AS ST. FRANCIS HAD LOVED JESUS

 
Baba loved Italy and particularly Portofino, where He told us He had been before in another advent. He said there were spiritual reasons for our being there and that we would be with Him again in Italy.

He added that there were four places in the West of great spiritual significance: Avila in Spain; and Portofino, Venice, and Assisi in Italy. He would often talk about St. Francis of Assisi's love for Christ. He said that we should obey Him and love Him as St. Francis had loved Jesus.

St. Francis had come from a well-to-do Italian family and, after spending a wild youth, he had a vision of Christ which caused him to embrace a life of poverty. He gathered around him a group of disciples which was later to become the Franciscan Order of monks.

Despite his poverty, Francis was reported to be "the most joyous of saints" and would have no sad, long faces around him, always rebuking any friar who was gloomy or melancholy. Later in his life, through his intense love for Christ, he received the stigmata (marks of the Cross) and at this time, Baba told us, He also became God-Realized.