Want to be a saint? Start by loving God, humanity and His creation

Nov 15, 2024

In the Beginning - Mary Terra

We stepped into November remembering saints (Church Triumphant), all of who are on the way to heaven (Church Suffering) and all of us who are still here on earth (Church Militant), called to be saints. Aside from St Francis of Assisi who is often associated as the patron saint of conservation, several saints also inspire us to live a virtuous life through the example of their ordinary lives, even by caring for the environment, all of God’s creation and the common good.

St Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
(Feast day: August 28)
All of nature, therefore, is good, since the Creator of all nature is supremely good, said this most prolific of all the Early Church Fathers and the greatest theologian. Ten years after his baptism, at the age of 43, he penned his Rule of Life, where he summed up what would seem like a concise definition for our modern-day concept of sustainability: “enough for all, always”. He wrote to a racially, socially and economically diverse audience while still in his birthland, northern Africa, where there were affluent landowners as well as those more humble, rural folks such as the indigenous Berbers (like his mother, Monica), and those aspiring towards upward mobility in the Roman empire (like his own father, Patricius).

The invitation, he said, was for all to find God in themselves and one another - leaving no one behind and he warned against self-centredness. St Augustine believed no one is entitled to take sole ownership of what God had gifted to all people. And this bore testimony to how the Catholic Church has long been about caring for all of God’s creation.

An American philosophy professor, in writing about St Augustine’s deep love for creation, highlighted that the saint’s “ideal would be to see nature as God sees it, feeling deeply both its beauty and its impermanence, loving nature without clinging to it”.

The Carmelites commemorated the Feast of All Carmelite Saints on November 14, so let us look at two Carmelite saints for inspiration:

St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
(Feast day: December 14)
Pope Francis dedicated a section of Laudato Si’ to this saint, highlighting this life, actions and his writings. He taught that all the goodness present in the realities and experiences of this world “is present in God eminently and infinitely, or more properly, in each of these sublime realities is God”. This is not because the finite things of this world are divine, but because of the mystic experiences of the intimate connection between God and all beings, and thus feels that “all things are God”.

“Standing awestruck before a mountain, he or she cannot separate this experience from God, and perceives that the interior awe being lived has to be entrusted to the Lord: ‘Mountains have heights and they are plentiful, vast, beautiful, graceful, bright and fragrant. These mountains are what my Beloved is to me. Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady and flowing with fresh water; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight to the senses, and in their solitude and silence, they refresh us and give rest. These valleys are what my Beloved is to me.’”.

St Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
(Feast day: October 1)
The Little Flower was only 24 when she died, leaving behind stacks of writing, instructions almost, on how to admire and be in awe of creation. Here are a few notable quotes recorded by the Society of the Little Flower, an organisation dedicated to spreading devotion to St Therese:

“Far away on the horizon, we could see the great mountains . . . The sight of these beauties made a deep impression on my thoughts; I felt as if I were already beginning to understand the greatness of God and the wonders of heaven.

“The sun’s light that plays on the cedar trees plays on each tiny flower as if it were the only one in existence; and in the same way our Lord takes a special interest in each soul.”

She invites us to practise the little way of love: a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship.

As the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) highest decision-making body convenes for a deliberation at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, let us seek the intercession of these saints for the deliberations that take place. The Church continues to be a voice of reason, wisdom and conscience for Mother Earth and humanity, echoing her call in Laudate Deum for a new process marked by three requirements: drastic, intense and commitment of all.

The Church holds on to the hope for a binding form of energy transition that meets three conditions: efficiency, obligatory and readily monitored. The common of all, the future of their children and shared prosperity must remain at the forefront and centre of the conference agenda.

The difficult question from Laudate Deum must resound in every human heart of every decision-maker at the conference: “What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power, only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?”

Master of Nature (Prayer of St Augustine of Hippo)

O God, by whose laws the poles revolve,
The stars follow their course,
The sun rules the day,
And the moon presides over the night;
And all the world maintains,
As far as this world of sense allows,
The wondrous stability of things
by means of the orders
And recurrences of seasons:
Through the day by the changing
of light and darkness,
Through the years by the successions of
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter,
through the cycles by the completion
of the sun’s course,
Through the great eras of time
by the return of the stars
to their starting point.

(In the Beginning is a series of ruminations from Mary Terra, a not-so-young Catholic striving for holiness with a desire to grow in grace and leave behind a legacy of love for God, for others and all His creatures and, hopefully, leave this earth with a significantly reduced ecological footprint.)