Simplicity, Spirituality, Service

"Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure inspire us to re-enchant and heal our spiritual practices and religious institutions and to reclaim our vocation as God's companions in healing the world." Francis was inspired by the simple goal of living a gospel life in the footprints of Jesus. Clare took that vision into a deep, contemplative spirituality. A few decades later, Bonaventure explored the theological structure of Francis's ideal and put the simplicity and spirituality of Francis and Clare in the service of the Franciscan order, the church, and the world. Their timeless wisdom and unique contributions can guide Christians today in finding ways to be, in the words of Francis's first biographer, "always new, always fresh, always beginning again." As he did in Walking with Francis of Assisi, Bruce Epperly shows us how the lives of three saints from the thirteenth century offer wisdom, insight, and practical solutions to our challenges in the twenty-first century. Many of those challenges they never could have imagined; others would be very familiar: healing divisions among people, caring for God's creation in a time of climate change, renewing the church's gospel commitment to the poor and vulnerable, valuing the human person in an increasingly technological society, recognizing the presence of God in an expanding universe. Faithfulness to Franciscan spirituality involves inviting other companions to join us on the journey. Epperly brings Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure in dialogue with figures such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Pope Francis, Joshua Heschel, Leonardo Boff, Albert Schweitzer, Dorothy Day. Some of these were influenced by Francis; all of them witness to the need for a world formed, sustained, and sanctified by God's love.