“St. Francis’s miracles are all acts of love. The greater number of them are found in the healing of nervous maladies, those apparently inexplicable disquietudes that are the cruel afflictions of critical times. His gentle glance, at once so compassionate and so strong, that seemed like a messenger from his heart, often sufficed to make those who met it forget their suffering. Jesus was right in saying that a look sufficed to make one an adulterer. But there is also a look – that of the contemplative Mary, for example – that is worth all sacrifices because it includes them all, because it give, consecrates, immolates the one who looks. Civilization dulls this power of the glance. A part of the education the world gives us consists in teaching our eyes to deceive, in making them expressionless, in extinguishing their flames.”

– The Complete Francis of Assisi: His Life, The Complete Writings, and The Little Flowers, page 99