Contemplative mysticism and Contemplative action
St. Francis was truly a mystic, having a strong personal communication with Our Lord through his Voices that he heard and visions which gave direction to his life and spirituality, his deep contemplative prayer experiences, or Ecstasies, as well as his deep love for God in Creation and in Eucharist. He never became a priest because he felt himself so unworthy to consecrate the Eucharist. But St. Francis was not just a contemplative in prayer, but also in action. He saw all the work they did, and other activities, especially in service to others, as contemplation in action. He saw Christ's face in the poor, the leper and all those persecuted or disadvantaged. His work with them was a form of contemplative prayer, a prayer in action, for he was caring for Christ. Mother Teresa in more contemporary times shared this same contemplation in action with her work with the poorest of the poor. He also considered their manual labor not only necessary as a part of their rule, but as a way of praying also. In some ways, this is similar to Gandhi's sense of holiness in doing our share of the menial labor, not leaving it to others. In reality everything in Francis' life became a prayer. As we are asked to “pray unceasingly,” Francis accomplished this holy goal.
In the last year before Francis' death, he was deep in prayer during a retreat on Mount Alverna and he had a vision in which Jesus on the Cross (in the form of a seraph) was so united with him that when he returned from his Ecstacy, he found the wounds of Jesus in his hands, feet and side. These remained until his death, though due to his humility, this was only known to a few before his death. This was the culmination of his unity with Christ's suffering on the Cross.
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