Francis was holding on to existence by a thread, and the San Damiano cross was his lifeline to his future. I have always been fascinated by it, as it was the first thing Francis responded to in his depression or PTSD or nervous breakdown. I have had a nervous breakdown; to survive it, something clicks, jars you back. For Francis, his prayer at the foot of the San Damiano cross, the images on the cross, and the voice that answered gave him a purpose. A job to do. A mission to accomplish, “Go and repair my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruins.” That line—so famous now—was but a whisper to Francis, but that was all he needed. The thirty-three figures on the San Damiano cross, including the angels, were his family now.
He fell in love.
—from the book God’s Love Song: The Vision of Francis and Clare
by Murray Bodo, OFM, and Susan Saint Sing
