Principal Message

Be Kind, Be safe, Be respectful, Be responsible, Be resilient, Be ready

Dear Parents and Carers,

Years ago, Pope John Paul 11 declared St Francis of Assisi to be the Patron Saint of the Environment. Here we were, in all our modern sophistication, turning to a person who lived in the 13th Century, seeking his guidance and inspiration to deal with our global pollution and the collapse of our planet’s eco-systems. What would St Francis have known about matters such as these? 

Certainly, he would not have been familiar with the terminology but Francis held a very strong belief that God was present in everything around him so that wherever he encountered nature, in its many expressions, he encountered God. For St Francis the world around him drew him to God, and everything around him was an expression of God’s love. His attitude to nature was a humble one in that he realised that all of us are reliant on the environment for our survival.

Francis’ affinity with and affection for nature were expressed in his song “Canticle of the Sun” which he composed in 1225. In this Canticle he used intimate expressions such as, “Brother Sun” and “Sisters Moon and Stars”, “Brothers Wind and Air”, “Sister Water”, “Brother Fire” and in one verse states:

“All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth our Mother, Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces various fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.”Francis ends his song with the following words: “Praise and bless my Lord and give him thanks, and serve him with great humility.”

Now there is a worthwhile piece of guidance and inspiration: be humble. The word originates from the Latin “humus” which means “of the earth”. The humble are close to the earth and see themselves as part of the “whole” and dependent on the environment for their daily needs and continuing existence. St Francis would have been inspired by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and in particular the statement: “Blessed are the humble for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5.

There is little doubt that there is a real connection between nature and spirituality – just ask any gardener! Mother Teresa supports the theme of St Francis’ Canticle, when she writes, “We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness, God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence in order to touch our soul.”

Psychiatrist, Becky Headmaun, who assists people who have been abused, talks about how nature connects us to God when she says, “When we go hiking in the bush, we are surrounded by all of God’s creation: the trees, the animals, rocks, birds, water. There is a sense of holiness about it. If you just stop and listen and close your eyes, you can almost feel a part of everything that is going on around you. When I am in the great outdoors and think about the complexity of it all, I am overcome with a sense of wonder and awe.”  

The guidance and inspiration that St Francis and friends give to parents and their children, is a reminder that we are part of nature, part of God’s creation and gifted with privilege and responsibility. To restate this in a natural setting, we might borrow these words:

“Your mind is a garden,

Your thoughts are the seeds,

The harvest can be either flowers

or weeds.”  Author  unknown

Keep smiling

Cathy