When Saint Francis met the leper, it was Jesus he’d met, and the Lord was saying, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35–37).
These words made everything clear for Francis, and living them, even when God seemed distant or an enveloping cloud, brought near the kingdom of God. That is what the brothers’ lives had proven from the very beginning: Living the Gospel revealed to them the kingdom of God.
— from the book Francis and Jesus by Murray Bodo
