From Dominion to Care: San Francisco's Call to Renew Our Bond with the Land

Dear Sisters and Family of the Incarnation,

Saint Francis of Assisi composed the Song of Creatures 800 years ago. To join us in celebrating this 800th anniversary, we invite you to pray on October 4, the feast day of Saint Francis, with the Canticle of Creatures that we send you today,

As inspiration, we share with you some notes from those published by Víctor Herrero, Capuchin brother (CJ No. 245).

The Song was written shortly before Francis' death. He was born from the weakness, illness and almost total blindness that accompanied him during his last years.

In this text, Francis does not seek to convince. The word that blesses opens to the encounter of life.

For him, nature is a link: there are no things, but presences; there are no objects, but brothers and sisters. The world appears as a series of presences.

This attitude reminds us that there is no such thing as self-sufficiency. We depend on the air, the earth, a glass of water, the love of others.

What is most human about humans is the ability to appreciate and care for life. Every gesture, every word, can become an act of hospitality.

To be a creature is to accept finitude, to be grateful for it. Every moment is a gift; to live it as such is to glorify God.

The creature that understands its place in the web of life renounces possession and indifference.

The Song reminds us that we exist to the extent that we give thanks. The beings evoked are the most basic. Francis turns his gaze to what is familiar, to what is most elementary. It is the epiphany of everyday life, which educates our gaze on the importance of what supports our lives.

The Song is not only a celebration, it is also an awareness of the fracture. He does not deny it, he brings it to light.

It is no coincidence that, before the stanza dedicated to death, he dedicates one to forgiveness; it is reconciliation that makes the passage possible.

Death brings us back to our condition as creatures. Francis knows that living and dying are one. Death reminds us that we are not masters of ourselves, that there is no absolute autonomy, that each life unfolds in relationship and dependence. To recognize it is to learn to live our existence with attention, with generosity, with benevolence.

We can conclude that the Song is a call not to appropriate the world, but to contemplate it; not to exploit it, but to take care of it; not to dominate it, but to bless it.

And all this prepares us for union, as creatures, with our Creator.

Let us accept this invitation to identify what today constitutes my epiphany of everyday life, something that supports my daily life, to become aware of it and to be grateful for it.

And let us join our voice to that of Francis to sing with him, 800 years later, this song of praise to creation, to God, adding our own stanza of praise.

Song of Creatures, by Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

International Commission on Integral Ecology, October 1, 2026