Francis was “centered” long before that term became popular among spiritual writers. His values became more and more aligned with God’s, but Francis did not use that as a reason to become self-righteous. That is a temptation many of his contemporaries did not resist. It was extremely easy to see any resistance to their ideas about God’s ways as a personal snub. Francis could eventually have become a candidate for a nervous breakdown: the rapid expansion of his brotherhood, the growing diversity of opinion about its priorities, the many demands on his time and energy, to name only a few reasons. Francis’s centering in prayer enabled him to “silence the clamorings of all anxieties.”
Allow Francis to help you “silence the clamorings of all anxieties.”
—from the book Peace and Good: Through the Year with Francis of Assisi
by Pat McCloskey, OFM
