Although Francis and Clare delighted in the first-century Galilean origins of Christianity, they realized that to be faithful to Jesus, they needed to incarnate Jesus’s message in their time and place. They had to share God’s vision in a world characterized by violent crusades, prosperous prelates, hopeless peasants, and controversies in the church. Following the path of his spiritual ancestors, Bonaventure discovered that he needed to adapt his theological study to fresh understandings of the Franciscan tradition. He had to be a theological innovator as well as a caretaker of tradition. In our own day, we are called to plant new gardens, restore broken churches, and renew moribund spiritualities. We can embody the fresh Pentecostal spirit of the early church to reanimate the faith of our time. With Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure, we can affirm a democracy of revelation that embraces all of humanity and overcomes the destructive impact of an “us vs. them” approach to religion and politics.
—from the book Simplicity, Spirituality, Service:The Timeless Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure
by Bruce G. Epperly
