Leper on the Road! November 2014
Check out this road behind me! St. Francis actually walked on this road. It was right here that something special happened to St. Francis, something that changed his life forever!
Well Francis knew that God was somehow calling him, but he had not quite figured out exactly what that meant.
On his horse, Francis came down this road on his way home to Assisi. You can see the city up on the top of the hill. All of a sudden, he stopped. There before him was a leper, dressed in rags, holding a bell to let people know he was there, sores all over his body, one eye, looking straight at Francis! Ugh!
Now Francis had always feared and hated the lepers! If he got too close he might catch their disease and be banished from the city. Francis spurred the horse on and threw a coin to the leper. And then....something stopped him in his tracks. As if his body was taken over (which I dare say it had by the Holy Spirit) he jumped off the horse and went to the leper, hugging and kissing him. Can you imagine doing something like that? Who are some people in our own lives and in the world today that we wouldn't want to go near? Then imagine yourself hugging and kissing them!
From that moment on the love of God filled his heart and his desire to love and serve the Lord never left him.
Talk to you next month with a new adventure! Peace and Good!
Br. S
Well Francis knew that God was somehow calling him, but he had not quite figured out exactly what that meant.
On his horse, Francis came down this road on his way home to Assisi. You can see the city up on the top of the hill. All of a sudden, he stopped. There before him was a leper, dressed in rags, holding a bell to let people know he was there, sores all over his body, one eye, looking straight at Francis! Ugh!
Now Francis had always feared and hated the lepers! If he got too close he might catch their disease and be banished from the city. Francis spurred the horse on and threw a coin to the leper. And then....something stopped him in his tracks. As if his body was taken over (which I dare say it had by the Holy Spirit) he jumped off the horse and went to the leper, hugging and kissing him. Can you imagine doing something like that? Who are some people in our own lives and in the world today that we wouldn't want to go near? Then imagine yourself hugging and kissing them!
From that moment on the love of God filled his heart and his desire to love and serve the Lord never left him.
Talk to you next month with a new adventure! Peace and Good!
Br. S
Here is a picture of Br. S in front of Santa Maria Maddalena, a church, hospital and home where Francis and his brothers spent many days taking care of the lepers.