No small number of saints and spiritual writers use mountains as an example of the beauty of creation, leading us to God the Creator. For the Season of Creation, here is both a visual composition about mountains, moving from one quote to another—kind of like the successions in a musical suite—as well as a place to sit in the presence of the created beauty of mountains, experienced as part of our common home—kind of like a suite of rooms in a larger building.

Alone with God, with only a view of trees, mountains, and all the marvels of nature, I was propelled to be yet more intimate with him. — Marcel Văn

Standing awestruck before a mountain, he or she cannot separate this experience from God, and perceives that the interior awe being lived has to be entrusted to the Lord. — Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 234

Every day that goes by I fall deeply in love with the mountains; their charm attracts me. — Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Mountains have heights and they are plentiful, vast, beautiful, graceful, bright, and fragrant. These mountains are what my Beloved is to me. Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady, and flowing with fresh water; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight to the senses, and in their solitude and silence, they refresh us and give rest. These valleys are what my Beloved is to me. — Saint John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle 14.6–7

Photo locations: Bogor, Java, Indonesia; Mae Chaem, Chiang Mai, Thailand; Parnassos, Greece; Mae Chaem (again); Vesuvius, Italy