The Little Flowers of St. Francis · 73 of 105

Life of Friar Juniper, Chapter XII

How Friar Juniper was rapt in ecstasy during the celebration of the Mass ONCE while Friar Juniper was hearing Mass with great devotion, he was rapt in ecstasy through elevation of mind and for a long time; and having been left in a cell far away from the other friars, when he returned to himself he began, with great fervour, to say: "O friars mine, who is there in this life so noble that he would not gladly carry a basket of dung through all the town, if he were given a house full of gold?" And he said: "Alack! wherefore are we unwilling to suffer a little shame, if so be we may gain the blessed life?"