Eloi Leclerc

“Without comfort or glamour, this life did not permit any disguise. There one was compelled to face one's own true self. In keeping with the surroundings, the friars tended to become sparing in words and gestures. Feelings, too, were assuaged and became more simple─not by dint of reading or inner search, but through a holy and harsh obedience to those things which poverty demands when it is accepted in all its right.”
― Eloi Leclerc, Wisdom of the Poor One of Assisi, The

“In this wild and treacherous mountain scene, where all moving about meant difficult climbing or rapid and dangerous descent, the body itself had to undergo a discipline of conformity and purification which made it more docile to the spirit. In order to live this contemplative life one needed the coordination of a tumbler or an acrobat. A friar could not fear creeping on hands and knees, nor wearing out clothes on the rough rocks.”
― Eloi Leclerc, Wisdom of the Poor One of Assisi, The