When we were very young, we learned that we have five basic senses that help us collect information and process the world around us. We see, we hear, we smell, we touch, and we taste. Our senses give us an awareness of the world around us.

As Franciscans, we strive daily to live a Gospel life and follow Jesus in the footsteps of our Seraphic Father Francis. We have the opportunity and responsibility to preach the Gospel with every encounter and interaction we have. Daily conversion calls us to do just that. We are called by our profession to let the Gospel values guide the way we perceive, interpret, and interact with the world around us. With our basic senses in mind, let us ask ourselves these questions and reflect on our answers.

Do I see others with Franciscan eyes? Do I use a Franciscan lens as I take in the world and see the imprint of the Most High? Especially when I meet others who are different and hold different beliefs, do I see and accept them “as a gift of the Lord and an image of Christ?” (OFS Rule: Art.5) What do people see when they see me? Are my actions an observable example of Christ? What does God see as he looks into my heart?

Do I hear with Franciscan ears of love? Do I hear and answer the call of the Spirit? Do I hear the cry of the poor? Let us hear “The option for
those who are least, those whom society discards” (Evangelii Gaudium, 195). What do people hear when I speak? Are my words of love and a proclamation of Christ? What does God hear when he listens to my prayers?

Do I smell with a Franciscan nose? Do I recognize the fragrant beauty of creation? In 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, the apostle Paul tells us “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the odor of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are the aroma of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” Do I smell of the fragrance of Christ’s love?

Do I touch with Franciscan compassion? Do I reach out and relate to others with love? Am I willing to open my heart to love others with the same acceptance St. Francis gave as he embraced the leper? Do I keep in touch with my Franciscan brothers and sisters and participate in fraternity life?

Do I taste with a Franciscan tongue? Do my thoughts and ideals have the flavor of the Franciscan? Consider my Franciscan palate. Do I savor the Gospel? Do I pray for vocations and ask others to taste and see? We are reminded and reassured in Psalm 34:9 to “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” Do I trust in the Lord? Has what seemed bitter “changed… into sweetness of body and soul?” (Testament of St. Francis) Do I taste the sweetness of body and soul?

Sisters and Brothers, we are called to be messengers of perfect joy as Secular Franciscans, members of an evangelical order. We must ask ourselves, do our words, thoughts and actions exude Franciscan love and mercy so others experience Christ’s love? Are you using your Franciscan senses?

“LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord.”

In the words of this beautiful canticle, 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 coloured flowers and herbs”. ~ From the opening of Laudato Si’, 2015

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ much-anticipated encyclical, Laudato Si’. These important milestones have ignited a renewed energy and excitement for environmental justice issues. They have also brought back to light the tremendous damage we are doing to the earth, our common home.

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for the protection of our environment; of our Sister, Mother Earth. Earth Day is a global reminder that we have to continue to care for our common home. Unfortunately, we as a people have been negligent in that care and have done great harm to the earth. Pope Francis writes in Laudato Si’: “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. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ’groans in travail.’. We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth; our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

More than 800 years ago, Saint Francis wrote that our Sister Mother Earth sustains and governs us; she gives us life. Instead of returning the favor, we have laughed in her face by the damage and the harm we have done to her. The social teaching of our Church speaks to us of caring for all of God’s creation – this includes God’s people and God’s earth. In Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) writes: “We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.”

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote in his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate: The environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole…. Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other” (48, 51).

Finally, Article 18 of our Holy Rule states: “Moreover [we] should respect all creatures, animate and inanimate, which “bear the imprint of the Most High,” and [we] should strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship”. This is not just a lovely suggestion or some pie-in-the-sky platitude, this is what we promise, what we profess. As Secular Franciscans, let us continue to call to mind the words of our Holy Rule and our seraphic Father Francis who called our earth Mother and Sister. Let us always show Sister Mother Earth the reverence and respect that Saint Francis showed. May the Lord continue to grant you peace.