If you had been listening to the stories in Little Flowers in 1300, what would you have concluded from them is the way to gain eternal life? The author of this story is unknown, but many believe it to have been written by Father Ugolino da Santa Maria. According to Wikipedia, “Most scholars are now agreed that Ugolino was the author of the Fioretti, or Little Flowers of St. Francis, in their original form. Ugolino was probably one of several collectors of traditions in the Marches. The Fioretti appears to have been written sometime between 1322 and 1328.” The book has 53 small chapters and it was based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi. 

The author of this book made it clear that if you wanted to have everlasting life in Heaven then you would need to live your life in complete poverty. Poverty means that your really poor. You wouldn’t have a house, a job, or money. You would have to do this your whole life if you wanted to get into Heaven. This is not true. The only way to make it to Heaven is to believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for your sins. Many people think that good deeds do this, but they don’t. Other people think that you need to believe in God, but you don’t need to change your life. You need to Believe in God and change your life skill to ways that are pleasing to God. 

If you had been listening to the stories in Little Flowers in 1300, what would you have concluded from them is the way to gain eternal life? I probably would have concluded that St. Francis was right.