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Francis of Assisi and His Posterity Today / 253 Introduction A theologian has presented the spiritual richness of Francis' evangelical mission as that mission is expressed in the historical sources: the saint's writings and the first biographies (Part One). A historian has given us a panoramic view of the richly varied adventure, with its grandeur's and its weaknesses, to which the dynamism unleashed by Francis gave rise during the almost eight-century history of his Order (Part Two). So we have now before our eyes both a delineation of the Franciscan ideal and a description of the continually renewed effort to enflesh that ideal in the concrete lives of men and women drawn to walk the path traced by Francis. But this twofold past (the project or ideal and its historical development) is not only of historical interest. Even today, some hundreds of thousands of Christian believers feel affected, challenged, fascinated by the living water of Franciscan spirituality. For them, living the Gospel as Francis did is a matter of contemporary relevance. And outside the rather ill–defined boundaries of the Franciscan family in the strict sense, millions of people turn toward the luminous figure of Francis, convinced that he has something to say to our age. Thus the question arises: Is Francis still living today; and if so, in what sense is he present? How do we of the late twentieth century perceive him, and what word do we expect from him? What, moreover, is the progeny that claims him as its father; on what basis does it feel justified in doing so; what is its life like, what motives enliven it, what problems cause it concern? The answers to these questions regarding Francis' presence and regarding his posterity today will form the subject matter for this Third Part, and they already indicate, here at the outset, the general shape it will take. 254 / Thaddée Matura, O.F.M. ...

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