Saint Felix of Cantalice, 16th century Capuchin friar,
came from a peasant family and worked as a labor in the fields
until one day his oxen bolted and pulled the plow over him
and everyone, including himself, thought that he had been hurt terribly.
But he was, aside from his clothing, he was completely unhurt.
And he felt it was a sign from God.
He immediately asked to be relieved from his duties
and applied for entrance into the nearby Capuchin convent
and was eventually accepted.
And he lived as a humble lay brother,
just simply seeking to do the will of God,
lived in relative obscurity.
During his time there in Cantalice, eventually he was transferred to Rome.
And in Rome, for 42 years, he was the questor.
He was the one who went out begging for the friars.
In the rule of Saint Francis, we're told that the friars are to support themselves by their work.
And in the early days, that meant that the friars would very often work in the fields
and do whatever they could and receive for their labor,
not coins or money.
But whatever they needed for their sustenance, food and clothing and the rest.
But in places like Rome and other towns,
where they weren't always able to provide for themselves in that manner,
in a secondary way, Saint Francis urged them to have recourse to the table of the Lord.
The table of the Lord was begging,
so the friars would go through the town and ring a bell or call out
and people would bring their food.
them food and whatever they needed. So this is what he did for 42 years and people were
greatly edified by his behavior. He came to be known as Friar Deo Grazias because his
thanksgiving for all that was given him were the words Deo Grazias. Even the friars are
not called primarily to live in this fashion by going out begging, but it is a recourse
that we can have if we can't provide for ourselves in other ways. But this form of poverty practiced
by religious, especially by Franciscans, is meant to help us realize how poor Christ became
for our sake, that he emptied himself and became one of us.
Became a slave born in the likeness of men. And it helps us also to realize how dependent
we are on this self-emptying of Christ. Christ emptied himself and took the form of a slave
so that we could become heirs of the kingdom of God. St. Francis also talks about this
in the rule, Christ became poor for our sake so that we might become rich. And through
the poverty of Christ we become rich.
We become heirs of the kingdom of God. Poor in earthly goods, but rich in virtue.
And the other aspect of this, we think about the poverty of Christ and how through his
poverty we become rich. But the other point in this is that we are ultimately dependent
on God's grace. We are really poor. We really have nothing. Everything that we've received,
we've received from the hands of God.
And no matter what we gain in this life, if we don't have his grace, we are utterly
poor because we are a bad merchant. We're doing business poorly because in the end we
lose everything. And that's what our Lord means when he says, what does it profit a
man to gain the whole world but to lose his own soul?
And in respect to the grace of God and the salvation of our souls, we are poor. We are
dirt poor.
Because we are mortal and we are going to return to dirt. And the grace of God is something
that he has given to us gratuitously. And we are totally dependent on him.
And so we try to be generous with those around us in remembering how poor we really are.
And we try to be open to the generosity of others as well.
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We are all members of the same family. And God has so arranged things in the present
state of the economy of grace where we're all burdened by our sins that we're meant
to bear each other's burdens. That's part of being poor. We have these burdens. And
we're also a family, so we have to bear the poverty of others as well and help them in
their poverty. And this is one of the reasons why the church so vigorously defends the dignity
of the human person and will not succumb to the argument that the poor and the sick and
the disabled, the very, very young, the disabled, the disabled, the disabled, the very, very
young, the unborn and the very, very old are a burden on society.
You could say in the way that the world that understands that, that's false. But of course
they're a burden on society. They are a burden on us. And they're meant to be. But we're
meant to transform the burdens that we carry by the grace and the cross of Christ so that
it becomes light and easy and sweet after...
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manner of Jesus who carried our burdens out of love for us. We are meant to bear one another's
burdens. And the poverty of people, which is lifted up to God in the spirit of sacrifice
through Christ and through the Eucharist, that poverty is pleasing to God. Our Lord
offered his poverty. He died naked on the cross. And he's a prisoner of love in the
tabernacle. And we have him under our control, you might say. So all of us are meant to recognize
that those in need around us should not become a burden in the way that the Lord
tells us that they're a burden, but they should be a burden after the manner of Christ
who carried our sins. We should learn from our Lord how to carry the burdens of each
other and how to, in humility, to allow others to carry our burdens as well. When we are
sick or in need, we ought to have the humility to ask for what we need and to be grateful
and to be good patients. St. Francis says in the rule that those brothers who are sick
should freely and with confidence tell their brothers that they are in need and receive
with humility the care of their brethren. They shouldn't be a burden. They shouldn't
complain or receive a burden. They shouldn't complain or receive a burden. They shouldn't
refuse to carry their cross. But at the same time, we're all connected and we are all
called to live the poverty of Christ and to lift up our hearts in that poverty because
in the grace of Christ, he has made us rich. And he transforms suffering. He transforms
sickness. He transforms the disabilities of the sick and the infertile. He transforms
the firm and of the old. He transforms the innocence and the helplessness of the unborn
child. And all of that is valuable in his eyes. No person is lacking the dignity that
God has bestowed on him or her, no matter how poor they are. Christ has transformed
our poverty and made it holy. And may St. Felix of Cantalice, who always had the
humility to recognize his poverty and was never embarrassed to ask for alms for the
love of God and never stingy in his own willingness to help those in need, may St. Felix of Cantalice
make us more generous and grateful for the poverty of Christ that has made us heirs of
the kingdom of God.
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