(July 1956) AFTERWARDS he spoke with Ivy Duce, Don Stevens and others about Saint Francis: “Saint Francis of Assisi was the only one of the very few saints in Europe to become a Perfect Master.”
Don Stevens asked, “Baba, you have explained in the Discourses, God Speaks and elsewhere that an individual cannot attain God-Realization without the aid of a living Perfect Master. Since there was no Perfect Master in Europe at that time, how did Saint Francis achieve Realization?”
Baba turned to Ivy and asked, “Have you heard of the ancient Sufi prophet, Khwaja Khizr?” She replied that she had heard Rabia Martin speak of him. Baba explained: “Khwaja Khizr now and then takes on a physical body if there is some spiritual situation that absolutely demands it. The Realization of Francis was such a case, because he had no Perfect Master to give him Realization. So, on the night we read about on Mount La Verna, near Assisi, during which St. Francis also received the stigmata [wounds of the Crucified Christ], Khwaja Khizr, in his temporary human form, gave this beloved Western saint the touch of grace which made him a Perfect Soul – a Qutub or Perfect Master.”
Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri, Original Publication, Vol. 14, p. 5011