CANTICLE OF THE CREATURES

Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, and the honor, and all blessing, To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no human is worthy to mention Your name. Praise be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day and through whom You give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; and bears a likeness of You, Most High One. Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven You formed them clear and precious and beautiful. Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather, through whom You give sustenance to Your creatures. Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste. Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom You light the night, and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong. Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs. Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation. Blessed are those who endure in peace for by You, Most High, shall they be crowned. Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin. Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.

• St. Francis of Assisi

The Canticle of the Creatures was written by St. Francis more than eight hundred years ago, but it is still relevant. I consider St. Francis as a precious source of teachings.

In my opinion, The Canticle is an expression of gratitude for what we have, first of all life, health, sight, hearing, and so on.

In my life, I often got upset if things didn’t go well. I never considered that I already had many things to enjoy, but I wanted to have more money, more friends, more amusement. If I couldn’t achieve what I wanted, my mood became bad. But the more I was in bad mood, the more things went wrongly.

Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret, says that our thoughts and feelings are subject to the “Law of Attraction”. I agree with her. If we feel sad for what we don’t have, for the missed achievements, for the moneys we have lost, and so on, we attract more sadness and we will never achieve what we want. But, if we express gratitude for what we have, we’ll attract more wealth and riches.

As for me, as soon as I get up in the morning, I express gratitude for being alive and still in good health. I express gratitude for having been able to overcome the many hindrances and predicaments that have marked my life. I express gratitude for being endowed with a mind and heart that look for God and the meaning of life. By expressing gratitude I can find more grateful things. Even if sometimes events take a different direction from that I expected, I continue to express gratitude to God, to everybody.

Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo