Tranzit svatého Františka z Assisi

Otec Richard Rohr píše o kosmickém dosahu františkánské mystiky: 

Slovo mystika používám ve velmi tradičním a klasickém smyslu. Neukazuje na něco esoterického a nedostupného, i když poukazuje na něco, co je dostupné pouze těm, kteří jdou za povrch a vnějšek, těm, kteří prožívají vnitřní milost a propojenost všech věcí. Jak říkali Ježíš, Pavel i františkánský teolog Bonaventura (1221-1274), každý po svém, mystika je často pošetilostí pro vzdělance a samozřejmostí pro prosté.

Zdůrazňuji spojení, protože tento nenaučitelný dar je to, co vždy vidím u skutečných mystiků. Mystikové znají a užívají si propojené jádro skutečnosti, které je skryté těm, kdo po něm netouží nebo ho nehledají. Jediné, co mystikové vědí, je, že jsou uvnitř nesmírného a úžasného tajemství, které se zdá být většině z nás ostatních skryté nebo popírané (ale ne popírané!). Mystikové se dívají jinýma očima, které vidí milost ve všech věcech a hluboké spojení mezi všemi věcmi.

The Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi

Father Richard Rohr writes of the cosmic scope of Franciscan mysticism: 

I use the word mysticism in a very traditional and classic sense. It is not pointing to something esoteric and unavailable, though 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. As Jesus, Paul, and Franciscan theologian Bonaventure (1221–1274) each said in their own way, mysticism is often foolishness to the educated and obvious to the simple.

I emphasize connectivity because that unteachable gift is what I always see in true mystics. Mystics know and enjoy the connected core of reality that is hidden to those who do not desire it or search for it. All mystics know is that they are inside of an immense and wonderful secret, which seems to be hidden from or denied by (but not denied to!) most of the rest of us. Mystics look out from different eyes that see the grace in all things and the deep connection between all things. 

While Franciscan mysticism overlaps with aspects of non-Christian mysticism—such as nature mysticism (panentheism), Jewish mysticism (God as “One” and thus all inclusive), Islamic Sufi mysticism (ecstasy and joy), Hindu mysticism (unitive consciousness and asceticism), and Buddhism (nonviolence and simplicity)—Franciscan mysticism has a unique place in the world through its Christocentric lens. Franciscan mysticism is about an intuition of Jesus as the Incarnate and Universal Christ. Francis discovered and so powerfully loved this mystery in Jesus that he eventually became a living image of Christ.

It was the unique person of Jesus that Francis and Clare 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 and Clare bore “fruit that remained” and they invariably believed in original blessing much more than original sin.

Franciscan mysticism is therefore not really about Francis, but about a universal notion of the Christ and therefore of 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.