Franciscan prayer is contemplative because it nurtures a relationship with Christ, the Word of God, in such a way that one comes to see the hidden presence of God in ordinary reality. Contemplation is a penetrating gaze with the eyes of the heart that sees the truth of things or, we might say, that sees the overflowing goodness of God in concrete reality. For the Franciscans, there is no such thing as “brute matter.” Everything that exists, every person, plant and creature, everything is created out of the infinite goodness of God and expresses that goodness by its own existence. Since God’s love is incarnate in Christ, we may say that everything in some way expresses Christ because everything that exists is, in some way, an incarnation of God’s love. In short, the entire creation is holy and a sacrament of God. Prayer that leads one into the mystery of Christ leads one to recognize the overflowing goodness of God at the heart of creation.
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