![]() Francis’ life made spirituality look like fun.įrancis challenged and redefined traditional assumptions about what joy is. He once explained that joy protected him, saying, “The safest remedy against the thousand snares and wiles of the enemy is spiritual joy.” Often the spiritual life appears arduous and painful, but biographers note that St. Francis life reveal the intense joy that pervaded his life-perhaps a reflection of the strength and depth of his connection to the divinity within. The primary spiritual principle he emphasized was joy. Francis placed particular emphasis on living the following spiritual principles. Then, expanding its meaning to a deeper level, he started to play a role in rebuilding the Catholic Church. He established a new order of monks. It was then that he heard the words, “Go and repair my house.” Shortly afterward, he found himself in a chapel, searching within himself for divine guidance. ![]() Francis developed spiritual yearnings, which worried his father, but intrigued his mother. This time, he had an indescribable, super-worldly vision that caused him to return home, disoriented. After his captors received the ransom that freed him, St. On his way to fight a war for his country, the enemy captured him and held him in a dark, quiet prison for over a year. At age twenty, his life took a strange and unexpected turn. Born to a wealthy, successful businessman, he enjoyed many worldly pursuits spending many evenings drinking and carousing with his friends until all hours of the night. Francis had not always been an overtly religious person. “Go and repair my house,” echoed in his heart as he attempted to open himself to knowing God’s will for him. Francis first heard the divine call that changed the direction of his life, he was kneeling in an old chapel, feeling utter despair because he did not know what to do with a life that no longer made sense to him. Francis of Assisi is the first in this series. ![]() ![]() Meditation on the lives of saints and their teachings is a potent means of elevating our lives and gaining sublimity.” Sai Sarathi will carry a series of articles on the lives and messages of saints from all over the world. It is only when we put them aside and strive to rise to a dimension of eternity which is that of the saints that we really begin to live. Swami says, “Most of us, most of the time, are busy with trivialities, not knowing that they are so. ![]()
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