A Comparitive Study of the Spirituality of Francis of Assisi and of Teresa of Lisieux

• Main Authors: LEE,TSUI-LIEN, 李翠蓮
• Other Authors: 陸達誠
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/93887584904396417579

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 宗教學系 === 99 === Abstract There are countless saints in the history of the Catholic Church, who answering the call of God, followed Jesus Christ, live the true faith and in perfect love of God and of His people. About their lives and writings many authors offered us their various investigations and infinite books and articles. Our research just focuses on two of them, namely Francis of Assisi and Theresa of Child Jesus, and specifically on their spirituality. They followed Jesus Christ living in a different time space and a different way both of life and spiritual experience. Although their spirituality is different from one another, yet both of them nourished the same love of God and His graces. Francis lived in the world and was called to follow the Lord among the people in the world, observing the Gospel, lived in a radical poverty, serving the least of the society, and preaching the evangelical penance to the people near and far reaching even to the Saracens and people of remote countries. His spirituality based on the love of God, hidden in all His creatures, he loved all of them putting them with himself on the same level of creatures, calling them his brothers and sisters. So he used call them concretely brother sun, sisters moon and stars, sister water, brothers fire and wind, sister death and so on. He discovered a hidden divinity in them. Achieving holiness her way, Theresa from other side lived alone in a monastery, praying for the Church, for evangelization and for salvation of all people. From the Holy Scriptures she discovered an easy way to reach God is that one must become most simple and humble, which she called the Way of spiritual childhood. Effectively this is her spiritual achievement. In one word, the spirituality of Francis is to live out the poverty of Jesus and preach the good news of the Gospel to the whole world by living among the people, whereas the one of Theresa is to live a deep prayer life hidden though equally effective for the glory of God and salvation of souls.