When St. Francis sang his “Canticle of the Creatures,” he was singing a way of seeing. He was not asking creatures to praise God; by their very creation, their existing, they were already praising God. Rather, Francis was praising God with and through all of creation which, in his canticle, he sums up in the four elements of the created world: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. He embraces them first of all as his brothers and sisters, male and female: Brother Sun and Sister Moon, Brother Wind and Sister Water, Brother Fire and Sister, Mother Earth.
Because of a vision St. Francis received two years before his death, he sees all of creation for what it already is, the face of the kingdom of heaven. His vision is that of contemplation. And God lets Francis see what he is already a part of because of his profound identification with the suffering and love of the crucified Christ.
—from the book God’s Love Song: The Vision of Francis and Clare
by Murray Bodo, OFM, and Susan Saint Sing
