Who gave you the ability to contemplate the beauty of the skies, the course of the sun, the round moon, the millions of stars, the harmony and rhythm that issue from the world as from a lyre, the return of the seasons, the alternation of the months, the demarcation of day and night, the fruits of the earth, the vastness of the air, the ceaseless motion of the waves, the sound of the wind?
–Saint Gregory Nazianzen (329-c. 391)
Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: “See, we are beautiful.” Their beauty is a profession. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change?
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
Creation is a song that God freely desires to sing into the vast spaces of the universe.
–Saint Bonaventure (c. 1221-1274)
Love all God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.
–Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully. As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
If physical things please you, then praise God for them, but turn back your love to Him who created them, lest in the things that please you, you displease Him.
–Saint Augustine (354-430)
