Bring Them Home

“This is our vocation: to heal wounds, to bind what is broken, to bring home those who are lost.”
St. Francis

Pictured here, in this stunning mosaic, is Francis with a leper. Did he literally heal leprosy? His early followers testified to at least one such case. Whether fact or fancy, no doubt Francis’ presence and service to those who had been cast out from society may have healed their keen sense of separateness, unworthiness, shame.

Healing rarely happens in isolation. In fact, those of us in recovery know how crucial it is to move out of our own isolation and into the fellowship of others. It is here, from our first day, that we begin to heal. Through service to others, we help them do the same. Through our focus on others we lose our inordinate self-concern, which is healing of another kind.
​
So often, through fellowship, we find the “home” we need, and perhaps always wanted. And, from our new home, we reach out a hand to others who have lost their way, as we once had.