Canticle of the Sun

“Most high, all powerful, all good Lord! All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.” From Saint Francis’s poem, the Canticle of the Sun. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

     Very little of my talk tonight is mine. Almost all of it consists of two quotations. I’ll read a translation of Francis’s poem ‘The Canticle of the Sun,’ and I follow it with a quotation from a book by Bede Griffiths, which recalls themes in Francis’s poem and which brings out Francis's ideas in theological terms. I begin with Francis’s poem:

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.

To You, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all Your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and You give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of You, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens You have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
and clouds and storms, and all the weather,
through which You give Your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Water;
she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom You brighten the night.
He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,
who feeds us and rules us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of You;
through those who endure sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace,
for by You, Most High, they will be crowned.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Bodily Death,
from whose embrace no living person can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing Your most holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,
and serve Him with great humility.

      This hymn of Saint Francis is a great poem and reminds us of the psalms which partly inspired it. It is a strong expression of Francis’s perception of the presence of the Lord in all things. Another expression of this reality comes from Bede Griffiths, a Catholic monk and priest who lived in India, in his book ‘Return to the Centre.’ I want to read now a rather long quotation from that book. It seems to me that Bede Griffiths states in theological terms, the same insight which Francis expresses in his poem.

     “Jesus knew himself in the eternal Ground of Being…He knew himself as the eternal manifestation of the Father, as communicating eternally in the bliss of the Spirit. His was an experience of personal relationship. The…One beyond being, revealed itself to him as Father, and the bliss of the Supreme revealed itself to him as the Spirit of love eternally welling up from the depths of God and eternally returning to its source. Reality itself is this eternal procession of self-manifestation, of self-knowledge, and this eternal overflow of bliss, this eternal self-giving in love. This is what is happening in each one of us, if we could only know ourselves. We are forever coming forth from the Father into the light of self-knowledge, forever returning to the Father in the bliss of love. All our knowledge in this world and all our striving for love is only a pale reflection of this everlasting wisdom and love.

     If we could go down into the depths of any being, a grain of sand, a leaf, a flower, we should come upon this eternal mystery. Beyond the molecules and atoms, beyond the protons and electrons, beyond the living cell with its genes and chromosomes, there is an energy, a force of life, which is continually welling up from the abyss of being in the Father, continually springing up into the light of the Word, continually flowing back to its source in the bliss of love. The Holy Trinity lies at the heart of every creature.  This mystery is hidden in the heart of every person, but we fail to see it: we are turned in on ourselves and are not touched by the grace of the Creator. But there are some in all ages and in all times who wake to this knowledge, who know the Truth. These are the seers, the prophets, the wise men…Each approaches it from a different point of view, each expresses it in different terms, but in all the mystery is the same, the one eternal Truth manifesting itself in space and time, the one unchanging Light reflecting itself in human consciousness. [Francis, of course, was one of these people.] Jesus [and Francis] were men who knew the Truth and who surrendered [themselves] to Love in total self-giving. This is the final revelation of the mystery, the Father revealing his Self to the world and communicating his Spirit, and this Self and this Spirit are Love.

     In other words, the ultimate Mystery of being, the ultimate truth, is Love. This is the essential structure of reality.” It is this mystery, this truth, which Francis expresses in his poem. “This is the eternal pattern of the universe. Every creature in the depth of its being is a desire, a longing for Love, and is drawn by Love to give itself in love…The nucleus throws out its protons and electrons and they circle around it, held by the attraction of Love. The sun throws out its planets and they circle round it, held by the same attraction. The cell divides and then again unites, building up the body in love…There is a continual dance of love, a continual going and returning. Ultimately it is the one Love giving itself continually so as to create this form and that form, building up the universe of stars and atoms and living cells, and then drawing everything back to itself; everything coming into being in the Word as an expression of love, and everything returning to the Father, to the Source, in the love of the Spirit."

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.