Chapter Ten

ZEAL FOR PRAYER
AND THE POWER OF PRAYER

¹Francis,
the servant of Christ,
aware that while in the body he was away from the Lord,
became totally unaware of earthly desires
through love of Christ,
and strove to keep his spirit present to God
by praying without ceasing
lest he be without the consolation of the Beloved.
Prayer was a comfort for the contemplative,
even now a citizen with the angels in the heavenly mansions,
as he sought with burning desire the Beloved
from whom only the wall of the flesh separated him.
Distrusting his own effort and trusting divine piety,
prayer was a fortress to this worker;
for in everything he did,
he cast his care completely upon the Lord ^{Ps 55:23 [Vulgate, Ps 54:23]}
through his perseverance.
He firmly claimed
that the grace of prayer
must be desired above all else
by a religious,
believing that without it no one could prosper in God's service.
He used whatever means he could
to arouse his brothers
to be zealous in prayer.^a
For whether walking or sitting,
inside or outside,
working or resting,
he was so focused on prayer
that he seemed to have dedicated to it

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Caput X

- De studio
et virtute orationis.

1 ¹Sentiens Christi servus
Franciscus
corpore se peregrinum a Domino,
cum iam ad terrena foris desideria
per Christi caritatem
totus esset insensibilis factus,
ne foret absque consolatione Dilecti,
sine intermissione orans,
spiritum Deo contendebat exhibere praesentem.
²Erat quidem oratio contemplanti solatium,
dum supernarum circuitu mansionum Angelorum concivis iam factus,
ferventi desiderio quaerebat Dilectum,
a quo solus eum carnis paries disiungebat.
³Erat et operanti praesidium,
dum in omnibus quae agebat,
de sua diffidens industria et de superna pietate confidens,
per ipsius instantiam
totum in Domino cogitatum iactabat.
⁴Orationis gratiam
viro religioso
desiderandam super omnia
firmiter asserebat,
nullumque credens sine ipsa in Dei prosperari servitio,
modis quibus poterat,
fratres suos
ad eius studium excitabat.
⁵Nam ambulans et sedens,
intus et foris,
laborans et vacans,
orationi adeo erat intentus,
ut illi videretur
non solum quidquid erat in eo cordis et corporis,
verum etiam operis et temporis dedicasse.