This past Tuesday we discussed Simplicity in our small group. St. Clare of Assisi, friend of St. Francis of Assisi and founder of the Poor Clares, had this to say on the topic to Blessed Agnes of Prague:
What a great laudable exchange:
to leave the things of time for those of eternity,
to choose the things of heaven for the goods of earth,
to receive the hundred-fold in place of one,
and to possess a blessed and eternal life.
I first encountered the Laudable Exchange via that modern Franciscan musician and spiritual father, John Michael Talbot on his album Meditations from Solitude
This Laudable Exchange is the essence of Simplicity, inward and outward.
The things of time: careers, business, worries, fears, hatreds, loathings, lusts, passions.
The things of eternity: Christ, the Heavens, peace, calm, bliss, justice, equanimity.
The things of time: books, CDs, computers, blogs, extra cloaks, fancy foods.
The things of eternity: abundant life, service, glory, the Spirit, the music of the heavens.
Let us all make the Laudable Exchange ourselves.
[…] pleasure and temporal good for the Kingdom of Heaven? I have forsaken all to gain everything in St Clare’s Laudable Exchange. The monk has given up all rights to earthly materials, earthly goods, family, inheritance, social […]