Description:
It's hard to say what's most important about The Message of St. Francis--St. Francis's words of wisdom; illustrations of scenes from his life; or the elegant, nearly indestructible paper it's printed on. Sister Nan, a member of the Community of St. Francis in London, has selected passages from St. Francis's writings and from his biographies, which are illustrated with photographs of Giotto's frescoes of St. Francis's life in the Basilica at Assisi. The book would make a fine introduction to St. Francis for young people, an excellent devotional for adults, or a treasured gift for just about anyone who is serious about seeking wisdom and enjoying beauty in life. Many of the excerpts from St. Francis's writings included here will be familiar to readers who have even superficial knowledge of his life. Others, such as "A Signature in the Air," from Murray Bodo's The Journey and the Dream, have the power of fresh revelation. In this passage, St. Francis is watching little lizards running across the walls of the Basilica. "It was their movement that fascinated him. Their motion was a pattern scribbled in the air which disappeared as soon as it was made. There was no permanence in these tiny signatures, no monument to themselves left behind. That is what he wanted to be: a tiny signature in the air that thrilled someone who saw it, but was as anonymous as a lizard's zigzagged darting on a pink Assisi wall. His movement would be his poem." --Michael Joseph Gross
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