~by Susi Pittman

Pleni sunt caeli et terra Gloria tua–Heaven and earth are full of Thy Glory.

We say the above every week at Mass as we say or sing the Sanctus. It just seems to mean more to me in the spring of the year when I say it!

Nature is awakening as the Lenten season approaches and comes to bloom at the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. All of nature appears to be showing forth the spirit of God and God’s glorious love in His creation by its newness and innumerable colors.

I love being out in nature and discovering the new buds on the trees and plants, hearing the bird songs as creatures prepare to pair up in response to God’s request in Genesis, “be fruitful and multiply.”

It has been those year-after-year walks in nature that have affirmed my belief in what the Catholic Church teaches:

Because the creation comes forth from God’s goodness, it shares in that goodness. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Page 79, paragraph 299.)

With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Page 79, paragraph 301)

By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made, “reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and ordering all things well.” For “all are open and laid bare to his eyes,” even those things which are yet to come into existence through the free action of creatures.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Page 80, paragraph 302)

God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest, for which he created heaven and earth. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Page 83, paragraph 315)

God knows what the spring brings even before it arrives. It lightens my heart to know that nothing in nature escapes God’s watchful eye, nor is it lost from the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit.

One of my favorite authors, Father Charles M. Murphy, writes in his book AT HOME ON EARTH:

Nature in the Catholic tradition has integrity and a finality of its own apart from grace, an integrity and a finality which, though impeded and wounded by human sinfulness, cannot in this way be destroyed. Creation is not a fall from grace nor an absence of God but a reflection, even in its fallen state, of God’s power and divinity.

As Catholics we believe that God redeems all of creation through the power of His Son Jesus. Nothing is lost in creation, except the human creature, and that is only because humans exercise their free to accept or reject God.

Walk into nature this week and breathe the essence of a loving Father who wishes only to draw you deeply into His love. See His reflection in the sanctuary of creation and then give God glory in unison with all that He has created to give Him glory and praise.

Utilize nature in your Lenten journey. It will open your eyes to such goodness and grace. It will make you a better steward of creation.

CLICK HERE and please visit the Catholic Conservation Center to view this beautiful presentation.

Psalm 104: Praise of God the Creator

Susi Pittman is founder of CatholicStewardsofCreation.com and Owner-President of Twin Oaks Publishing; she is author of Animals in Heaven? Catholics Want to Know!; an advocate for the Florida Catholic Conference; a member of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Council of Women in Jacksonville, Florida; an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Augustine;a member of the Florida Publishers Association, Independent Book Publishers Association, the National Association of Professional Women, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States and the National Audubon society.