Francis and Jesus Quotes

“His mother worried for him, his father, angry and disappointed, left more often, it seemed, to attend to matters away from Assisi, and Francis felt worse by the day—until one day when he was praying, as he often did, in the rundown roadside chapel of San Damiano below Assisi’s walls. Yes, he had begun to pray! More accurately, he had begun to listen prayerfully. He was kneeling before the crucifix that hung above the small altar when suddenly it seemed that Christ’s eyes looked upon him…and he heard the voice. “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“He set off again because of a dream he had in which he saw the great hall of a castle on whose walls hung many shields that a voice assured him were those of Francis and his knights. What other proof had he needed that the cause of his melancholy was the unfulfilled call to knighthood? And so he set off with other Assisi soldiers and knights to Apulia, stopping the first night in Spoleto. O, how fateful was that night on which he dreamed the dream of the castle hall once more! Here they were again, the shields of Francis and his knights. And then, the fateful voice: “Francis, who is it better to serve, the lord or the servant?”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“Something terrible had happened to him. Or so it seemed then when he thought that was the end of it all, that he would remain in this melancholic state forever. But, as he eventually understood, what was really coming to pass was God’s slow working within him. He was being prepared for that reversal which is in fact a turning toward. Toward what, though? Was it not a turning toward what had been there all along: the Spirit of God within him preparing him for the birth of Jesus Christ in his life,”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“Now there was only this clammy darkness and despair and the stench of his own beautiful clothes, the finery beneath his armor that he had been so proud of. It became so bad that he had to take off his clothes altogether and fling them into a corner and sit or stand or lie down in his breeches, they, too, becoming fetid as the days and weeks and months of darkness dragged on, his only light being the good cheer he tried to impart to his fellow soldiers as he sought to emulate the courage and cheerfulness he imagined his knight heroes always displayed. And when, after a year, he finally returned to Assisi, he lay in bed for over a year in what seemed now a coma of misery, his mother’s anxious ministrations attending to his every need. Much of the time his father was away, attending to his affairs and properties in the country or on cloth-buying trips to the Champagne in France.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“His Holiness told us how he saw the Basilica of St. John Lateran falling, and how a poor beggar had rushed forward to support the falling church with his shoulder. Each of you, my brothers, is that poor beggar. No sword is placed upon your shoulders like a man being knighted, but the pillars of the church itself rest on your shoulders. And that is what we are now sent to do.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“That very night Pope Innocent and Francis had both dreamed the dream that revealed the Lord’s will that made of these brothers standing on the Tiber’s bank more than a band of men united in their love of Christ and his Gospel.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“And so he persevered: through the fevers, the despondency, the feeling of worthlessness, the darkened room, his mother’s anxiety, his father’s disappointment. Most of all, he persevered through the sense of time wasted, time passing without his life making any difference. No battles won, no orphans and widows protected, no dragons slain. The Round Table had become a rectangle, a bed on which he tossed and turned and feared he would lose sight of the Quest, the call to serve the good pleasure of a lord, or maybe even a King. ...................... A gull screamed where he stood lost in memory on the bank of the darkening Tiber, the brothers around him thinking him lost in prayer. Or was this really prayer, after all, this reverie that led him always to fall on his knees in thanksgiving for the Lord and King whom his longing for knighthood had led him to, this Lord of all, who filled him still with awe and gratitude and love which no earthly lord could possibly have engendered in his heart?”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“Before the Bishop led him out into the courtyard, the Bishop had chalked a cross on the old tunic that had once belonged to one of Bishop Guido’s serfs. He felt close to the serf and to the Bishop who had covered him with his own cloak. How fatherly he had been! He had stood with Francis against his father, he had listened to Francis patiently when he had tried to explain about the dreams, the voices, the cross of San Damiano. He had welcomed Francis into the embrace of the Church.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“Bellowing Francis’s name, he demanded that Francis return all his goods and the sooner the better. Then, losing all control, he jumped from his horse and screamed at his son, demanding further that Francis appear before the mayor of Assisi for the redress of the injustice he had done to his father. How surprised his father was and how even more surprised was Francis that he had refused. He stood up to his father—the dark closet had become light. He stood before his father and said he would not go before the civil magistrate because he was now under the jurisdiction of the bishop. His father lifted his arm as if to strike him, but seeing the determination in his son’s eyes, or remembering he was his son, or simply out of a fear of the mad rage that would have killed his son had he started to strike him, he dropped his arm instead and said with a cold, almost eerie calm, “Fine, then I will see you in the Bishop’s court, that useless pawn of the Pope.” And he turned and mounted his horse and rode pell-mell into the city. How could his father have known that Francis had been discussing God’s words to him with Bishop Guido, who had been sympathetic, interested.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“He sold the cloth and horse almost immediately, and taking the money, walked, skipped rather, back to San Damiano where he offered the money to the astonished impoverished priest who lived there, eagerly telling him that the money was for the repair of San Damiano. But the priest refused the money. “Francis, are you mad? I know your father; you know your father. When he returns, he will come after both of us for this money. And he will punish me for catering to this whim of yours.” “But, father, Christ told me to do this.” “Oh, did he? Well, he told me just the opposite, namely, that this money belongs to your father and must be returned to him. Now run along and don’t come back and disturb my peace with your games, Francesco di Bernardone.” But he was undaunted. He threw the money onto the chapel’s window sill and ran toward the city, calling back to the frightened priest, “Then I will beg stones and rebuild the church myself.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus

“He did not know then what he learned later: God works in silence, God works in a darkness in which we think he has abandoned us, that he is no longer there. Back then he thought only of his misery and discouragement which, he was convinced, came from not being able to continue the pursuit of knighthood.”
― Murray Bodo, Francis and Jesus