Rector's Reflection: Found in the World, October 4, 2025

Beloved Members of St. Martin's,

There is a beautiful story of St. Francis preaching to a large flock of birds who were filling the branches of trees and covering the ground in a place now known as Piandarca outside the town of Cannara in Italy. Leaving his companions behind, St. Francis went to preach to what he called his "little sisters the birds." The topic of his sermon was gratitude.

According to a collection of anecdotes known as the "Little Flowers if St. Francis of Assisi, Francis then said this:

My little sisters the birds,

you owe much to God, your Creator,

and you ought to sing God's praise

at all times and in all places,

because God has given you liberty to fly about into all places;

and though you neither spin nor sew,

God has given you the twofold and threefold clothing

for yourselves and for your offspring.

Two of all your species

God sent into the ark with Noah

that you might not be lost to the world;

besides which, God feeds you,

though you neither sew nor reap.

God has given you fountains and rivers

to quench your thirst,

mountains and valleys in which to take refuge,

and trees in which to build your nests;

So that your creator loves you very much,

having thus favored you with such bounties.

Beware, my little sisters,

of the sin of ingratitude,

and study always to give praise to God.

It is said that St. Francis then blessed them and dismissed them to depart, and as the birds rose into the sky, they formed a cross, in the same sign with which the saint had just blessed them, and then divided themselves to the four directions, singing a great melody as one, to carry Francis's message of God and God's love for all of creation to all the world.

I fear that too many of our fellow humans. have forgotten that this planet also is our Ark, our refuge, the one place made perfectly by the skilled fingers of God to sustain life as we know it in all its beauty. And yet the very word "human" reminds us that we are children of the Earth, made from both its humus, its soil, and the dust of stars that blaze in the night sky that dances overhead.

On this beautiful day in which we remember St. Francis of Assisi and his witnessing of God's presence in all creation, I pray that all who can go out into this fine day, that you are able to look at each tree and the way it holds light and shade, and offers a home to so many living things, especially birds.

May we ourselves seek not to be lost to the world, to be alienated from God's abundant creation, but to be found within it, lost only in wonder, and know ourselves a vital part of the creation that sustains us-- and brim over with gratitude for the amazing grace and generosity of God to all living beings.

In Christ's love,

Mother Leslie+

Citation: Story of St. Francis reaching to the birds from The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, translated by Dom Roger Hudleston, pp. 54-55.