Brother Francis

Brother Francis, a close and humorous confidante at Plum Village

I lingered among the trees for a few minutes after people started to to leave, a tear in my eye about missing my children. A figure in a billowy golden robe approached out of the settling mist. It was Brother Francis, who has been such a gentle support to me since the day of his arrival from Thailand. He once said that I remind him of his mother, and then added hastily, “not that you look old enough to be my mother!”

--Excerpt from EVERY BUDDHA, SAME PRICE, page 203