IN A QUIET UMBRIAN town many years ago, a wealthy lawyer heard reports of a twenty-five-year-old ex-soldier called Giovanni who had recently given everything he owned to the poor. Was he mad, or had he really experienced some kind of epiphany? Everyone in the town had their own opinion. Determining to find out for himself, Bernard of Quintavalle invited Giovanni to stay the night and stationed himself to spy on his guest through a secret peephole. As the house fell silent, he watched in amazement as Giovanni sprang from his bed, knelt down, and began to repeat a single, simple phrase again and
IN A QUIET UMBRIAN town many years ago, a wealthy lawyer heard reports of a twenty-five-year-old ex-soldier called Giovanni who had recently given everything he owned to the poor. Was he mad, or had he really experienced some kind of epiphany? Everyone in the town had their own opinion. Determining to find out for himself, Bernard of Quintavalle invited Giovanni to stay the night and stationed himself to spy on his guest through a secret peephole. As the house fell silent, he watched in amazement as Giovanni sprang from his bed, knelt down, and began to repeat a single, simple phrase again and again: “My God and my all. My God and my all.” Tears ran down his cheeks. “My God and my all.” Bernard of Quintavalle was so inspired by Giovanni’s self-evident, all-consuming love for the Lord that he followed his example, giving away his wealth and becoming the young man’s first disciple. Within a year, there were eleven of them. Within a decade, there were more than five thousand. And within twenty years, the course of European history had been realigned by the joyous life and simple teaching of Francis of Assisi, as Giovanni is better known today. Political activist Jim Wallis says that “Francis of Assisi returned to the gospel with such force that it shook the entire world.”[1] Marxist leader Vladimir Lenin said, “Give me ten men like Francis of Assisi and I will rule the world”—ironic, given that Francis and his followers never wanted to rule the world, having relinquished mone...
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File, Used in devotional for July 27, 2022.
