Be-sandaled brothers! The reasons for bare footed friars

feet

Perhaps the question we are most often asked as friars is, “Why do you wear sandals and go barefoot in all weathers?” Monastic and Franciscan tradition gives three answers to this:
Firstly, to ground us in this moment in recollection and to remind us that we are pilgrims on a journey, “abiding not long in one place”, as St. Francis said, in other words that our physical journey is a mirror of our spiritual journey. Secondly, as penance for our own sins and the sins of others and as a way of uniting our suffering with the suffering of the poor, the downtrodden and the dispossessed. Finally, out of reverence for our sister Mother Earth who is doubly sacred both in her creation and in her supporting the feet of Christ as He dwelt upon her.

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