St. Francis was a Lover. He was a lover of God and he was really and truly a lover of [people]; possibly a much rarer mystical vocation. . . But as he did not love humanity but [humans], so he did not love Christianity but Christ. –G. K. Chesterton The Church recently celebrated the Feast of St. Francis, and insights on the Saint like the one from Chesterton above offer insight into Francis’ contemplative life. It is a subtle distinction between loving “Christianity” and loving “Christ”, but one that goes straight to the heart of the meaning and fruit of contemplative practice. All contemplative practice is aimed precisely at entering into a level of intimacy – between ourselves and God, ourselves and others, ourselves and creation – that allows us to bypass any external “dressing,” “packaging,” or overly broad generalizations and encounter the Other in its most real, true, and pure form. This is not to say that the externals are not wonderful, or that any generalizations lack purpose. Being compelled to love humanity is admirable, but our love for humanity can only be realized in deep relationship with another human. To be Christian is an incredible vocation, only realized in our love for Christ. Like it did for St. Francis, contemplation lets us truly encounter Christ and our fellow humans, rather than simply the institutions and concepts that bear their names.