Praise Saint Francis of Assisi

“When I see the work, I see God; feeling God, I am Love. Oh!… how many things are hidden from me, from you, from all, children of the Creator. I feel nothing, before the greatness of the universe; I feel like a worm, for the beauties that my heart does not know. God has children in the sea, in the stars, in the air; God has children in the trees and in the earth. God has children even in wars. How beautiful is the function of nature!... I see light emerge in the dark, I see perfect life in the dunghills; I see the sky in the waters of the sea, I see and feel Love in loving. When I rest, nature works; when I sleep, nature works; when I work, nature works; What am I?... Nothing, in the face of this battle. God is God of the righteous, God is God of outcasts, God is God of those who travel, God is God of those who stay at home!... God is God of shadows, God is God of light, God is God of darkness, God is God of Jesus!… When I am tired, God is busy; when I'm complaining, God is at work. When I blaspheme, God is understanding; when I hate, God is loving. When I'm sad, God is smiling. God is Wisdom and I am dreaming!... What beauty is nature!... What beauty is the depth of existence, and of existing. I don't understand, but I struggle to correct myself, however, in fractions of time, I soon want to gather and God share. I want to reap, I want to usurp; and God passes by me sowing!... I fight again, but I still don't know how to fight; I think about discipline, but I don't allow myself to be disciplined. I advance... I fall! I go forward again. And God hears me, he passes by me again, looks into my eyes, feels my heart. And he speaks softly in my ear: come, I will teach you to love. God withdraws!... I feel his absence!... I ask for clemency! Even so, God does not forget me. He sends an angel after me in a car blazing with light. And with open arms, I fall to the ground; I thought it was the Christ of God, which was Jesus! And the procession of heaven enters me in a song of praise. Open my heart, leaving within it a treasure of light!... The treasure of pain.”