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305 ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ADMONITIONS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI ADMONITION 1 (CONCERNING THE BODY OF THE LORD) he Lord Jesus says to his disciples: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 2. If you will know me, you will also know my Father. And now you know him and have seen him. 3. Philip says to him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. 4. Jesus says to him: For so long a time I am with you, and you have not known me. Philip, who sees me, also sees my Father (John 14:6-9). 5. The Father lives in inaccessible light (1 Timothy 6:16). And God is a Spirit (John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 3:7). And no one has ever seen God (John 1:18). 6. Therefore, God can only be seen in the Spirit, because it is the Spirit who gives life; flesh profits for nothing (John 6:63). 7. But neither the Son, in that in which he is equal to the Father, is seen by anybody in any other way than the Father and the Holy Spirit are seen. 8. Whence all who saw the Lord Jesus according to his humanity and did not see and did not believe according to the Spirit and his divinity that he is the true Son of God are damned. 9. And now in the same way all who see the sacrament, which is sanctified by the words of the Lord upon the altar through the hand of a priest in the form of bread and wine, and do not see and believe according to the Spirit and his divinity that it is truly the most holy body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are damned. 10. The Most High himself bears witness, who says: This is my body and blood of my new covenant [which is poured out for many] (Matthew 26:26,28/Mark 14:22,24). 11. And Who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life (John 6:54). 12. Whence the Spirit of God, who lives in (Romans 8:9) his faithful, he it is who receives the most holy body and blood of the Lord. 13. All others, who do not participate in the same Spirit and presume to receive him, eat and drink judgment on themselves (1 Corinthians 11:29). 14. Whence sons of men, to what point will you be dull of heart (Psalm 4:3), 15. with the result that you do not know the Truth (John 14:6) and believe in the Son of God? (John 9:35). 16. Behold, daily he T 306 The Admonitions of St. Francis humbles himself (Philippians 2:8), just as when he came into the womb of the Virgin from his royal throne (Wisdom 18:15). 17. Daily he comes to us himself in humble appearance. 18. Daily he descends from the bosom of the Father (John 1:18) upon the altar in the hands of a priest. 19. And just as to the holy apostles in true flesh, now in the same way he shows himself to us in the sacred bread. 20. And just as they, by their fleshly sight, only saw his flesh, but, contemplating with their spiritual eyes, believed him to be God, 21. so too we, seeing the bread and wine with our corporeal eyes, should see and believe firmly that it is his most holy body and blood, living and true. 22. And in such a manner the Lord is always with his faithful, just as he says: Behold I am with you…until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). ADMONITION 2 (CONCERNING THE EVIL OF ONE’S OWN WILL) he Lord said to Adam: Eat of every tree, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat (Genesis 2:16-17). 2. From every tree of paradise he could eat, because, as long as he does not go against obedience, he did not sin. 3. For the person who eats of the tree of the knowledge of good is the one who appropriates to himself his own will and exalts himself concerning the good things which the Lord says and works in him. 4. And thus through the suggestion of the devil and the transgression of the command came about (the eating of) the fruit of...

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