Letter to All the Faithful (First Version)
With Franciscan Clarean Commentary
Opening Exhortation
To all Christians, religious, clerics, and laymen, men and women, to all who dwell in the whole world, Brother Francis, their servant and subject, gives reverence, true peace from heaven, and sincere love in the Lord.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis addresses everyone. Not just friars, not just clergy, but all the faithful. His voice is democratic, universal — an echo of Christ’s wide embrace. For Clareans today, this opening reminds us that the Gospel is not a private club. Our movement, like Francis’s, is for the whole world: lay, ordained, queer, straight, rich, poor, every creature.
Section I. Of Those Who Do Penance
Whosoever loves the Lord with his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loves his neighbor as himself, and hates his body with its vices and sins, and receives the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and brings forth fruits worthy of penance: Oh, how blessed and happy is that man and woman who does these things and perseveres in them, because the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon them and He will make His dwelling and abode in them, and they are children of the heavenly Father, whose works they do, and they are spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis is describing the “penitents” — ordinary people who turn their lives toward God through love, Eucharist, and conversion. His language of “spouses, brothers, and mothers of Christ” is daring: it’s mystical union, intimacy with Jesus in many forms. For Clareans today, this is a reminder that holiness isn’t about cloisters alone. Every person can be kin to Christ by living in love, repentance, and solidarity.
Section II. How We Become Spouses, Brothers, and Mothers of Christ
We are spouses when the faithful soul is joined by the Holy Spirit to our Lord Jesus Christ. We are brothers to Him when we do the will of His Father who is in heaven. We are mothers when we bear Him in our heart and body by love and a pure and sincere conscience, and we bring Him forth by holy works, which should shine before others as an example.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis’s imagery is radical: men and women alike are called to be “mothers of Christ.” To birth Christ into the world through works of love — this is the vocation of every disciple. For Clareans today, this explodes gender roles and hierarchies. Every soul can be bride, brother, and mother to Christ — because all are invited to incarnate divine love.
Section III. The Call to Penance and the Spirit of the Lord
Oh, how glorious it is to have a holy and great Father in heaven! How glorious it is to have such a beautiful and wonderful Spouse, the Holy Paraclete! How glorious it is to have such a Brother and such a Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for His sheep, and prayed to the Father, saying: “Holy Father, keep in Thy name those whom Thou hast given Me in the world; Thine they were and Thou hast given them to Me. And the words which Thou gavest Me I have given unto them; and they have received them, and have known truly that I came forth from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them, not for the world. Bless and sanctify them. And for them do I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in Me. Neither pray I for these alone, but for those also who through their word shall believe in Me, that they may be sanctified in one as We are.”
Clarean Commentary:
Francis explodes into praise — Father, Son, Spirit, all wrapped in joy. Notice how he quotes Jesus’s prayer in John 17 at length. He wants the faithful to see themselves inside that prayer: sanctified, united, loved. For Clareans today, this is our reminder that we are not orphans but heirs. To live penance (conversion) is not grim — it’s glory, joy, intimacy with the Trinity.
Section IV. The Warning to Those Who Refuse Penance
But all those men and women who are not living in penance, and who do not receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and who live in vices and sins, and who walk after evil concupiscence and wicked desires, and do not observe those things which they have promised to the Lord, and serve the world with their body, and with their vices and evil desires serve the flesh, these are blind, because they do not see the true light, our Lord Jesus Christ. They have no spiritual wisdom, because they do not possess the Son of God, who is the true wisdom of the Father. Of them it is said: “Their wisdom has been swallowed up.” They see and know, they do evil, and knowingly lose their souls.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis’s tone turns fierce here. He names those who live without conversion as “blind” and “without wisdom.” But his urgency comes from love — he doesn’t want anyone to perish in self-destruction. For Clareans today, this passage reminds us to speak prophetically about the cost of sin and injustice. Our critique of consumerism, greed, nationalism, and oppression flows from the same passion: blindness destroys souls.
Section V. The Judgment of the Wicked
See, you blind, you deceived by your enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil: it is sweet for the body to do sin, but bitter to serve God, because all vices and sins come forth and “proceed from the heart of man,” as the Lord says in the Gospel. And you will have nothing in this world or in that to come. You think you possess the vanities of this world for long, but you are deceived; for a day and an hour will come, of which you think not and do not know, and the body grows weak, death approaches, neighbors and friends come saying: “Put your affairs in order.” And his wife and his sons and his friends pretend to weep, and they look at him and see his face. And while he is still alive, they bury his body.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis gets graphic here — he paints death vividly, almost harshly. His point: sin feels sweet for a moment, but ends in emptiness. For Clareans today, this is a prophetic wake-up call. We live in a culture that worships comfort and denies death. Francis reminds us: life is fleeting; conversion is urgent. Our role as Clareans is to help people face death with honesty, and life with purpose.
Section VI. The End of the Wicked
Wretched are those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they who shall be found conforming to Thy most holy will, for “the second death shall not hurt them.” But the devil snatches away the soul of him who dies in mortal sin, and holds it fast until the last day.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis doesn’t mince words: the choices we make have eternal weight. His “woe” is not condemnation for its own sake, but a cry of grief — he knows the cost of rejecting love. For Clareans today, this isn’t about fire-and-brimstone preaching, but about urgent honesty: injustice, greed, and violence destroy the soul. To live outside God’s love is to taste hell even now.
Section VII. The Blessedness of the Penitents
But blessed are they who are found doing penance, for they shall be in the kingdom of heaven. “If you continue in My word, you shall be My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” And let us all watch, lest, having left the world, we be stripped naked of our good works. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon them, and He will make His dwelling in them.
Clarean Commentary:
Here Francis pivots back to joy: those who live in penance (conversion) are blessed, free, and filled with the Spirit. For Clareans today, this is our hope-filled gospel. Conversion is not about sackcloth misery — it’s about living free in truth, clothed in works of love, radiant with God’s Spirit.
Section VIII. Conclusion and Blessing
Therefore, beloved sons and brothers, all who do penance, and who walk in these things: blessed are they who persevere to the end, for upon them shall rest the Spirit of the Lord, and He will make His dwelling and abode in them, and they are the sons of the heavenly Father, whose works they do, and they are the spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living and omnipotent God, so bless you and guard you. Amen.
Clarean Commentary:
Francis ends where he began — with intimacy, kinship, and blessing. Those who live this way are God’s family, Christ’s own kin. For Clareans today, this closing becomes our commission: persevere in conversion, embody Christ in the world, and walk as spouses, brothers, and mothers of the Lord. To bless is to send — and Francis sends us with fire and tenderness.
Sister Abigail Hester 