking of the experts, an
exhortation written by the saint to penitents who followed his spiritual guidance, that
is, to the members of the movement which later became known as the <<Third Order of
St. Francisť. The document, with all probability written during the first years of his
<<itinerant preaching>>, contains only a few essential ideas, those which form
the base of his more developed teaching as it is contained in the longer form of the
Letter to the Faithful (2 Lf) (8).
In it Francis first of all gives a clear indication of what
<<to do penance>> means and involves. In fact, in the first few lines five
elements are listed: 1) love of God; 2) love of neighbor; 3) opposing the sinful
tendencies of fallen human nature; 4) have recourse to the sacraments, especially the
Eucharist; 5) in all things yield the fruits of the conversion which has taken place.
These are the things that the penitent should do.(9) St. Francis emphasizes that the result of such conduct and perseverance in
it will be the achievement of the ultimate happiness which people desire: <<How
happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things, and persevere in
doing them>>, because such things will cause the soul of the penitent to be inserted
into the life of God's trinitarian life: << because the Spirit of the Lord will rest
upon them and the Lord will make his home and dwelling place with them. They are the
children of the heavenly Father whose works they do. They are the spouses, brothers and
mothers of Our Lord Jesus Christ>>.
For Francis, this is <<living in penance>>; this is its
essential nature. It has been pointed out that in no other writings of St. Francis do we
reach such heights of spirituality nor is the insertion of the soul into the trinitarian
life expressed so precisely or in such lofty terms.
Therefore the general assembly in Rome decided to place this
document as the prologue of the new Rule, following the example of the Secular Franciscan
Order, with which the Third Order Regular shares a common origin and the honor of having
received such a noble exhortation directly from St. Francis.
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8 Cf. R. Pazzelli, St. Francis and
the Third Order, Chicago, 1989, pp. 109-113.
9 For a more thorough presentation
of this text, cf. ibid, p. 113-117.
