Ask the Animals: Some thoughts on the Feast of St. Francis

We celebrated the Feast Day of  Saint Francis of Assisi on October 4th. Francis was a man uniquely in tune with Creation whose life had a tremendous influence on the people of his time, and has continued to impact those who have encountered his teachings through the ages. The teachings of Francis, the saint of ecology, are being revisited as the Christian Community at large takes steps to adjust, refocus and reclaim pieces that have been missing in our modern theological understandings.

Until now we have for the most part approached theological understanding entirely from a human perspective - and yet the same God who created the human species created all living things. The same God who gave human beings "every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed to be food", also gave "to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life every green plant for food." (Genesis 1)  In other words, God provided for all creatures, giving them food to eat, and habitat that suited them while pronouncing all that had been created as good.

Christian teaching from the Letter to the Romans (chapter 8) tells us that all of creation awaits freedom from corruption. Not just human beings, but all of Creation groans as if in childbirth awaiting new life. And Jesus speaking to his followers reminded them to have faith that God would take care of them just as God takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.(Matthew 5). Over and over scripture reminds us that humans are a part of Creation, that God cares for all of Creation, and that God wants freedom for all Creation. That is astounding considering how people of faith have dominated and greedily claimed anything they found as their own for their own use.

Theologian Elizabeth Johnson took the title of her newest book Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014) from the Book of Job where Job in responding to his critics tells them to ask for wisdom from creation – from the animals and the growing things around them. 

Ask the beasts and they will teach you,

The birds of the air and they will tell you;

Or speak to the earth to instruct you,

and the fish of the sea to inform you.

Which of all these does not know

that the hand of God has done this?

In God’s hand is the soul of every living thing,

and the life breath of all mortal flesh. (Job 12:7-10)

 The sense that humans can learn from creation is ancient. It may have been tucked away in religious texts gathering dust, but it is there nonetheless and when we begin to look we see this Creation Wisdom everywhere.

Francis of Assisi was in touch with this wisdom. He spoke to the animals calling them brother and sister just as he referred to the sun and the moon as part of his family, the family of creation. In his time he was likely viewed as a crazy man by those who ascribed to the logic of human superiority in all things – but now we look to him and wonder how it is that he was able to live as he did in spite of the social and cultural pressures of his time.There is good evidence that he did not eat animals (he was a vegetarian at the least) and his desire to live simply is renowned.

At the very beginning of his current encyclical, Laudato Si,(paragraphs 1 and 2) Pope Francis writes about Francis of Assisi saying:

"Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs”

And he goes on to tell us that

"This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life."

He also refers to Romans and to Genesis.

This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters."

Elizabeth Johnson writes that “over the centuries for a variety of reasons…theology narrowed its interests to focus on human beings almost exclusively. Our special identity, capacities, roles, sinfulness, and need for salvation became the all-consuming interest. The result was a powerful anthropocentric paradigm in theology that shaped every aspect of endeavor. (Kindle Locations 263-265).

And while theologians were following this human centered path, the “biblical theme of cosmic redemption flew by in silence…The natural world was simply there as something God created for human use. Theology lost touch with the universe. "(Kindle Locations 268-269).

Today theologians are helping people of faith to rediscover their connection to the Universe as a whole and most importantly, the connections to all creatures, all life that collectively calls the planet Earth "home."

A self-centered focus on human kind has not only endangered or led to the extinction of many species, it has begun to jeopardize the human community as well. We cannot say often enough that we are all connected. We cannot endanger the water, land or air and the creatures that depend on them without endangering ourselves as well. 

If we spend time with animals that are in our care, or take the time to wander out into places that are not solely inhabited by human kind, we can watch and listen and learn from the creatures that inhabit Earth with us.  There we discover that death and life go hand in hand; that creatures generally seek life over death. That they enjoy sunshine and sunsets, drinking fresh water, caring for their young, walking through pastures, full tummies and sleeping next to those they love.

They are less inclined to argue politics but are not above creating a pecking order when left to their own devices. They eat until they have their fill if it is available but rarely eat more than they need except in captivity. They don’t make messes where they live… except of course in captivity. They are aware when danger approaches. They will attempt to escape from areas of drought, famine, fire or flood and are not concerned with legal borders or immigration. They are wisely cautious of human beings in their natural environment. They have an innate acceptance of death as part of life and do not fear death when it comes. In their naturalness creatures glorify Creation by being themselves, creatures created to live on Planet Earth taking what they need, allowing for their young and for other members of their species while freely moving about in the ways that they were created to do.

Last week when April, our Plymouth chicken died, my husband was left with the task of burying her. If you ever tried to dig a hole with five active chickens nearby you will know how difficult that can be. Chickens naturally assume you are scratching the earth with them or for their benefit. So as my husband was digging the chickens were being themselves, getting in the way, squabbling with each other over bugs and such, but when my husband brought April's body to lay in the earth, the chickens became quiet, standing still until the task was done. It was sort of eerie because we have been led to believe that creatures, especially those as lowly as chickens are not very intelligent.  Not so when we pay attention.

Theologians like Johnson are calling for a spiritual conversion that will change the way we relate to the Earth. Allowing ourselves to feel our connection to Creation in such a way that we are moved to act as the interrelated beings that we are. We are not isolated from Creation. We can't live behind some protected barrier untouched by Creation. We are part of the mix and until we begin to "grow up" and take responsibility for nurturing the relationship we have with all other parts of Creation, we will continue to jeopardize our own species and others as well. 

Johnson, like Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis invites human beings to fall in love with creation, which includes all of humanity especially the poor and vulnerable who reflect the fragility of the earth. These prophets and others from various religious and secular perspectives know that if people choose to change their lifestyles out of love, rather than being forced by obligation or necessity, they stand a far better chance of succeeding. And if this happens, the people and all creatures who are part of the Earth community may have at least a chance at being saved together.