Ruth's Book I

Discipleship

“Discipleship. That’s a costly word,” Deacon Henry Libersat said. 

    “A bonded servant,” he said, “A voluntary slave.”

    “A disciple never takes a vacation from his master. When he comes in from a day’s work in the field, he gets right at getting his master’s dinner, rather than sitting down to rest or get his own meal first.”

    Those are thoughts that are hard to take. They are alien to our natural human Instincts.

    Am I bonded to you, Jesus? 

    Do I wait on you before myself?

    Am I your disciple? If I haven’t been up to now, I want to start to be now.

    I don’t want a vacation from you. I want to serve you out in the marketplace and when I come into your presence.

    Isn’t that exactly our status as Secular Franciscans?

    We live in the world, but we are also members of your household.

    We are your servants.

    We go from serving you personally (prayer) to doing your work in the marketplace and then back we come into your household again to serve you personally once more, again in our prayers, in which we give you our undivided attention. This is in our Rule, “From Gospel to Life and from Life to Gospel?”