As we entered Lent this week, I shifted quotes posted to social media (Facebook, Instagram, X) to reflect the theme, which, around here, will include but not be limited to a Laudato Si’ Lent:
Made holy by the Holy Spirit, we receive Christ as one who lives in our inmost selves, and with Christ we receive the Father, who makes his dwelling place among those disposed to receive him. — Saint Basil the Great
The Lord [Jesus] was able to invite others to be attentive to the beauty that there is in the world because he himself was in constant touch with nature, lending it an attention full of fondness and wonder. As he made his way throughout the land, he often stopped to contemplate the beauty sown by his Father, and invited his disciples to perceive a divine message in things. — Pope Francis, Laudato Si’
To me, the Christian is someone capable of three miracles: the ones described in the sixth chapter of Saint Matthew and the tenth chapter of Saint Luke. See the lilies of the field. Gaze at them, feast your eyes. Use your eyes to search out the beauty of God resplendent in the flower of this moment, at the peak of its vitality. Turn your ear to the language of God, and discover the true meaning of simple things in the lives of simple persons. Feel the love the Father has for us in the beauty he has spread before our eyes, and the beauty he has spread before us in the acceptance of friendship. — Arturo Paoli
Every time I can go to the mountains and contemplate this scenery, I thank God for the majestic beauty of creation. I thank him for his own Beauty, of which the universe is a reflection capable of stirring attentive hearts and prompting them to praise his greatness. — Pope Saint John Paul II
I’ll be honest. I feel like Pope Francis has been cribbing from Arturo Paoli, whom we know he met in Argentina and then later read… This won’t be the last time I make this comparison this Laudato Si’ Lent either… There are not a few passages and echoes like these.
Contemplative in the Mud 