Stigmata of St. Francis

To begin again to praise my Lord, through my poor words.
I think it's significant that when St. Francis wanted to remember the pivotal moment of his conversion--the action of God's grace--he chose his encounter with lepers. "The Lord led me among them," God's grace, "And I showed them mercy," a human response, and "what was bitter was changed to sweetness of body and soul." God's grace once more. But it's the 'sweetness of body and soul' that intrigues me on this day on which we remember Francis' being marked with the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ. In his body.
This was God telling Francis, and us, that all the He has created is good. That includes the body. It was through a human body that Jesus Christ made God's love clear on the cross. Redemption without our bodies makes no sense, nor does redemption of our bodies without our souls. And so that's how we have to live. And thank God, always.
The Lord bless and keep you!