Franciscan spirituality has always involved both contemplation and action.

St. Francis proclaimed the gospel of compassion and care for creation while living in solidarity with the poor. He also spent months in the mountainous forests above Assisi, praying in deep contemplation, often in caves and abandoned places.

Franciscan Theology and Philosophy

Franciscan ways of viewing God and God’s action in history has been a theology that was always orthodox with other parts of Christian theology and yet, at the same time, featuring a different set of emphases. Whereas Christianity has often overemphasized “the stain of original sin,” St. Francis and Franciscan theologians lived and preached and wrote about the many ways that creation is good and the life we have been given is a joyous opportunity. Fr. Richard Rohr OFM, a widely acclaimed author, names the Franciscan way an “alternative orthodoxy” with its different set of emphases while not trying to fight about doctrines.

The Franciscan emphasis on the goodness of God and creation has many ramifications. Creation is the outpouring of God’s love into the universe. Creation reveals to us God’s love for us and God’s beauty (which is why Franciscans call creation “the mirror of God” and that God has two books of creation—Sacred Scripture and creation). And the faith in a good God has implications for the Incarnation and salvation history. The Word of God became incarnate not because the world is full of sin, but in order to transform the world into a communion of love centered in Christ. Blessed John Duns Scotus (c. 1266 – 1308) wrote that the Incarnation was part of the plan all along, with creation a prelude to much fuller manifestation of divine goodness in the Incarnation.

Franciscan Consciousness

From a more positive way of thinking about God and creation, we can see the world from a different consciousness. Francis and the Franciscans honored the world around them and were ignited in praising God from their experiences. They did not split the world into that which is profane and that which is holy, but could see God in the dirt and the worms, in the suffering of life, and in the leper. The Franciscan way of seeing moves us away from dividing up the world in the good and the bad which, as Sr. Ilia Delio says, is “always capable of identifying God’s absence, but rarely consistent in affirming God’s presence in everything that is.” Francis was able to see God imbedded in a marvelously interconnected world with God as the source of each and every thing. He saw the world in universal kinship, with the moon, the water, and the birds as his sisters and the sun and the wolf as his brothers. 

Franciscan Way of Living

Broadly, the Franciscan way is to live knowing that all of creation is the place to encounter God. Concrete manifestations involve living more simply on the earth and with other people in order truly experience and savor God’s gift of life.

The things of this world are God-like just as they are and reveals God to us in their specificity. Therefore, to deepen our relationship to God we need regular, attentive contact with the world in its simple, humble state. We can forget about a search for things and people that are worthy of love or that will make us happy. The world is full of signs of God’s presence, with God telling us what we need to hear through the bits and pieces we encounter in a day. In an ongoing way we are converted to the gospel through God’s daily work inside and outside of us. [1]

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1 https://franciscanaction.org/about/franciscan-spirituality/

Alternative Orthodoxy

In the Legend of Perugia, one of the earliest accounts of his life, Francis offers this instruction to the first friars: “You only know as much as you do.” [1] His emphasis on action, practice, and lifestyle was foundational and revolutionary for its time and remains at the heart of Franciscan alternative orthodoxy. For Francis and Clare, Jesus became someone to actually follow and imitate.   

Up to this point, most of Christian spirituality was based in desert asceticism, monastic discipline, theories of prayer, or academic theology, which itself was often based in “correct belief” or liturgical texts, but not in a kind of practical Christianity that could be lived in the streets of the world. Francis emphasized an imitation and love of the humanity of Jesus, and not just the worshiping of his divinity. That is a major shift.  

Throughout history, the Franciscan School has typically been a minority position inside of the Roman Catholic and larger Christian tradition, yet it has never been condemned or considered heretical—in fact, quite the opposite. It simply emphasized different teachings of Jesus, new perspectives and behaviors, and focused on the full and final implications of the incarnation of God in Christ. For Franciscans, the incarnation was not just about Jesus but was manifested everywhere. As Francis said, “The whole world is our cloister!” [2]  

Francis’ starting place was human suffering instead of human sinfulness, and God’s identification with that suffering in Jesus. That did not put him in conflict with any Catholic dogmas or structures. His Christ was cosmic while also deeply personal, his cathedral was creation itself, and he preferred the bottom of society to the top. He invariably emphasized inclusion of the seeming outsider over any club of insiders, and he was much more a mystic than a moralist. In general, Francis preferred ego poverty to private perfection, because Jesus “became poor for our sake, so that we might become rich out of his poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:9).  [3]

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1 The Assisi Compilation, in Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 2, The Founder (New York: New City Press, 2000)

2 The Sacred Exchange between Saint Francis and Lady Poverty, no. 63, in Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 1, The Saint (New York: New City Press, 2001)

3 Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 2014)

A Franciscan Renaissance

At this time of ecological crisis, the Franciscan legacy is powerfully ecological…. We need a spiritual vision that integrates love for God and love for our neighbor with love for the earth….  The ecological vision of Francis was about … the interconnectedness of all creation, so that we see every creature as sister or brother.

In this time of violence... we need St. Francis’ message and example of nonviolence as never before…. Christianity began as a nonviolent peace movement, a community known for love, a community gathered around a table of fellowship and reconciliation, a people armed with the basin and towel of service, not the bomb and gun of violence... In the language of St. Clare we are invited to become... nonviolent mirrors of Christ for others to see and follow.   

In this time of economic inequality... St. Francis exemplifies an alternative value system where the poor, the leper, and the outcast matter more than money, luxury, and power... A Franciscan vision helps us rediscover the priceless beauty of the earth and its creatures, including our neighbors and ourselves.   

We live in a time of exclusion, division, classism, racism, and religious prejudice. We need the example of St. Francis and St. Clare, who clearly modeled deep inclusiveness and solidarity…. interconnectedness...

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Brian McLaren and Patrick Carolan, “It’s Time for a Franciscan Renaissance,” Red Letter Christians (blog), January 18, 2023