examination of the heart 126 sures prudently and generously for the salvation of our neighbors and the benefit of one’s own soul. Finally, preaching the Gospel in poverty means: to change from a sinner into a penitent, from a wretched little man into a servant or herald of the immortal Word; to penetrate by human intellect the inscrutable mysteries of divine matters and — starting with oneself — to make them clear to others, teaching both by the sound of words and the example of the virtues. If you have these qualities, be sure that the Holy Spirit rests in you, that you experience the effect of the Most Holy Sacrament, and that you — by the clemency, grace, and mercy of God — are one of the chosen ones from the tribes of Israel, designated for eternal life (cf. Rev 7:4).21 3. “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?” (Mt 11:7). Admire and wonder at the sanctity of the most humble John, which merited the praise of the Incarnate Word of God Himself, and not without reason. Being visited as a prophet, he confesses to be a reed;22 being taken for Elijah, he declares himself to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness (cf. Jn 1:23); being asked whether he was the Messiah, he admits and does not deny that he is not worthy [f.7r] to take off the Messiah’s sandals (cf. Jn 1:20; 27; Mk 1:7). O my Jesus, here I am so miserably agitated — as a true reed — by the disrespect and distractions of Eurus, just as much as I am upset by the vainglory and flatteries of the rising up of Favonius!23 How much I am lacking the perfection and sanctity of St. John! 21 RSV: “And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel” (Rev. 7:4). 22 It should be noted that this is St. Stanislaus’ interpretation, because John the Baptist does not use this comparison in relation to himself, and Christ even ruled it out (cf. Mt 11:7). 23 Here St. Stanislaus draws names from Greek mythology, in which the “Aeolus,” the son of Zeus, is the god of the winds; “Eurus” is the east or southeast wind; and “Favonius” is the west wind. Cf. SLP, vol. I, Wydanie Adama Zawadzkiego, Vilnius 1841.
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