Goodness and Love
St. Francis of Assisi reminds us: strive to embody both
Francis of Assisi is easily the best-loved Christian saint outside of Biblical figures. Known for his simplicity, humility, joy, and love for animals, nature, and those who are poor, it’s pretty hard to find anything unlikeable about him. This makes it all the more gratifying that he is also generally regarded as one of the greatest Christian mystics, in addition to being a great saint.
What is the difference between a saint and a mystic? I’ve described it this way:
A saint is someone who is good and holy, while a mystic is someone who knows God, who embodies the presence of God, and whose life has been transfigured by this divine presence. Put even more briefly, saints embody goodness while mystics embody love.
Clearly, there’s some overlap here. Maybe it’s not even possible to be a mystic without also being at least something of a saint — and vice versa. After all, great mystical teachers from the second century through the twentieth have suggested that purification is an essential first step in the mystical life. In other words, let go of whatever separates you from divine love, in order to be one with that love. This purifying process — driven by grace, of course — not only makes us more available to be mystics, but also makes saints of us.
There’s too much to say about Saint Francis to easily encapsulate in a short devotional meditation like this one. So let’s just attend to his own words:
Where there is charity and wisdom there is neither fear nor ignorance.
Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance.
Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither covetousness nor avarice.
Where there is inner peace and meditation, there is neither anxiousness nor dissipation…
Where there is mercy and discernment, there is neither excess nor hardness of heart.
— Francis of Assisi, Admonition 27
Whether we are talking about sanctification (the process of becoming a saint) or deification (the process of becoming a mystic), it seems that at the heart of such an interior transformation is a simple commitment to releasing qualities and values that corrode our hearts and our lives, and replacing them with values that foster compassion, felicity, kindness, and serenity. Don’t fight what is “less than” — simply follow the advice of Johnny Mercer, and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.” When we cultivate love, wisdom, patience, joy, and so forth, we embody the antidotes to those qualities that undermine our happiness. Not only that, but we make ourselves more available for the abundant life that both the saints and the mystics exemplify — and offer us.
Paid subscribers: Scroll below for the link, dates, and topics for our upcoming “Let’s Talk About Mysticism” Zoom calls!
Quotation sources:
McColman, Carl. Christian Mystics: 108 Seers, Saints, and Sages, Kindle Edition, p. xvii.
Francis and Clare. Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (edited by R. J. Payne; translated by R. J. Armstrong & I. C. Brady), Verbum Edition, p. 35.
