Below are teaching stories of the original Franciscan companions from a modern adaptation of The Little Flowers, a 13th century manuscript of tales of these unorthodox and wild ones drawn to a spiritual path inspired by Francis and Clare that was unique, joyous and challenging. Any of these would be appropriate for the initial reading at a gathering.
Francis and Clare: Cooked in Real Fire, of the strange ways the companions came together.
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THE FIRST COMPANION OF FRANCIS
Bernard approaching Francis from the movie, Brother Sun Sister Moon
Bernard knew the game of life, the way it had been laid out, the way those without suffer, and those with hunker down. He knew hypocrisy, the sending of men into battle for political and financial agendas, he saw the abandonment of the injured, the wary look in the eyes of the returned, the need for the stupor of wine to numb out. He understood that a man had to protect himself or he would be dead or devoured.
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OF SYLVESTER, THE STONEMASON AND HIS DREAM
by Diego Rivera
What did he live his life for?