Feed the Wolf: Befriending Our Fears in the Way of Saint Francis

Summary

Turn from fear and find peace.

Saint Francis understood soldiers and fools, mothers and fathers, businesspeople and rulers, poets and court entertainers, pastors and criminals. He was, at one time or another, in both subtle and obvious ways, all of these things.

Each spiritual lesson from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi begins with an invitation to embrace the wolf—to consider another viewpoint, to befriend our fears, and to discover something new. The path Saint Francis discovered is the way of faith made tangible—and his way was always a way of peace.

In Feed the Wolf, author and Saint Francis scholar Jon M. Sweeney explores fifteen spiritual practices from the essential wisdom of Saint Francis to ease fear and uncertainty in our twenty-first-century lives: touch what is frightening; refuse power; have nothing to lose; spend time in the woods; pray with the moon; turn toward what's simple; and more. The world's most popular saint has illuminated a peaceful path forward for those of us navigating today's precarious times.