God tells us to avoid being unjust. He tells us to not be 'respecters of persons' but to treat all men equally and justly - whether it hurts or helps us personally.
God, in choosing who He wants to use to accomplish His work, is not a respecter of persons either. The poor and simple man, fully surrendered to God, can be used by Him to do great things just like those with inborn talents and ability. After all, it is all God's work, His doing, and He is the actual Minister General of our Order. Therefore to Him alone, ALL glory , praise and thanks belong!
Jesus was no 'respecter of persons'. Even His enemies, the pharisees, describe Him as being a just man, influenced ONLY by God. They said to Him, "Master , we know that You are an honest man and teach the way of God in all truth, and human rank means nothing to you." In other words, Jesus could neither be tempted nor intimidated into doing something that was wrong.
Jesus said that John the Baptist was a good example of one who was not a 'respecter of persons'. "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No?! Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who go in magnificent clothes and live luxuriously are to be found at royal courts." A reed, a type of grass, bends in whichever way the breeze blows it. Those who live luxuriously are 'reeds swaying in the breeze' because the puppet strings (of desire) for money, power and pleasure control them. The 'respecter of persons' earns a living by saying whatever his employer wants so it doesn't matter whether what he says is right as long as it pleases the one paying him!
St. Paul taught that fleshy-sensual-worldly people are fickle and demanding - wanting to hear only what they like even if it is wrong. He said that these, ". . . people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes and so they will end up believing in myths." He also described, in another place, how immoral these people are: "People will be self-centered . . . boastful, arrogant and rude; disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious; heartless . . . slanderers, . . . enemies of everything good; . . . treacherous and reckless and demented by pride, preferring their own pleasure to obeying God. They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it." These people can be found in church but are only outwardly religious while, in their hearts, they are the enemies of God and of all that is right.
Worldly fleshy people rejected Jesus because He was always true to God and did not cater to their pride, greed or sensuality. Jesus, no matter what the people said or did, always taught 'the way of God in all truth '.
Jesus provoked these men 'of the world' by challenging their self-perceptions as well as their way of life. A large crowd was following Jesus one day, caught up in the excitment of the carnival-like atmosphere, when He suddenly turned around and angrily demanded that they 'count the cost'. He said, "If any man comes to Me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, . . . , yes and his own life too, he cannot be My disciple!" Many stopped following Him after hearing these challenging words.
Jesus also wouldn't compromise His teaching to appease those threatening His life. When Jesus was told that king Herod wanted to kill Him, He not only called the tyrant a name - 'that fox' - but boldly told Herod's messengers to tell him (Herod) that He (Jesus) could only be killed when He had completed God's assignment. Later, He ignored Pilate's questions prompting a now irritated Pilate to point out that he held Jesus' life in his hands. Jesus boldly told him, "You could do nothing at all if it was not God's will . . ." Pilate did, of course, end up executing Jesus. Jesus knew, no matter the power a person seemed to have, that God was in control.
Children of God, like Jesus, take their stand on what is right, the Truth - even if it results in their death. A respecter of persons fears what others will do to him and/or desires the favors others can do for him. Jesus cared ONLY about what God wanted Him to do and wanted ONLY what God had promised to give Him - eternal blessings and glory, in love.
Francis said, "God is no respecter of persons; and the minister general of this Order, the Holy Ghost, alights on a poor and plain man just as on any other."
'The minister general of the Order' was Francis. However, Francis wanted everyone to know that the ACTUAL minister general was the Holy Spirit since He was the One in charge. The Holy Spirit acted as 'minister general' in three ways:
+ He acts through the office of the minister general. The position itself confers special knowledge and power on the one filling it. Jesus had said about the pharisees, the religious leaders and teachers of the day, "They sit in Moses' seat and therefore you must do what they say. However, do not do as they do." Likewise, St. Luke noted that God had spoken through Caiphas, the high priest who was so jealous of Jesus that he wanted Him killed, only 'because he was the high priest that year'. We see then how God can even use, (and has sometimes chosen to use solely because of their position) hypocrites and people with evil intentions to express His will!
+ The Holy Spirit will act through the minister general if he has fully surrendered himself, in faith and love, to God and with self-less devotion seeks to serve the brothers.
+ Finally the Holy Spirit acts through the minister general because of the faith of the brothers who trusted God to help them select the minister. They continue to trust God, calling on Him in prayer, to work through the minister, guiding and protecting them through him even!
God makes it clear that being a 'respecter of persons' is wrong, but aren't we called to 'respect' everyone? St. Paul says, "Give to all men the respect that is due." St. James says we should treat all people well per the 'Golden Rule'. He said, ". . . the right thing to do is to . . . love your neighbor as yourself . . . " It is only when we are 'respecters of persons', show consideration for others for selfish reasons, that we do wrong.
Francis says the "Holy Spirit alights on the poor and simple man just as on any other". Who was the poor and simple man Francis was referring to? He was, of course, referring to himself and all subsequent ministers. Francis felt there was no need to worry about the fact that poor and simple people would be responsible for the brothers because, as Jesus said, "All things are possible to him that believes in God". Also St. Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me."
God chooses the most insignificant and powerless people to accomplish His great works. This is because it is impossible for a man to do 'God's work'. Only God can do it!. "It is God within you, working to accomplish His will," said St. Paul. He also said, "Consider, brothers, how you were called; . . . God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; . . . weak to shame the strong . . . the common and contemptible - indeed those who count for nothing - to reduce to nothing all those that do count . . . so that no human being might feel boastful before God . . . If anyone wants to boast, let him boast of the Lord."
This is something we should seriously consider. The appreciation others have for us doesn't count for anything in God's eyes. In fact, it is those who realize they ' count for nothing' that God is able to use since it is only the humble man that will allow God to act through him. The man who thinks he is 'something' doesn't feel he needs God's help. His pride, arrogance and presumption put him in great danger and he could end up destroying both himself and those who follow him.
Jesus is "the author and finisher of our faith." No other man, no matter how 'saintly', can save us. St. Paul said, "There is no name given among men by which we can be saved except the name of Jesus Christ". We must never cease to cling to Him, focusing our thoughts and desires on Him while remaining ever open to His guidance and help. In this way we allow God to save us and also, through us, to save everyone else.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You held to the truth whether people liked it or not and proved Yourself faithful to God, even in death. You followed Your Father in goodness and, rather than being a respecter of persons, were kind to everyone whether they were rich or poor. You affirmed the goodness in humanity while challenging the evil within them. You chose Francis, a poor simple man, to lead our brotherhood. He knew that without You we cannot do anything and that, because You are the source of all good, You deserve all the praise, honor and thanks forever and ever for the good that comes out of us. Amen.
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