FRANCIS AND JESUS
By Barbara Horwath,ofs, fsa Associate
“The brothers who lived with (Francis) know that daily, constantly, talk of Jesus was on his lips…Out of the fullness of the heart his mouth spoke… He was always with Jesus: Jesus in his heart, Jesus in his mouth, Jesus in his ears, Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands, he bore Jesus always in his body.”
Whenever I
read this passage by Thomas of Celano in the Franciscan Morning and Evening
Praise, I stop and am in awe. Jesus
was Francis’ life and life’s work. He
preached as Jesus preached—the Kingdom of God and God’s love for everyone. He lived as Jesus lived—poor, itinerant and
with a following of men and women who wanted to join him.
More and more as time went on Francis became more and more like Jesus Christ until he became Christ. The stigmata was the external sign of what had already existed within.
