Love reflected

Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:20)

I learned last year about the three levels of creation as taught by St. Ignatius. The first level contains non-living things such as rocks or the wind. At the second level are living things: animals, trees, and insects. The third level is man: me and you.

The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful: God created it all.

“All created things of the sensible world lead the mind of the contemplator and wise man to eternal God. … They are the shades, the resonances, the pictures of that efficient, exemplifying, and ordering art; they are the tracks, simulacra, and spectacles; they are divinely given signs set before us for the purpose of seeing God. They are exemplifications set before our still unrefined and sense-oriented minds, so that by the sensible things which they see they might be transferred to the intelligible which they cannot see, as if by signs to the signified.” – St. Bonaventure

“Since God is the Creator and since creation reflects and reveals the Creator, and since God is love, all creation somehow reflects and reveals love. … If God is love, all creation must reflect love.” – Peter Kreeft, PhD, professor of philosophy at Boston College

All creation? Yes. All creation.

Admit it. While you’ve probably oohed and aahed over hummingbirds and butterflies, have you ever done the same with regards to bees and bats?

Bonaventure used two images for creation, a mirror and a book. As a mirror, creation reflects the glory of God but, as a book, creation can be found to contain a vestige, an image and likeness of God. The vestige is shared by all creation from ‘every grain of sand, every star (and) every earthworm’. This was manifested by St Francis of Assisi in his love for all of God’s creation. ‘Every creature is an aspect of God’s self-expression in the world, and since every creature has its foundation in the Word, each is equally close to God.’ [source]

Something to think about during a quiet moment this Lent.