Understanding Franciscan
Spirituality
Part 1
A Relationship with God
Opening Prayer
To the
Blessed Trinity
+
In the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
Side 1 -- O infinite Trinity,
We sing of your glory in this prayer
Because of Jesus, your beloved Son, you
have raised us to be your own
daughters and sons, And in our hearts,
you have made your dwelling
All: Glory to the Father, and to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the
beginning, is now and will be forever.
Amen
Side 2 -- Eternal beyond time,
The fountain of life that never dies,
All creation comes form you and also
returns
In a never-ending stream of love.
All: Glory to the Father, and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the
beginning, is now and will be forever.
Amen
All -- We give our praise to you,
O most sweet and blessed Trinity
Who always flows forth and always flows
back
In the calm sea of your own overflowing
and dynamic love.
ALL: Through Christ in the unity of the Holy
Spirit all glory and honor are yours,
Almighty Father. Amen
Wisdom 13:1-3
For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by
nature; and they were unable from the good things that
are seen to know him who exists, nor did they recognize
the craftsman while paying heed to his works;
2 but
they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or
the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the
luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.
3 If
through delight in the beauty of these things men
assumed them to be gods, let them know how much
better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty
created them.
The Revised Standard Version. 1971 (Wis 13:1-3). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Trinitarian prayer
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to
the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
is now and will be forever.
Through Christ in the unity of the Holy
Spirit all glory and honor are yours,
Almighty Father
Starting discussion questions
1. Why did Jesus become human
(Incarnate)
2. Would Jesus have come if there
were no original sin?
A Relationship with God
• Spirituality
– based on one’s unique experience of
God
– my particular way of picturing God
– fed by intimate and personal contact
with God
Francis – theologian of God’s
experience
• Not a trained theologian
• Vernacular theologian (in the
common peoples language and
range of experience)
• A theology based on lived experience
Francis – Trinitarian Man
• Francis yearns for relationship with
the Father
• Wants to be loved by the Father as
Jesus is loved
• Sees Jesus as elder brother who
leads us to the father
• The Father is his goal
• Francis understanding of his own
unworthiness causes him to desire
the loving Father even more
• Sees God as Trinity and Unity
Theology of Francis
• Trinitarian communion – which will
become the model for Francis’ Order
- structured as Fraternity – to mirror
the love within the Trinity
• Also based on the Primacy of the
Father
The Father
–supreme goodness
–Unbegotten source
–Total giving-ness –
generativity/fecundity
–2 modes of emanation
• Intellect – Beloved Son
• Will – Spirit = freedom’s choice
to Love
• Central place within the Trinity is the
Father
• Francis calls himself brother &
refuses to be called father
• Place of Father is reserved for God
Christology of Francis
• Based in the mystery of trinity
• Jesus is beloved Son
• Descends from the bosom of the
Father
• Reveals to us the Father and reality
that God is Love
Intellect
Eternal Word
 Begotten
 Perfect
receiver and
reflector of God
 All God is
expressed in
the Son
 Both receives
and produces
[spiration]
Beloved Son
Exemplar - makes
visible the ideas,
thoughts, actions
[mind] of the
Father
“. . if you see me,
you see the Father”
 our elder brother
• Imitation of the Son comes from the
desire to be loved by the Father as
Jesus was loved
• Jesus becomes our elder brother
• Shows us a God of humility and
poverty
• A servant God
Names
• Jesus reveals to us God’s name
ABBA
• The Father reveals Jesus name
BELOVED SON
Holy Spirit
• Only being filled with the Holy Spirit
of God, can we:
• Imitate Jesus
• And become one with the Father
Will of God – Holy Spirit
– Spirated from both Father & Son
– Total receptivity
– Receptive not productive
– Mutual bond between Father
& Son
– The expression of God’s will
– LOVE
• choice made in absolute
freedom