ROME (CNS) – “Laudato Si,” the title Pope Francis chose for his encyclical on the environment, comes from a hymn of praise by St. Francis of Assisi that emphasizes being in harmony with God, with other creatures and with other human beings, said the head of the Franciscan order.
Sitting under towering trees, surrounded by potted flowers and herbs in the garden of the Franciscan headquarters in Rome, U.S. Father Michael Perry, minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, sang the medieval Italian words “laudato si’” (praised be you) and recited the English translation of St. Francis’ “Canticle of the Creatures.”
The hymn praises God and the reflection of God’s glory in “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon,” “Brother Fire” and “Sister Water,” and “our sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.”
Once a person recognizes the “divine dignity” of every created being, Father Perry said, he or she recognizes a responsibility to “give glory to God by respecting and caring and promoting a sense of ‘being in this together,’ that life is one and each of us brings a special contribution.”
The interconnectedness of all creatures should help people to recognize that when they hoard riches and resources, they are harming their own brothers and sisters, especially the poor, he explained.
St. Francis’ canticle “is not just a flowery song about how we should live with nature. It is challenging us to revise our entire way of living our lives” in accordance with Gospel values, he said. “If someone is starving somewhere in the world, we are responsible.”