“Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.”
– St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures
These words reveal St. Francis’ understanding of a universe created in and for love – one that is deeply interpersonal, interrelated, interconnected, and integral. When reflecting on Mother Earth, we recognize the planet as a single, complex, interconnected system.
Mother Earth provides the fundamental resources essential for all life: a continuous flow of energy; liquid water; an atmosphere with vital gases; and organic compounds, nutrients, and essential chemical ingredients.
The Franciscan revolution lies in the belief that the Earth sustains and governs. Biblical thought prior to Francis often argued that human beings must dominate the Earth, but he was the first to challenge this.
It is not the mission of human beings to control, dominate, disfigure, destroy, or discard whatever we find useful within the natural world. We are called by God – and by St. Francis – to recognize our place as co‑creatures and fellow sojourners with Mother Earth, who ultimately provides all we need to survive.
When we accept our identity as dependent and interdependent creatures; when we recognize that Mother Earth and all of creation are graced with personality and agency; and when we open our lives to a lifelong process of ecological conversion, we find ourselves on the road to authentic wisdom – a wisdom that is deeply spiritual.
For St. Francis, this relational way of wisdom, in which all members of creation are recognized as brothers and sisters, is the only path capable of restoring right relationship and full communion with God, with one another, and with all of creation. As we follow this path, ecological conversion takes root within us, and we become capable of recognizing the “cry of the earth, the cry of the poor” (Laudato Si’, 49) – and our responsibility to respond.
Eight centuries later, for Franciscans International, this responsibility includes taking up Environmental Justice as a pillar of our work at the United Nations. The understanding that we are interconnected with nature has underpinned Franciscan advocacy, first for the recognition, and now for the implementation of the human right to a healthy environment. In many ways, the different elements of this right – clean air and water, a stable climate, etc. – reflect the nuances praised by St. Francis in the Canticle.
The rejection that the natural world is there to be exploited translates into Franciscan opposition to the corporate greed that has become a leading cause of environmental degradation and our work enshrine regulations for transnational corporations in international human rights law. Downstream of this, Franciscans advocate for the protection of Indigenous Peoples and marginalized communities that see their traditional lands threatened and livelihoods destroyed in the name of development and economic growth.
Today, as humans are pushing the climate to its breaking point, global debates on environmental policies and protection is where our Franciscan commitment to care of creation and human intersect and must be heard.
May our Sister, Mother Earth, teach us the way of wisdom, unity, and harmony.
By Blair Matheson TSSF, Executive Director at Franciscans International