Letting Creation Shape Our Vocation

Impressionist painter Claude Monet said, “I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.” For him, God’s call—God’s voice—was expressed through flowers, and because he listened, we hear the echoes of God’s voice as well through the beauty of his paintings.

Psalm 19 affirms that creation itself has a voice:

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Day pours out the word to day,

and night to night imparts knowledge.

Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard;

Through all the earth their voice resounds,

and to the ends of the world, their message.

Creation is declaring the grandeur of God. Do we listen to the invitation of stars and trees, stones and water, flowers and animals, to be in awe of God’s wonders and let this invitation shape our vocation? Do we honor the messengers of God’s praise by safeguarding the habitat of the natural world and not stilling its voice through exploitation and overconsumption?

As St. Francis of Assisi reminds us, we are all called to praise God by letting our own lives speak of God’s goodness in kinship with our Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, Sister Mother Earth, and Sister Bodily Death. Let us take time to listen and attend to their message.