Grace and Connectivity
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Father Richard Rohr describes how grace and connectivity are foundational to Franciscan mysticism:
Before talking specifically about Franciscan mysticism, the meaning of the word mysticism needs to be clarified. As its Greek root form mu (closed eyes or lips) implies, mysticism is pointing to something that is somehow hidden and cannot be easily seen or talked about. A mystic reveals that which is hidden to most of us, yet it is also invariably what we also hope and imagine to be true! True mystics seldom if ever bring bad news. It seems Reality, at its hidden and deepest levels, is always very good—better than most of us can imagine!
I use the word mysticism in a very traditional and classic sense. It is not pointing to something esoteric and unavailable to the masses, but it does point to something that is only available to those who go beyond the surface and exterior, those who experience the inner grace and connectivity of all things. I emphasize connectivity because that unteachable gift is what I always see in true mystics. Mystics know and enjoy the connected core of reality. They look out from a different pair of eyes that see the grace in all things and the deep connection between all things.
Franciscan mysticism is a subset of mysticism. Though it overlaps with aspects of non-Christian mysticism—such as nature mysticism, Islamic Sufi mysticism (ecstasy and joy), Hindu mysticism (unitive consciousness itself and asceticism), and Buddhism (nonviolence and simplicity)—Franciscan mysticism has a unique place in the world through its Christocentric lens.
It was the unique person of Jesus that Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) fell in love with, precisely in his incarnate and humble state, identifying with the excluded and little ones, whom Jesus calls “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40). The bias toward the edge and the bottom has always been at the heart of Franciscan mysticism, explaining its perennial identification with poverty and suffering.
The cosmic vision, personalized in Jesus, was an intuition that Francis and many of his followers lived and experienced, but most of them did not formulate it in theological words or academic concepts as much as in lifestyles. Usually they picked it up by osmosis, through the gospel and the Franciscan lineage. Followers of Francis bore “fruit that remained” and invariably believed in original blessing much more than original sin.
Franciscan mysticism is therefore not really about Francis, but about a universal notion of Christ and therefore all reality. Francis pushes all of our seeing to the absolute edge by always including those whom other systems might too easily exclude—lepers, non-Christians, poor people, hated outsiders. When it loses that “edgy” position, it might be mini-mysticism, or even church mysticism, but it is never Franciscan mysticism. Francis knew that only love is big enough to handle and hold truth. Truth which is not loving, joyful, and inclusive is never the Great Truth.
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The Infinite in the Finite
Monday, August 10, 2026
Father Richard explores how Franciscan mysticism invites us to encounter divine presence in our concrete, specific lives:
Francis of Assisi knew that if we could accept that the finite manifests the infinite, and that the physical is the doorway to the spiritual (which is the foundational principle we call “incarnation”), then all we need is right here and right now—in this world. This is the way to that! Heaven includes earth. Time opens us up to the timeless, space opens us up to spacelessness, if only we take them for the clear doorways that they are. There are not sacred and profane things, places, and moments. There are only sacred and desecrated things, places, and moments—and it is we alone who desecrate them by our willful blindness and lack of reverence. It is one sacred universe, and we are all a part of it. We really cannot get any better or more simple than that in terms of a spiritual vision.
The realization that the concrete opens us up to the universal might be the only fully trustworthy or possible path anyway, because that is how sensate humans normally operate. Abstract ideology will not get us very far, and much common religion is ideology more than any real encounter with Presence. But we all must start with our anecdotal experience and then build from there. People all over the world are rejecting the ideological (top-down) form of religion—and they should, because this is not the path of Christ himself.
By taking the mystery of the Incarnation absolutely seriously and gradually extending it to its logical conclusions, the seeming limitations of space and time are once and for all overcome in Francis. The Christ Mystery refuses to be vague or abstract and is always concrete and specific. When we stay with these daily apparitions, we see that everything is a revelation of the divine—from rocks to rocket ships. There are henceforth no blind spots in the divine disclosure, in our own eyes, or in our rearview mirrors. The only hindrance to our seeing is our own lack of fascination, humility, curiosity, awe, and willingness to be allured forward.
Franciscan spirituality emphasizes a real equivalence and mutuality between the one who sees and what can be seen. There is a symbiosis between the mind and heart of the seer—and to what they will then pay attention. Francis had a unique ability to call others—animals, planets, and elements —“brother” and “sister” because he himself was a little brother. He granted other beings and things mutuality, subjectivity, “personhood,” and dignity because he first honored his own dignity as a son of God. The world was a transparent two-way mirror for him, which some of us would call a fully “sacramental” universe.”
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Individual Reflection
What’s one ordinary, physical thing in your life right now that you’ve stopped seeing as sacred?
Group Discussion — choose one:
- Rohr says there’s no such thing as sacred and profane places — only sacred and desecrated ones, and “we alone” do the desecrating. Where have you desecrated something by not paying attention to it?
- Francis called elements and animals “brother” and “sister.” What would it mean to grant that kind of mutuality and dignity to something you currently just use?
- “Abstract ideology will not get us very far… we all must start with our anecdotal experience.” What’s one concrete, specific moment that taught you more about God than any idea did?
