Modern Ecologists quote an old Kenyan proverb:
Very poetic, but not true. The Earth is provided by God and we have occupied it for a tiny proportion of its history. If we spoil it, even by Thermo-Nuclear catastrophe, it will recover in 10,000 years, which is still a small fraction of its history. Jesus said nothing about looking after the Earth, instead He said Seek first the Kingdom of God. Responsible stewardship follows from that; it does not precede it. Mankind has always plundered the Earth. The difference now is that there are too many of us and our technology enables hugely more rapid plunder. So our responsibility is greater if we want to survive.
There has been, in the history of the Church, some embarrassment with the approach Saint Francis had to animals. But he was not being sentimental, anthropomorphic or even ecological. Rather he saw in every item of creation the glory of The Creator, just as one gives glory to a craftsman when admiring his work. When approaching living things Francis saw not only the hand of God but the Life of God. Since we too are created every other item of creation is our kin: From Brother Mouse to Sister Moon. These ideas are best understood from the Saint's famous Canticle to Brother Sun, which was originally and is much better called Canticle of The Creatures can be seen and heard in Original Italian. I have illuminated it Here
Franicis seems to have been a liitle wary
of Theology. In a letter to Brother Anthony his Bishop, he wrote: I
am pleased that you teach sacred theology to the brothers, providing
that,
as contained in the Rule, you do not extinguish the Spirit of prayer
and
devotion during study of this kind.
Francis' original rule was taken from Matthew 10 verses 5 to 15 which he believed God showed to him directly.
I
discovered that Francis
had a simple approach to prayer too. He has been described as the
most
faithful follower and perfect imitator of Jesus Christ that the
world
has ever seen. Some folk, determined to learn his secret in
prayer,
found a place to hide and listen to him in his devotions. All
they
heard was My God and my all. How
delighted I was to discover this. Since I am also a Methodist, I have
long
associated that phrase with John
Wesley.
Both would have known the Latin Deus
Meus et Omnia
There has long been a chapel to Saint Francis in the Temple of Patience