This Sunday, October 4th, the Church celebrates one of its most beloved saints, Saint Francis of Assisi. As his feast falls this year on a Sunday, the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection takes precedence over his actual feast day; something that Saint Francis would no doubt insist upon.
The life of Saint Francis has served as a model for our present Holy Father, Pope Francis, who has chosen to name himself after this beloved saint. Pope Francis has followed the example of Saint Francis’s love for the poor in much of his ministry. He has also looked to Saint Francis as a model for the way in which we ourselves might be called to care for the environment and our common home, “mother earth.”
One of Saint Francis’s most famous poems is known as the Canticle of the Sun. In this beautiful poem, Saint Francis acknowledges all of creation as a gift from God and points out the interconnectedness of creation. The poem itself goes like this:
Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no human person is worthy to mention Your name.Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those who will
find Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility.
In this beautiful poem, Saint Francis acknowledges God to be the creator of everything and all of creation to be inter-related and connected. The poem praises God for creating all things and speaks with reverence of all of creation as a gift from God.
Based on this poem, Pope Francis wrote the Church’s first encyclical letter about the environment and the responsibility that belongs to all of us to care for our common home. This letter is called “Laudato si,” and it is based upon this poem by Saint Francis of Assisi. As the poem does, in this letter, Pope Francis also speaks of the gift of all creation from God and the interconnectedness which exists between all in God’s creation. Because all things were created by God, Pope Francis writes that humans are but stewards who are entrusted with creation so that it may be protected and handed on to the future generations who are also entitled to share in the gifts of creation. The earth does not belong to anyone group of people or generation or time. Humanity has an obligation to care for the environment, recognize the interconnectedness between all of creation, and not to deprive others of a share in what is also due to them—whether those others live in a different country or are going to live at a future date.
The two very simple points that Pope Francis hopes to make in his encyclical are:
- Creation is a gift from God and must be cared for in order that it may be passed on to future generations.
- Creation belongs equally to everyone—it is not a possession given to any one nation, generation or class of people.
The first point, that creation is a gift that must be cared for, is one that most people are willing to accept. We have all become aware in recent years of the need to change our patterns of behavior and consumption in order to protect our environment. Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, there was much in the news about the need to change our patterns of consumption and make efforts to protect the environment. Our own parish, through the Social Justice Committee, has made efforts to become a “blue parish” by no longer buying bottled water and other efforts at education and conservation. Since the pandemic began, much has actually been said about how conditions have improved environmentally, as fewer people have been using cars, travelling by plane, and the waste of paper has been significantly decreased. Despite the upset that has been caused by the pandemic, and the way in which it has absorbed all of the media’s attention, we must all remain focused upon the importance of caring for the environment and doing the best we can to take measures to conserve and protect it for future generations.
Where I think we in the West, particularly in North America, have some difficulty is with the second point that is emphasized in “Laudato si” by Pope Francis. The patterns of consumption that we have in North America are very contradictory to the idea that creation belongs to everyone and is intended for people of all generations. Whether we realize it or not, everything about the way we consume in North America proclaims that we believe that everything belongs to us and that we have the right to consume it today. In North America, we never really talk too seriously about how to change our patterns or consumption in order to solve the environmental crisis. Even though, we throw out billions of tons of food every year, and consume far more than people anywhere else, when it comes to talk about the environment, North Americans and their politicians rarely talk about how we should attempt to consume less so that others can have more. We turn a blind eye to the ravenous manner in which we consume and use the world’s resources and attempt to maintain larger and greater shares of these limited resources. Instead of thinking about how we can change our behavior, and lessen our waste of billions of tons of food a year, in North America we tend to think that the problems of world hunger can be solved by telling people in other countries not to have children and to reduce their consumption. Much of the aide that is provided to developing countries by North American governments is tied to population control measures that will ensure that we can maintain our sinful patterns or consumption and waste. We tell others in developing countries not to have children so that we can keep consuming. Government programs actually deny others the right to life so that we can keep consuming at the rate at which we do. Pope Francis makes it clear that this is wrong and that we are called to address our rates of consumption and recognize that rights of people in other countries and future generations to the same quality of life that we hope to have for ourselves.
In our Gospel this Sunday, we hear the story of tenants who have been given everything by their landowner. When the landowner sends others to claim a share in the garden, the tenants refuse to recognize those who have been sent by the landowner as being sent from him and do not give them a share and actually go on to kill some of them. It seems to me that this could be an image for the way in which different cultures and civilizations do not recognize the rights and dignity of other peoples or nationalities—whether those living now or to come in future generations. We do not recognize that others have a right to share in God’s creation and deny them a share or the right to life. If we really see the world as God’s creation, and everything and everyone within it as interconnected, as Saint Francis did, then we would care for it and acknowledge that it does not belong to us alone. The earth and all of creation is a gift from God to be cared for and shared. It does not belong to any one nation or age—it is our common home.
As we celebrate today the Feast of Saint Francis, let us pray that we might be inspired by him to care for our environment and treasure the sacredness of the interconnectedness of all people and all of creation. This world is not ours to exhaust in the pursuit of our own selfish desires. Creation belongs to God and is entrusted to us to care for during the time that we are here and is to be cared for and passed on to future generations.
Let us pray that through the intercession of Saint Francis, we may praise God for His creation by caring for it and one another—those both living and to come.
Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor, St. Peter’s Church—Toronto.
This reflection is based upon the readings for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80; Philippians 4: 6-9; and Matthew 21:33-43.
To read Pope Francis’s encyclical on the care of our common home—Laudato si—please visit: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
