Francis’ biographers point out that when people met with him, or heard him preach, it was not simply a question of listening to words of peace and joy. Nor were people merely persuaded to reflect upon reasons for forgiving each other, doing penance or thanking and praising God. Rather, they were confronted with these realities in the person of Francis. They were in the living presence of forgiveness, peace, faith, and love, because Francis had integrated these values into his person by taking on the image of Christ on the cross.
Francis became conformed to the Crucified to such a degree that at the end of his life he appeared like the Crucified with the wounds of Christ engraved into his flesh.
—from the book In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare
by Roch Niemier, OFM
