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The Season of Creation: On Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi

 

Brother Sun and Sister Moon
I seldom see you seldom hear your tune
Preoccupied with selfish misery
Brother Wind and Sister Air
Open my eyes to visions pure and fair
That I may see the glory around me.

I am God’s creature, of [God] I am part
I feel His love awakening my heart.

—Donovan, lyrics to theme from Franco Zefferelli’s 1972 film of the same name

With this feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (October 4), we come to the end of the Season of Creation.  Some of us may remember viewing the 1972 film, “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”, which brings out so beautifully the spirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi, and the way in which they rejected the secular values of their day in making the choice to live lives that were deeper, richer, and fuller in meaning and spiritual depth and power.  Their choice was not without suffering and sacrifice, but they were choosing something that they perceived to be greater than what the secular world offered them.  We are faced with the same kind of choices in our day.  Will we continue to be seduced by the desire for more and more material gain at the expense of the poor and of Mother Earth, or will we make different choices?  Laudato Si’ encourages us to embrace a profound conversion to the values of integral ecology, values that will lead to a greater abundance of life for all of God’s creation.

Date Published:

04 October 2023

Author:

Fr. David Gentry

 

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Latest news, South Sudan, Solidarity, Season of Creation, Life, Saint Francis, Laudato Sì

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