From St. Bonaventure’s Life of St. Francis
Francis sympathised lovingly and compassionately with everyone who was ill, and he immediately offered to Christ the poverty or deprivation he saw in anyone.
Question: Why would you offer someone’s poverty or deprivation to Christ?

He was kind and gentle by nature and this was intensified by the goodness of Christ poured into him. His heart melted for the poor or the sick, and if he was unable to help them he would talk to them with kindness and affection.
Question: if you can’t help someone, do you still talk with them about it? What could you say?

A brother once responded rather harshly to a poor man begging from him at an inconvenient moment. When the lover of the poor heard this, he ordered the brother to strip naked, kneel down at that poor man's feet, confess his fault, and beg for his prayers and forgiveness. When he had done this with due humility, Francis added gently: "Brother, when you see a poor person, you are looking at an image of our Lord and his poor mother placed in front of you. And when you see a sick person, call to mind the sufferings Jesus accepted for us."
Question: how do you see the face of Christ in people in need?
Question: Why would you call Jesus’ sufferings to mind when you see a sick person?

Francis saw the face of Christ in every poor person he met, and he was ready to give them anything he had, even if he himself was in urgent need of it. He even believed that the poor had a right to those things, as if they were their own possessions.
Question: is this going too far? Do you feel people in need have any right to your possessions?

Coming back from Siena one day, Francis was wearing a short jacket over his coat because he was not well. They met a poor man, and when big-hearted Francis realised how miserable the man was, he said to his companion, ‘We must give this jacket back to this poor man, because it really belongs to him! For we only have it on loan until we come across someone in greater need than us.’  But his companion, conscious of how much Francis needed the extra clothing, protested because Francis was putting his own health at risk. But Francis responded by saying, ‘The great Almsgiver will accuse me of theft if I do not give what I have to someone who needs it more than me.’
Whenever he was given any necessities he would ask the donor for permission to give it away if he met someone who needed it more. He spared nothing at all – cloaks, jackets, books, even altar cloths – as long as he was in a position to do so, he gave them all to the poor so as to obey the commandment of love; and when he met poor people on the road carrying heavy loads, he would often carry their burdens on his own weak shoulders.
Question: Have you ever given something of yours away to someone you felt needed it more that you?
Question: If you see someone carrying a heavy load, do you go up to them and carry it for them? Even if they are poor or marginalised people?

Also from St. Bonaventure’s Life of St. Francis
One day as Francis was riding his horse on the plain below Assisi he met a leper. He was taken by surprise and felt sick at the sight of him, but then he remembered his resolve to be perfect, and the need to overcome himself first if he wanted to become a knight of Christ. He immediately dismounted and ran up to kiss the man. The leper put out his hand, expecting something, and Francis put some money in it and kissed his hand. Then he mounted his horse and looked all around the plain but although he could see clearly in all directions the leper had disappeared. Filled with joy and wonder he sang God’s praises with a loud voice, resolving to do the same again soon.
[Thomas of Celano adds: ‘He then went on to the leper colony houses, and gave money and a kiss on the hand and mouth to each inmate’.]
Question: do you find certain sorts of people frightening or disgusting? How do you react - turn away or reach out to them? (Be honest!)