Letter to the Custodians

With Franciscan Clarean Commentary

Greeting

To all the custodians, Brother Francis, your little servant, wishes health and peace.

Clarean Commentary:
As always, Francis begins with humility — “your little servant.” He refuses the titles of power, even when writing to his own leaders. For Clareans today, this models servant leadership: authority is not domination, but care.

On Reverence for the Eucharist and Scripture

Let all those who have received the power of administering the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, consider how vile are the chalices, corporals, and altar cloths on which His Body and Blood are sacrificed. And by many it is left in unclean places, carried about unbecomingly, received unworthily, and ministered to others without discernment. Even His names and His written words are sometimes left to be trodden under foot.

Clarean Commentary:
Francis is grieved at the lack of reverence shown to the Eucharist and even to scraps of parchment with God’s name. His passion is not about showy ritual, but about awe and respect. For Clareans today, the question is broader: where do we let Christ’s presence be dishonored — in polluted rivers, in neglected poor, in mocked Scripture? Reverence is not about pomp; it is about honoring Christ wherever He is found.

Call to Action

And therefore I beg you earnestly, brothers, kissing your feet and with all the charity of which I am capable, that you diligently and carefully collect these most holy mysteries, and that you place them in a precious place. And wherever the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is unlawfully reserved and left, let it be placed and locked up in an honorable place. And in like manner, wherever the names and written words of the Lord may be found in unclean places, let them be collected and put away in a becoming place.

Clarean Commentary:
Notice Francis’s language — he “begs,” he “kisses their feet.” He is pleading, not commanding. His urgency is wrapped in humility. For Clareans today, this is how we call for reform: not with arrogance, but with desperate love. Our activism should carry both urgency and humility — fierce reverence, but offered with bowed head.

Final Admonition

And we know that we must keep these things above all others, and that wherever we find them neglected, we are bound to collect them and restore them to honor. For we know that we are bound to honor above all else the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy names and written words which sanctify the Body.

Clarean Commentary:
Francis insists on reverence above all. For him, the Eucharist and Scripture are the living heartbeat of faith. For Clareans today, this reminds us to cultivate a sacramental vision: to honor God’s presence not only at the altar but everywhere Christ’s Body is encountered — in the poor, in the oppressed, in the earth itself. To reverence Christ is to reverence the whole web of creation.