The Calling
During the war Francis and the men of Assisi came under heavy attack, Francis was captured and put in to jail and he was held here for a year then once he was out he got very sick for another year. After all of this St Francis still saw himself as a Knight and set of to join the papal forces. On his way something amazing happened St Francis was struck by a dream, a voice told him to "follow the master, not the man", he thought that this was a call from God to go help the poor and this is exactly what he did.St Francis turned around back to Assisi.
The Change, Influences and Contribution to the Catholic Church
After St Francis go back to Assisi he started to change, no longer was he a selfish party boy, he was a changed young man. One day whilst riding on a horse in the local countryside Francis encountered a leper (regarded at the time as the lowest of low people and someone who was sick with Leprosy ). Previously Frances would have kept riding but instead he kissed him believing that this was a sign from God. After doing this he realized where is life was going and what he was going to do for the rest of his life, that was follow Jesus and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. Frances had changed now he had a real love for people and the environment.
A year after the leper incident Francis had a second calling this time is was a voice telling him to "Repair the Christian Church" St Francis took this very literally and went has sold his fathers cloth to get money to take to the Church. St Francis had to go to the court and give his father back his money because it was the wrong thing to take it. Once he has given his father back the money he decided he would give up his wealth, he would not own any property and he would live as a poor person as well as help the needy, his father was so angry about his decisions to start helping the poor and give up his old lifestyle that he disowned his son and never spoke to him again.
― St. Francis of Assisi
This quote is the perfect example of what Frances has taught the people and the church, keep going and never give up, eventually you will get there. Many important lessons he has taught us but this is one of the most important.
A year after the leper incident Francis had a second calling this time is was a voice telling him to "Repair the Christian Church" St Francis took this very literally and went has sold his fathers cloth to get money to take to the Church. St Francis had to go to the court and give his father back his money because it was the wrong thing to take it. Once he has given his father back the money he decided he would give up his wealth, he would not own any property and he would live as a poor person as well as help the needy, his father was so angry about his decisions to start helping the poor and give up his old lifestyle that he disowned his son and never spoke to him again.
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St
Francis was quite happy to do this so now he could devote his life to helping
the poor and carry out God's work. This has had a major impact on the Catholic
Church because it teaches us to go without and how important it is to help the
less fortunate. The other important lesson Francis has taught us is the love
you need for nature and animals, everything around us from the trees to people
to the animals is made in God's image, Francis got to a point in his life when
he realized this and he has taught and inspired us to do the same. You know
when hundreds of years down the track you are still learning about people and
are inspired by what they did they must have had a big influence, and this is
what St Francis did for both the people and the Catholic Church. One of the
things he did was after he returned as decided what he wanted to do it became a
hermit and went to live in a cave to preach for his sins, and express how sorry
he was.
St. Francis set up many orders including Order of Friars Minor as well as teh third order of St Francis and order of brother and sister on penance. These orders had a major influence of the church because it gave people ideas to go off in the monastic life as well as being a Franciscan. Without this there would not be such a direct path to follow. When these orders came out it attracted many more followers.
― St. Francis of Assisi
This quote is the perfect example of what Frances has taught the people and the church, keep going and never give up, eventually you will get there. Many important lessons he has taught us but this is one of the most important.
Here is Francis with a leper, kissing him and looking after him.