Sharing St Francis’ love of creation
By Heather Excell
“God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good” (Gen 1:31).
On 7 May, South Hobart Parish Priest Fr Michael Tate joined the UTAS Student Society at the Crescent Hotel for their monthly Big Pub Night, sharing with the young adults about St Francis of Assisi’s understanding and love for creation.
Fr Tate explained to those gathered that while science can theorise how the universe came to be, it cannot answer the question of why we are here.
“The answer to ‘why?’” Fr Tate said, “is to fulfill a unique role in the cosmic love story.”
“We human beings have been loved into existence to understand and love the cosmos and its Lord of Creation.”
Fr Tate drew on the thought of St Francis who integrated care for the poor with care for the earth. This same theme was picked up by the late Pope Francis in his encyclical, Laudato Si’ which speaks of human beings as “conceived in the heart of God, and for this reason ‘each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary’.” (Laudato Si’, 65).
St Francis’ understanding of this unique role of mankind firmly underpinned his love for nature.
Fr Tate drew particular attention to the ‘Canticle of the Creatures’, written by St Francis while he was blind.
The canticle, flowing from the faith of St Francis, highlights how the whole of creation shares the one Creator, and recognises the harmony in which we are called to live.
He viewed the earth as a good and ordered gift from God entrusted to mankind, and that ‘dominion’ over the earth, as spoken of in Genesis, is not the same as absolute ownership. He experienced a harmony with all creatures, described by Laudato Si’ as a ‘healing of that rapture’ caused by sin. (LS 65).
St Francis’ language highlights the uniqueness of man as the only creature aware of the divine, thus giving us the responsibility to praise God on its behalf.
“Mount Wellington cannot give thanks to the Creator for its grandeur, indeed for its very existence. But we can on its behalf,” said Fr Tate.
Fr Tate ended his talk by explaining the role of mankind as ‘salt of the earth’ entrusted with the responsibility to preserve the gift of creation so that it remains life-giving and habitable for generations to come.
Those present were invited to attend the blessing and reopening of the St Francis Xavier Hall in South Hobart, where Fr Tate will unveil prints depicting the Canticle of the Creatures around the walls. All are welcome to attend Mass on Pentecost Sunday, 24 May at 9am, followed by the blessing and morning tea.