3. A spirituality of poverty

Francis marries poverty in Fresco by Giotto

What thoughts went though Francis' mind as he remembered his meeting with the leper? Firstly, he felt a sharp embarrassment. In the leper he had experienced the presence of the Lord who is sinless, who is all perfect and is God. Yet in the leper the Lord appeared ugly, deformed and repulsive. Francis, on the other hand, was embarrassed that he, a sinful human being, was well dressed, highly regarded, popular and ambitious. Should he not then live and dress in a way that reflects more clearly how he felt before the leper? Later, Francis would say that we are what we are in the eyes of God and no more. In this way Francis began to translate his meeting with the leper into an ideal or spirituality of poverty. Secondly, he realized that since the Lord met him in the person of a leper, it was clear the Lord did not attach any importance to social status for its own sake. The leper had no social status and was not allowed to enter a town. Francis was a prominent young citizen of Assisi with an attractive future ahead of him. Francis began to feel that he should live as a person who is unimportant to society and so he gave up his position in society and took this second step towards a life of poverty. Thirdly, Francis had found where he would find true sweetness in life: 'What before had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body'. With St Paul, Francis learnt to regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [Phil 3:8]. This was Francis' third step toward Lady Poverty.