How “spirituality lives on” in Christian believers

“Although he [St. Francis of Assisi] left few writings, his sense of God’s all-pervading presence, his intensive love for all God’s creatures, great and small, human and animal, gave the church an important spiritual legacy that has attracted fresh attention again and again, not least in the new movements of creation spirituality in our own time. … Francis identified his whole life and that of his brothers in ‘the life of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’ Consumed by the consciousness of God’s all-pervading presence and purpose, he saw everybody as a child of God and craved to know the uncreated Father through all of creation, especially through the humanity of his Son. … ‘Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love…O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console …to be loved as to love.’ In comparison with other mystics Francis left few writings. His mystical spirituality lives on through the example of his life; it is found in his simple faith, his passionate devotion to God and human beings, his love of nature and his deep humility.” (Ursula King, Christian Mystics, 72-75)