If I had listened to such stories back then, what I would have concluded was to live a life of poverty leading to making good deeds. All the little stories in the ‘The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi’ are about how this guy Francis changed lives of other people and helped convert them to christianity which results in them being saved. Before I head into detail about today’s essay topic I will discuss who this Francis guy is.
St. Francis of Assisi was your typical middle class person who lived a relatively wealthy lifestyle. Francis obtained knowledge knowing how to read and write. One day he received a vision that will change his life. In his vision God spoke to him saying, “Go, Francis, and repair my house which, as you see, is well-nigh in ruins.” What Francis thought God meant was to literally go and repair the churches and temples physically, but later on he learned that God meant something else and that Francis left out an important information. He came to realize that to repair the Gods temple/churches what he had to do, was to rebuild hope and faith within the people that gathered in churches. What he had to repair, was actually the members of the church and not just churches, but to show everyone else an example.
Francis, after his sudden realization, immediately gave away everything he once owned so that he would have little to nothing left. That day Francis lived a life of poverty which surprised many people. He started going around preaching to people and they listened and became inspired by his words. People appreciated a man who lived by his words and not just spoke some pretty things and lived a completely different lifestyle. As time went by words of Francis and the things he did for people quickly spread. Francis was welcomed everywhere he went. During his journeys, he helped everyone he could, prayed a lot, and continued living by his philosophy to live a life owning nothing (poverty).
With the life of Francis came along some stories about how he changed some of the people’s lives. One of the stories I enjoyed reading was about these 3 criminals. The 3 robbers always stole from people and even killed people to get what they wanted. One day the 3 of them came over to Brother Angelo, the guardian asking him of something to eat. Brother Angelo replied saying that they had the audacity to come and ask him for some food after all the things they had done to the innocent people. Walking away with no food, they came across St. Francis. Francis introduced himself, tells them about his journey, and of course tells them about Jesus.
Whenever Francis said that Jesus’ purpose on earth was to save sinners and robbers like them as well as dying on the cross for them, they wanted to convert to christianity. After giving them the bread and wine that Francis had carried with him the whole time, the criminals no longer lived their old past life. They became part of the Franciscan order, soon after 2 of the ex criminals had died and ascended to heaven while the surviving one did penance for 15 years as a punishment to self for the sins he made.
In conclusion, this story I find a great example of one of the many good deeds Francis did while living a life in poverty and setting that example to others. I personally think that the 3 criminals found Francis’s life interesting (just like I do) because, he gave up his wealth and lived a very simple life. Him telling about Jesus and that because of him he became who is now, was just a cherry on the top. All of that was enough to convince the criminals to change their lives and convert to a life that was worth living. That day, not only did Francis helped out the situation of these criminals whenever Brother Angelo couldn’t, he saved their souls so that they could be saved and ascend to heaven.
Thanks for reading this essay. I hope you liked it or learned something new from it. I will be posting more soon and have a great rest of your day!
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