If we endure all things patiently and with gladness, thinking on the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, and bearing all for the love of Him: herein is perfect joy.
Francis Of AssisiRead
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens, you have made them bright, precious and fair.
Interpretation
This quote expresses gratitude for the beauty of nature, particularly the moon and stars, as creations of a higher power.
In this quote, Francis of Assisi addresses the divine and acknowledges the natural beauty that surrounds us, specifically highlighting Sister Moon and the stars. This reflects his deep reverence for nature and belief in the interconnectedness of all creation, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and appreciating the wonders of the world and their divine origins.
In practice
During a speech at an environmental conference, one might quote this to highlight the importance of preserving nature.
If we endure all things patiently and with gladness, thinking on the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, and bearing all for the love of Him: herein is perfect joy.
Jesus is happy to come with us, as truth is happy to be spoken, as life to be lived, as light to be lit, as love is to be loved, as joy to be given, as peace to be spread.
Ask the beasts and they will teach you the beauty of this earth.
By the anxieties and worries of this life Satan tries to dull man's heart and make a dwelling for himself there.
Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.
Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve.
For decades we have been living lives of abundance, with little regard for our natural resources or global health. But we are now facing hard choices in our energy policy. Future generations - my children and grandchildren, along with yours - will have to live with the decisions we make today. And so it is time for us to make some tough and - hopefully - smart choices regarding our energy use and production before it is too late.
Why this cult of wilderness?... because we like the taste of freedom; because we like the smell of danger.
There is much the government can do and should do to improve the environment. But even more important is the individual who plants a tree or cleans a corner of neglect. For it is the individual who himself benefits, and also protects a heritage of beauty for his children and future generations.
Nothing is so beautiful as spring - when weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring the ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing.
As long as man was small in numbers and limited in technology, he could realistically regard the earth as an infinite reservoir, an infinite source of inputs and an infinite cesspool for outputs. Today we can no longer make this assumption. Earth has become a space ship, not only in our imagination but also in the hard realities of the social, biological, and physical system in which man is enmeshed.
The roofs are shining from the rain,_x000D_ _x000D_ The sparrows twitter as they fly,_x000D_ _x000D_ And with a windy April grace_x000D_ _x000D_ The little clouds go by._x000D_ _x000D_ Yet the back yards are bare and brown_x000D_ _x000D_ With only one unchanging tree-_x000D_ _x000D_ I could not be so sure of Spring_x000D_ _x000D_ Save that it sings in me.
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