Francis of Assisi, Italy, Preacher

February 24. Francis of Assisi. Before Francis became a Catholic friar, deacon, and preacher, he was a rebellious teenager. His parents were wealthy, and he was raised in luxury. He was so well known for drinking and partying, his pals called him “King of Revels.”

Francis’s first dream was to become a war hero, a knight in battle. But in his first war, he was captured, imprisoned in an underground cell, and held for ransom. He was there a year, and while he waited, he contracted a serious illness.

Soon, Jesus Christ got Francis’s attention, and the young man began to respond, at first a little at a time. Francis heard Jesus tell him to repair the church, so Francis took what belonged to his dad and sold it to get money to repair the church building.

Fighting mad, Dad dragged Francis before the bishop and demanded his property back. And here was a real turning point. Now Francis got it.

He returned the goods to his father and gave him all his money and his clothes. This was the beginning of change that would sweep through the Catholic Church. On this date in 1209, Francis established a religious order of monks called the Franciscans.

God can change what you loathe to who you love.

Do you freak out at web-weaving, back-biting spiders? Do you loathe little lizards? How about boils breaking out on your body? If so, you’re not alone.

During Francis’s childhood, whenever he saw a leper, his skin crawled. He hated them; he avoided them; he wouldn’t go to a place a leper had been.

He was born in Assisi, Italy, to wealthy parents who spoiled him. And like a lot of spoiled kids, as he got older, he enjoyed rebellion. In arrogance, he drunkenly mocked lepers.

He hated them so much that when he heard the ringing of the bells every leper was forced to wear, he ran and warned everyone. To him, those who struggled with leprosy were not humans; they were walking infections.

Francis imagined himself as a knight in battle, adored for his victories. However, when he really entered the war, he was captured and held for ransom. During the year he was in prison, waiting for his father to pay the ransom, Francis began having visions from God.

He came to believe in God and slowly learned the Father’s ways. Especially, His way of love. God lavished His love on Francis, forgiving everything Francis had done and been. God unconditionally accepted him. In prison, God transformed Francis.

After prison, Francis decided to live in stark poverty as Christ had done. Francis left Assisi and began “rebuilding the church” as God had told him in a vision.

While travelling, he heard God give him simple instructions. “O Francis, if you want to know my will, hate and despise all that which hitherto your body has loved and desired to possess. Once you begin to do this, all that formerly seemed sweet and pleasant to you will become bitter and unbearable, and instead, the things that formerly made you shudder will bring you great sweetness and content.”

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:40 NIV).

Soon after, Francis was riding a horse through a forest when he heard the tiny tinkling of a bell. A leper was near. Francis didn’t run or mock. He was looking at Jesus incognito. Francis rode up to the leper, got off the horse, and approached him. Francis embraced the man and kissed him. Later he would say as he kissed the leper he had had a “feeling of sweetness in his mouth.”

Francis wrote a famous prayer, which is commonly prayed today. It’s a recipe for love.

Lord make me an instrument of your peace: Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen Are there people in your life it’s hard to love? Is it possible you’ve judged them? It’s your move. God can change what you loathe to who you love.

“Seeing the Divine in the Other: Saint Francis and the Leper.” Accessed October 9, 2020. Taming the Wolf Institute. https://tamingthewolf.com/seeing-the-divine-in-the-other-saint-francis-and-the-leper. “Snapshots of a Saint: Stories that reveal Francis’s intense, complex personality.” Christian History. Accessed October 9, 2020. Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-42/snapshots-of- saint.html. Saint Francis of Assisi. The Writings of Saint Francis of Assisi. Translated by Father Paschal Robinson. Accessed October 9, 2020. Online Library of Liberty. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/assisi-the-writings-of-saint-francis- of-assisi. “Saint Francis of Assisi.” Updated October 2, 2020. Biography. https://www.biography.com/people/st-francis-of- assisi-21152679.

Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/