As we celebrate the feast of St. Francis (and St. Clare) this Sunday at Larz Anderson Park (Bring your pets to be blessed), I wanted to share some reflections from the Franciscan tradition of prayer and theology on the sacredness of the created world and its intimate connection to the Triune God of love.

Throughout church history, the faithful have spoken of two books given by God to reveal Himself to us: the book of Scripture and the book of Nature. By beholding both, we come to know our Creator more fully. In the vastness of nature, from the wind that rustles the leaves to the loyal gaze of our dogs, we encounter echoes of a divine dance—the eternal love of the Triune God. Each creature, great and small, bears the imprint of the One who made it.

This is beautifully expressed in the Franciscan way of seeing the world, where the entire universe becomes a mirror, a footprint, and a song of praise to the Trinity. As St. Bonaventure, a follower of St. Francis once wrote: “All creatures in this visible world lead the spirit of the contemplative into the eternal God. For creatures are shadows, echoes, and pictures of that first, most powerful, most wise, and most perfect Principle, of that eternal Source, Light, and Fullness.”

In other words, when we gaze at our beloved pets or stand beneath a canopy of stars, we are invited to a deeper contemplation of the One who gave them being—of the One whose essence is being itself, whose wisdom orders all things, and whose love sustains them all.

But how, we might ask, does spending time in nature or simply delighting in our animals reflect the nature of the Trinity? One early Franciscan theologian, from the 1200's CE, Alexander of Hales, spent over 4,000 pages in Latin unraveling the profound mystery of this relationship (don’t worry, I won’t be summarizing all of that here!).

But the heart of his insight is this: the power or energy that gives each thing it's being mirrors the Parent’s act of creation, the wisdom, light, and meaning that orders each thing points to the Son, and the goodness that vitalizes each creature reflects the Spirit’s presence.

Even more beautifully, when we—each made in the image of this Triune God—begin to remember, know, and love each created thing rightly, whether it be a bird, a dog, or a single leaf, we are participating in that eternal triune dance. In remembering, we reflect the Father or Mother or Caregiver; in knowing, we reflect the Son; and in loving, we reflect the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is about letting the Trinity purify our memory, knowledge, and love through the grace that each of them are, so that we might rightly remember, know, and love not only God, but also ourselves, one another, and all of creation purely and beautifully.

So, as we bring our children and ourselves to celebrate St. Francis’ & St. Clare's feast, let us open our eyes to the book of creation and see our animals as echoes and footprints leading us back to the source of all love. Let us remember, know, and love ourselves, one another, and every bird, leaf, and star, so that we might join in the eternal dance of creation, the unbroken circle of love that has no end.