Flying Free
Francis loved the earth, but his motion was always up and away from it toward some intangible tug at his heart from above. He felt at times like a puppet caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between invisible forces he did not understand. And they were both pulling from inside his own heart. O the secret scars of those opposing ropes through his heart! O the release of the upward sweep of the arms!

The open palms of his hands, especially, released him from the knotted tangle within. The open palms. The attitude of Christ on the cross, vulnerable, open, pouring Himself out for us. The cross! God’s final pull of victory over the opposing forces in the heart. He clutched his small wooden cross to his heart and felt he was flying again.

—from the book Francis: The Journey and the Dream by Murray Bodo, OFM