Saint Francis,nature,and the environment

[cherubim]

Listen to St.Francis was preaching to the birds :

My sister birds,you owe much to God,and you must always and in everyplace give praise to Him,for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you…you neither sow nor reap,and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst,and mountains and valleys for shelter,and tall tress for your nests.And although you neither know how to spin or weave,God dresses you and your children,for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses you abundantly.Therefore always seek to praise God.

Also that St.Francis thanked his donkey at his bedside for carrying and helping him throughout his life,as his donkey wept.

And I wept too,how wonderful story it was!

Be my guardian throughout my life too,St.Francis!

 

[brockmac]

A few years ago I was in Assisi, Italy as a pilgrim/tourist with my wife and 5 children. We were sitting outside the Basillica of St. Claire watching the children play around the fountain. I saw a couple of friars approach and got up to greet them. At that time one of my daughters came up to me as well. I mentioned to the friars that my daughter’s middle name is Frances and that she shares the Saint’s love for animals (She does). What happened next perplexed me.

One of the friars responded by, in my opinion, somewhat tersely informing me that “He loved people too.” I was not sure what to make of this response, but it turned out to be the beginning of my love affair with St. Francis of Assisi.

I have since read a biography and a collection of his writings and done a fair amount of on-line research. I now understand the Friar’s frustration. St. Francis often gets, if you will pardon the pun, pigeon holed into the animal thing. While this was certainly a part of his charism, it was not the heart of it. The very heart of St. Francis, as far as I can tell, lies in humility and poverty. He is in my opinion, the most significant figure in the history of the Church after only the Lord himself, Our Lady, and Saints Peter and Paul. I pray that all Christians, myself included, can learn to model his humility and love for God above all things. He loved animals because he correctly saw them as creations of God, and therefore expressed his love for God through his love for God’s creatures.

I offer this not to criticize anything you have said, for I to love the stories of his sermon to the birds and the wolf of Gubbio, but rather to invite you to a deeper appreciation for this remarkable saint.

Pax et Bonem

 

[blessedstar]

All the last poster said is true.

I’d just add that we could learn alot from St Francis on how we treat the environment, I think that’s relevant for this age, how we have let our greed destory nature and the natural world, a common disrespect for all the little creatures and our beautiful world to which we are to be good stewards, seeing them as mere commodities and greedily taking more than can naturally be replenished. Materialism is outstripping what the world can support. This greed leaves many people in desperate poverty.

St Francis not only showed good stewardship by his love of animals and the world, but also by his simple life of poverty and humility which in turn gives us an example of how the world’s natural resources must be managed under good stewardship so that foremost the poor do not suffer and neither does the natural world.

In my Living Prayer of life.