Renewal entails recovering
and respecting the natural rhythms
inscribed into nature by the hand of the Creator.
--Jorge Mario
Bergolio
Harmony humility
I take it back, I take it back to where we
started
I take it back, I take it back to the
Garden
I take it back, I take it back to where we
started
I take it back, I take it back to where the
heart is
Harmony humility
Making humble,
making humble, beating heart
Teach me wisdom
and teach me in the secret part
Teach me rhythm, teach
me soul, teach me mercy
Teach me how to
love this world and You firstly
Teach me how to
see Creation as you made it
With that
childlike wonder untainted
‘Cause in Your
designs I find my delight
In Your designs I find
my delight
Refrain
Laudato si,
laudato si, mi signori
Praise be to you,
my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth
Who sustains and
governs us, producing varied fruit
With colored
flowers and herbs.
In the words of
this beautiful canticle, St. Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home
is like a sister with whom we share our life, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace
us. This sister now cries out to us because
of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the
goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her
lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded
by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in
the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened
and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she groans in travail. We have forgotten that we ourselves are
dust of the earth, our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her
air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.
Creation is harmed
where we ourselves have the final word, where everything is simply our property
and we use it for ourselves alone. The
misuse of creation begins when we no longer recognize any higher instance than
ourselves, when we nothing else but ourselves.
Francis of Assisi invites
us to something more: to see nature as a
magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite
beauty and goodness. Rather than a
problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with
gladness and praise.
--Jorge Mario
Bergolio, Pope Francis, Laudato Si
Happy Earth Day, Everyone!
To hear Brother
Isaiah perform Harmony Humility, click
on the video below. To purchase Poco a poco (which includes the quotes from Pope Francis), click here.
Image source: Sue Betanzos, St. Francis of Assisi, https://www.michaelvalliant.com/tag/canticle-of-brother-sun/
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