October 4th is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis was born to a wealthy family in around 1181.
Young Francis was care-free in his youth. He joined the military where he was taken captive as a prisoner. On becoming sick, he came home where he fought disease.
One day while at church, Francis heard God’s voice within him. God told Francis to rebuild His church. Francis took this literally and started to reconstruct the building of his dilapidated local church.
After time, Francis realized that God meant to rebuild the church, as in the people of the church. He began to spread the love of God to others around him.
As part of his spirituality, Francis left behind all his material possessions and took a vow of poverty. He found that these material possessions were a distraction to him and wanted nothing but God.
Saint Francis enjoyed all of God’s creation. Nature and animals alike he respected and saw God’s glory within them. In about 1223, Francis arranged the first Christmas nativity scene with live animals.
He had a great love for God’s people and taking care of the sick. He lived with lepers and took care of them.
In 1224, he received the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ. On the evening of October 3, 1226, Francis died.
Saint Francis lived a simplistic life and was devoted to daily conversion.
He had a great love for God in the Eucharist. Once, someone asked Francis what he does at Eucharistic adoration. Francis replied, “I do what a beggar does in front of a rich man; what a sick man does in front of a physician; what a thirsty man does in front of a stream of water. That’s what I do in front of the Eucharistic God. I pray, love adore.”
Two years after Francis died, he was canonized a saint by Pope Gregory IX.