These years we are celebrating the 800th anniversary of the many events that took place in the last years of Brother Francis' life. Francis of Assisi was a lover, an ascetic, a mystic, a sage, a poet, and a visionary. He composed a hymn that is known as the Canticle of Creatures. Francis's vision of God, God's creation, and the human soul is reflected in this hymn, which consists of thirteen verses and a fourteenth one as refrain. Although it is called the Canticle of Creatures, it is a hymn to God from the beginning to the end. Perhaps Psalm 148 and Daniel 3 had given him the initial inspiration.

Brother Francis once announced to his brothers: “I wish to compose a new hymn about the Lord's creatures, of which we make daily use, without which we cannot live, and with which the human race greatly offends it's Creator.” But it was only at the very last stage of his life he chose to do this.

This hymn has fourteen verses.

Its structure is roughly as follows.

1-2 Praises to God

3-9 Praises to God through Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Stars, Brother Wind and Seasons, Sister Water, Brother Fire, Sister Mother Earth with Fruits, flowers and herbs in her.

10-11 Praises to God for the human who, out of love for God, makes amends, endures suffering, and abides in peace.

12-13 The inevitable physical death; Complete death of the one in mortal sin; Death that doesn't do destruction for the one dying in the will of God: Praises of God for our Sister death.

14 - Praise of God for the Lord's Gratuitousness: the refrain.

Francis completed the hymn in three stages. Verses 1-9 of the hymn were written by Brother Francis in the fall of 1225. At that time, having almost completely lost his eyesight, he was living in the darkness of a small hut built by the brothers outside the monastery of Sister Clare and her sisters in San Damiano, unable even to look at the sunlight, probably due to Tracoma, and was also suffering from other physical ailments.

In July 1226 he was in much pain and physical suffering. At the concerned insistence of Brother Elias - the General Minister of the Order he was then staying at the guest house of the Bishop's residence in Assisi. It was during this time that he composed the next two lines about the forgiving and peace-loving, reconciled human.

He wrote the last two lines about Sister Death at the height of his illness, after he had received the five wounds- the Stigmata of Christ in his body. He was very close to death - it must have been at the end of September 1226. We know that Brother Francis went home a few days later, on the eve of Sunday, October the 4th.

If we take together Sun, Moon and the stars as representing the 'space', and consider that air, water, fire and earth are the only creatures mentioned in the hymn apart from the human, we can see that Francis is actually mentioning in his hymn the five elements of creation in cohesion - space, air, water, fire and earth.

Looking at it in another angle, we can also assume that Brother Francis' creation hymn is a new interpretative rendition of the act of creation in the Bible. After composing the first part, which offers Praises to God through the rest of creation, he must have thought that creation wasn't complete yet. (The ego clash between the bishop of Assisi and the Mayor of Assisi could have been just a coincidence. The story has it that as they listened to the Canticle sung by the friars, they were moved and got reconciled to each other!). In this way, Francis incorporates the human- one who forgives, endures illness and tribulation, and who restores all broken relationships, who is a reconciler and a medium of peace- into the Canticle of Creatures.

I believe that Brother Francis realized that the story of creation wasn't complete yet. Therefore he brings in Sister Death, referring in the first place to the redemption of the fallen human and the reconsiliation of all Creation with God. Francis has this awareness that even in death, God is the One present.

Here's the order of the act of creation in Francis' Canticle.

Sir Brother Sun,

Sister moon and the stars,

Brother wind,

Sister water,

Brother fire,

Sister and Mother Earth,

The Human, who is also the child of Mother Earth,

Sister death

For Francis, Fraternity is the basis of all the relationship. Three times we see Francis repeating the qualification "beautiful" in his Canticle. The God, Brother Francis presents, is the Most High, All Powerful, All Good, and the Most Beautiful one.

The God-Image in the Canticle of Creatures is not limited to the first two verses where Praises are sung to God directly. It seems that the God-Image is spread throughout his Canticle. We know that John begins his Gospel by retelling the creation process -in and through Christ. Almost the same Christological vision can be seen embedded in Brother Francis's Canticle of the Creatures. Francis realizes that through the Sun, the Moon, the Wind, the Water, the Fire, the Earth, and all its animate and inanimate extensions, God is manifesting His own qualities. In fact, the insight of the Gospel that all creation came into being "through Him" has influenced Francis a lot. Therefore, even when he attributes the majesty, splendor, glory, beauty, preciousness, purity, simplicity, humility, robustness, grandeur, power, and glory of God, he does so also with the awareness that all these equally apply also to Christ. At the end of the creation process, Francis brings the Human into the picture. In Francis’s vision of Creation and in his environmental awareness, included are also the Humans. That human, however, is a renewed, Christ-like, new man who is a reconcilor.

Finally, Francis sings praise to God for, with, and through his Sister Death. Through this Canticle, Francis convinces us that she is the one who opens the door of eternity to us, that her embrace is inevitable for our completeness, and that she is the messenger of God who brings consolation to all those who have taken on the form of the aforementioned New Human.

As the Ministers General of the four Franciscan Orders write: "His gaze, far from being marked by the suffering that afflicted him at the time of composition, opens to the paschal experience: in

darkness, the blind man sings to the light; in sickness, the sick man exalts the beauty of the earth; in the imminence of death, the dying man proclaims eternal bliss: 'Praised be to You, my Lord, through

our Sister Bodily Death”

Any prayer, especially so a Canticle, while giving praise to God, must also enable the one who prays to transform oneself. Brother Francis’ ‘Canticle of Creatures’ is not an exception to this. The Canticle of Creatures is a gentle invitation to conversion. The Canticle is not a moral imperative, but a gentle invitation to see and experience God in His creation. And thus to approach our fellow creatures with love and respect. One who sings the Canticle of Creatures awakens oneself to the mindfulness in faith, hope, and love. It ushers us into the cycle of- creation, gratuitously singing praises, embrace of death, be reconciled. It immerses us in the All Good, All Beautiful, and Most High God's self-expressing Love - the Creation!