with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is
between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.
11.
Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend
the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human. Just as
happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the
smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communedwith
all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them “to praise the Lord, just as if they were
endowed with reason”.
19
His response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual
appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by
bonds of affection. That iswhyhe felt called to care for all that exists. His disciple Saint Bonaventure
tells us that, “from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant
piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or ‘sister’”.
20
Such a
conviction cannot be written off as naive romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our
behaviour. Ifwe approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe andwonder, ifwe
no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude
will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs.
By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up
spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but
somethingmuchmore radical: a refusal to turn reality into anobject simply to beused and controlled.
12.
What ismore, Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as amagnificent book
in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. “Through the
greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker” (
Wis
13:5); indeed,
“his eternal power and divinity have been made known through his works since the creation of the
world” (
Rom
1:20). For this reason, Francis asked that part of the friary garden always be left
untouched, so that wild flowers and herbs could grow there, and those who saw them could raise their
19
THOMASOFCELANO,
The Life of Saint Francis
, I, 29, 81: in
Francis of Assisi: EarlyDocuments
, vol. 1, NewYork-
London-Manila, 1999, 251.
20
The Major Legend of Saint Francis
, VIII, 6, in
Francis of Assisi: Early Documents
, vol. 2, NewYork-London-Manila,
2000, 590.
