Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and
inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a
narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that
Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a sense
of self-importance. Serious illness brought the young Francis to
see the emptiness of his frolicking life as leader of Assisi's
youth. Prayer—lengthy and difficult—led him to a self-emptying
like that of Christ, climaxed by embracing a leper he met on the
road. It symbolized his complete obedience to what he had heard
in prayer: "Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in
the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to
know my will. And when you have begun this, all that now seems
sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but
all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness
and exceeding joy." From the cross in the neglected field-chapel
of San Damiano, Christ told him, "Francis, go out and build up
my house, for it