One day Francis of Assisi was sitting among his comrades and, sighing, said:
“You can hardly find a monk in the whole world who would completely obey those in charge of him.”
Surprised, his comrades asked him:
- Explain to us, Father, what perfect and highest obedience is?
And he represented the truly obedient in the form of a dead body:
“Take the lifeless body and put it wherever you want.” You will see that it will not object if they begin to move it, will not grumble wherever it is placed, will not cry if it is taken away. If you put it on the pulpit, it will look down, not up. If you put it in purple, it will appear doubly pale. This is the true obeyer; one who does not reason why he is moved, does not care where he is placed, does not insist on being moved. Exalted to any position, he retains his usual humility. The more he is revered, the more unworthy he considers himself.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru