Dear friends,
Long before we began to think in terms of environmental ethics and eco-spirituality, Francis of Assisi was already living a deeper truth: an ethic of care. He did not merely appreciate nature — he related to it as family, as fellow creatures of God. In his Canticle of the Creatures, he greeted the sun as brother, the moon as sister, and the earth itself as sister-mother. He preached to Brother Wolf and to birds. This was not mere poetry for its own sake; it was a theological statement that creation is not a resource to be managed, but a community to be cherished. Francis practiced a familial eco-spirituality.
As we celebrate Earth Day this year (April 22), we are invited to ask ourselves what it means to be creatures of God rather than owners of the world we inhabit. The Franciscan tradition has always understood that care for creation is inseparable from care for one another. To damage the earth is to damage the poor who depend most upon it. To restore it is an act of justice as much as of love.
Eco-spirituality, in the Franciscan tradition, calls us to examine our habits, our choices, and the systems we participate in, and to ask, honestly, whether they reflect the reverence we profess. Small acts of simplicity, taken together, become a form of prayer. A walk taken rather than a drive. A meal grown close to home. A moment of genuine attention to the living world around us.
This quarter, I invite you to let your theological studies touch the ground beneath your feet. The questions you may be wrestling with in your studies — about justice, dignity, vocation, and grace — are not separate from the crisis of our shared home. They are at the very heart of it.
May this Earth Day be not just a moment of awareness, but a renewal of your commitment to live gently and responsibly in the community of creation.
Peace and All Good,
Keith Warner, OFM
