Lenin seems to have admitted on his deathbed, “To save our Russia, what we needed was ten Francis-es of Assisi, and we should have saved Russia” (Lenin admitted to a Hungarian priest, who had been a former classmate). In a similar vein a fellow-communist and writer, Philip Toynbee, while comparing the present condition of England to the thirteenth century, when the Franciscan Friars rejuvenated it, says, “What the country most needs now is an order of ecological friars who will go around the country similarly rejuvenating it. Indeed, one real, existing ecological friar is worth more than a whole Movement for the Encouragement of Ecological Friars, with its many committees and a whole list of distinguished patrons” (Quoted in Holiness by Donald Nicholl).
We Franciscans have inherited from our protagonist, Francis d’Assisi, his respect for creation. His actions and writings indicate deep esteem for every creature. He saw in each one the image of the Creator, and this image is what Francis reverenced in every created thing, as some incidents cited below from his life indicate: He spared lanterns, lamps, and candles, unwilling to use his hand to put out their brightness which is a sign of the eternal light.
He walked reverently over rocks, out of respect for Him who is called the Rock. When it came to the Psalm verse “You have set me high upon the rock” (27:5c), in order to express it more respectfully, he would say, “You have set me high under the feet of the Rock.”
When the brothers were cutting wood, he forbade them to cut down the whole tree, so that it might have hope of sprouting again. He commanded the gardener to leave the edge of the garden undisturbed, so that in their season the green of herbs and the beauty of flowers may proclaim the beautiful Father of all. He even ordered that within the garden a small garden should be set aside for aromatic and flowering herbs so that those who see them may recall the memory of the eternal saviour.
He picked up little worms from the road so they would not be trampled underfoot. That the bees not perish of hunger in the icy winters, he commanded that honey and the finest wine should be set out for them. He called all animals by a fraternal name, although, among all kinds of beasts, he especially loved the meek. (The Second Life by Thomas of Celano)
Besides all this, Francis told his brothers to “be subject to every beast and wild animal” (salutation to the virtues) and in his Canticle of the Creatures he sang of “our sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us”. The idea of being subject to the natural world and governed by it is far from the attitude of mastery and exploitation that shapes our present worldview, but it is essential for the survival of life on the planet.
Humankind will have to engage in a balancing act: withdraw from overexploitation and also engage creatively so that the earth is still a home for all. In his ground-breaking Encyclical Laudato Si’ Pope Francis writes that “in our relationship with the world…if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism but something more radical: they were a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled” (n 11).
To conclude, I turn to the wise words of English historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975), taken from his last interview before his death: “In order to keep the biosphere inhabitable for the next two million years, we must begin to follow the example of Saint Francis, among the best of all human beings who have lived in the West. Given the example that Saint Francis has left us, we must follow with our hearts, for us we can rescue the earth” (Interview; Journal ABC, 1972).
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