The breath-taking pictures taken of the earth from space show nothing of the pollution and violence against nature that has damaged the face of the earth and continues to do so. Just as the pictures cannot show how our planet is embedded in an expanding and evolutionary universe.

Creation is mystery. How it came to exist, why it is here, and its purpose are questions that scientists still struggle with. It is right and proper for Science to seek to tell us what happened, but must remain respectfully silent as to why it happened! The Bible provides stories of creation that form the basis of Christian belief: of a Creator God and harmony in an ordered universe; it does not tell us how creation happened, or maintains itself in existence, apart from dependency on God.

In 1980 Pope John Paul II named St. Francis Patron of Ecology, since his insights grew out of the conviction of the real presence of God-with-us in the Incarnation. The intimacy between the Incarnation and creation is the hallmark of the Franciscan tradition.

No religion has been more focussed on things human than Christianity, and at the same time, none more rigid in excluding all but humans from Grace, and denying any moral obligation to other species, as if nature has no other purpose than to serve us. In the face of Christianity plundering creation, St. Francis stands out as its champion.

Francis got his awareness not from books or learning, but from Revelation - especially the Psalms and Canticles he heard read daily in the liturgy. His belief in the doctrine of creation told him that the entire universe is the product of the highest creative power, Transcendent Love. Creation meant for him that God brought to being what did not exist and then in love lets it be itself! This was an important liberating force in his life. He looked at creation not for what it is, but how it is - i.e. God’s creation.

Meeting Goodness in Jesus, his friar, he became aware of goodness at the heart of creation; not an immediate experience, but one requiring growth in love. Conversion is a slow process - in fact it is life-long, since it requires the effort proper to move away from the habits of sin, personal and structural, that have grooved their way into everyday living. Parallel to this there is a growing awareness of the reality of others - indeed of all creation. It is noticeable how this grew and manifested itself more and more as life went on. He was not able to write his cosmic hymn [Canticle] until his last days - 1225.

Celano says he didn’t appreciate creation in his younger days - the beauty of the fields, the delight of vineyards and whatever else was beautiful, offered him no delight at all. He wondered at the sudden change in himself, and considered as foolish those who loved such things. The change happened as a direct result of his growing intimacy with Jesus his friar. Love alone seems to have made a friar minor of him.

His nature mysticism grew from his awareness of the pervading presence of God in all that God has made. He felt himself part of all this vast creation. If the Word of God, Jesus Christ, owned him as friar Francis, then everything - literally everything - that owes its origin to that same creative Word, must enjoy the same familiarity of sister and brother - indeed, to use his own words - the whole world is my friary, the place where sisters and brothers live!

It is the vocation of humankind both to become aware of this [Revelation] - and to be proactive in enabling it to be real - [through the Holy Spirit whom he called the Minister General of our Order]. All creation can make God’s love present, by the way we are present - as its primary purpose - but creation has to be let do so [let it be] - by the way it is lived-in; sisters and brothers together with friar Christ, each in its own unique way, through such fraternity bringing the experience what it means to be a beloved of Abba!

Brother Austin ofm