A small little book in the Christian Encounter Series by Thomas Nelson Publishers, this is the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. I grew up with very little knowledge of this Patron Saint of the Catholic church as an unchurched little girl in the south, so I was very interested to read this book. St. Francis was born in Assisi, Italy to wealthy parents, but he chose to forego worldly pleasures to devoted his life to God. After a very serious illness he gave all he had to the poor and devoted himself to prayer and scripture. He joined with some "ragtag" men who were brothers in the ministry about which little was known except that they were humble and that they rejoiced most in poverty.Francis made a move that revolutionized the church by introducing the vow of poverty. It followed scripture and the life of Jesus. It is how we today should live our lives, as well.
Francis cared for the lepers. the outcast, the unlovely. He followed in the footsteps of The Lord Jesus. As a Christian, that is exactly what I am called to do. I am not going to forego all of my worldly pleasures, but I must be willing to if Jesus asks me to. There are things I have let go, but I have a long way to go before you could call me a saint.
I found this book somewhat interesting. I didn't really understand a lot of it. After all these years and all of the religious and Biblical education I have had, I am still not Catholic and still don't understand all the ways the Catholic church works.But I do know how to follow my Lord, how to love others like Saint Francis did!
I give the book three stars, it was well written with nice cover, easy language, an asset to my collection. I received my copy free through the BOOKSNEEZE program in return for my unbiased review. You can get free books to by joining in.
