Francis of Assisi Quotes

What wonderful majesty! What stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble Himself like this under the form of a little bread, for our salvation ...In this world I cannot see the Most High Son of God with my own eyes, except for His Most Holy Body and Blood.

And just as He appeared before the holy Apostles in true flesh, so now He has us see Him in the Sacred Bread. Looking at Him with the eyes of their flesh, they saw only His Flesh, but regarding Him with the eyes of the spirit, they believed that He was God. In like manner, as we see bread and wine with our bodily eyes, let us see and believe firmly that it is His Most Holy Body and Blood, True and Living.For in this way our Lord is ever present among those who believe in him, according to what He said: "Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world."

Everything in man should halt in awe...Let all the world quake and let Heaven exult when Christ the Son of the living God is there on the altar.

God requires that we assist the animals, when they need our help. Each being (human or creature) has the same right of protection.

It was easy to love God in all that was beautiful. The lessons of deeper knowledge, though, instructed me to embrace God in all things.

Be patient, because the weaknesses of the body are given to us in this world by God for the salvation of the soul. So they are of great merit when they are borne patiently.

The world is a great stage on which God displays his many wonders.

The one you are looking for is the one who is looking.

Grant me the treasure of sublime poverty: permit the distinctive sign of our order to be that it does not possess anything of its own beneath the sun, for the glory of your name, and that it have no other patrimony than begging.

It would be considered a theft on our part if we didn't give to someone in greater need than we are.

Go out and preach the gospel and if you must, use words.

If a superior give any order to one who is under him which is against that man's conscience, although he do not obey it yet he shall not be dismissed.

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence, we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

I beg you to show the greatest possible reverence and honor for the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things, whether on earth or in heaven, have been brought to peace and reconciled with Almighty God

Our actions are our own; their consequences belong to Heaven.

Don't canonize me too soon. I'm perfectly capable of fathering a child.

Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy.

It is good to read the testimonies of Scripture; it is good to seek the Lord our God in them. As for me, however, I have already made so much of Scripture my own that I have more than enough to meditate on and turn over in my mind. I need no more . .. I know Christ, the poor crucified One.

I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

St. Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden when someone asked what he would do if he were suddenly to learn that he would die before sunset that very day. "I would finish hoeing my garden," he replied.

Every day He humbles Himself just as He did when from from His heavenly throne into the Virgin's womb; every day He comes to us and lets us see Him in lowliness, when He descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar.

Where there is discord may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. Where there is despair, may we bring hope.

Ask the beasts and they will teach you the beauty of this earth.

You damned spirits! You can only do what the hand of God allows you to do.

We should all realize that no matter where or how a man dies, if he is in the state of mortal sin and does not repent, when he could have done so and did not, the Devil tears his soul from his body with such anguish and distress that only a person who has experienced it can appreciate it.

It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.

You cannot all abandon your possessions, but at least you can change your attitude about them. All getting separates you from others; all giving unites to others.

For it is in giving that we receive.

Be patient in trials, watchful in prayer, and never cease working.

There is absolutely no man in the whole world who can possess one among you unless he first die.

If we endure all things patiently and with gladness, thinking on the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, and bearing all for the love of Him: herein is perfect joy.

Do all you can to preach the gospel and if necessary use words!

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.

Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and an be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face.

Dear God, please reveal to us your sublime beauty, that is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, so that we will never again feel frightened.

Be praised, O my Lord by Brother Wind, By air and cloud and every clime To whom Thou givest sustenance unto their kind.

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

Be Thou praised, my Lord, of our Sister Mother Earth, which sustains and hath us in rule, and produces divers fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Nor did demons crucify Him; it is you who have crucified Him and crucify Him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.

Blessed is the servant who esteems himself no more highly when he is praised and exalted by people than when he is considered worthless, foolish, and to be despised; since what a man is before God, that he is and nothing more.

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.

The only thing ever achieved in life without effort is failure.

When I think of the happiness that is in store for me, every sorrow, every pain becomes dear to me.

We should have no more use or regard for money in any of its forms than we have for dust. Those who think it is worth more, or who are greedy for it, expose themselves to the danger of being deceived by the Devil.

Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest.

What could you do to a man who owns nothing? You can't starve a fasting man, you can't steal from someone who has no money, you can't ruin someone who hates prestige.