Our Friends in High Places
Saint Francis of Assisi
Feast Day: October 4My father was a farmer, a son of a farmer, and a grandson of a farmer. With this heritage he loved nature, especially the animals on his land. When a baby field mouse crawled into the pocket of his bibbed overalls one early spring day, he just chuckled and asked if it wanted a morsel of breakfast. Nature was his cathedral and St Francis was his inspiration. Everyone knows St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) as the patron saint of animals and ecology. In today’s world -- when American children spend on average less than 30 minutes a day outdoors – perhaps we need to reacquaint ourselves with St. Francis and why he loved nature so. To St. Francis, God and nature were one. He did not delineate between the natural world and the supernatural. Nature was an outward picturing of God’s wonder. Appreciating the creation led him closer to an awareness of the Creator. As St. Bonaventure described: “In everything beautiful, Francis saw Him who is beauty itself, and he followed his Beloved everywhere by his likeness imprinted on creation.” |  |
In his early life, St. Francis was a troubadour and turned these talents to creating prayers and songs for God. His Canticle of the Sun (also known as Praise of the Creation) recognizes the elements of nature as respected brothers and sisters of mankind. He often sang and preached directly to the birds and animals and praised God’s presence in each of them:
“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 trees 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.”
One custom that honors St. Francis this week and is of interest to children is the Blessing of Pets. A procession of cats, dogs, birds, guinea pigs, turtles, ponies and more are led to Catholic Churches to be blessed in the saint’s name.
St. Francis saw his role as being a caretaker of God’s creations. His central belief was that all of creation is united through its oneness in God. The 1992 U.S. Bishops’ Renewing the Earth document likewise states: “safeguarding creation requires us to live responsibly in it, rather than managing it as though we are outside it”.
In our environmentally challenged age of climate change and pollution, shouldn’t we take up the mantle of caretaker too? St. Francis can be our source of inspiration in valuing and appreciating all creatures great and small, even the baby field mouse.