One day Brother Masseo desired to put his modesty to the test.
"Why thee?
Why thee?
Why thee ?" he repeated again and again, as if to make a mock of Francis.

"What are you saying ?" cried Francis at last.

"I am saying that everybody follows thee, everyone desires to see thee, hear thee, and obey thee, and yet for all that thou art neither beautiful, nor learned, nor of noble family.

Whence comes it, then, that it should be thee whom the world desires to follow ?" On hearing these words the blessed Francis, full of joy, raised his eyes to heaven, and after remaining a long time absorbed in contemplation he knelt, praising and blessing God with extraordinary fervor.

Then turning toward Masseo, "Thou wishest to know why it is I whom men follow?
Thou wishest to know?
It is because the eyes of the Most High have willed it thus; he continually watches the good and the wicked, and as his most holy eyes have not found among sinners any smaller man, nor any more insufficient and more sinful, therefore he has chosen me to accomplish the marvellous work which God has undertaken; he chose me because he could find no one more worthless, and he wished here to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty, and the learning of this world." This reply throws a ray of light upon St.Francis's heart; the message which he brought to the world is once again the glad tidings announced to the poor; its purpose is the taking up again of that Messianic work which the Virgin of Nazareth caught a glimpse of in her _Magnificat_, that song of love and liberty, the sighs of which breathe the vision of a new social state.