Most High, all powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy to mention Your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through which You give sustenance to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us and who produces varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no living man can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin. Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.
Canticle of the Sun - St Francis of Assisi, 1224.
Also known as Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Creatures) and the Canticle of the Creatures. It was written in an Umbrian dialect of Italian and is believed to be among the first works of literature written in the Italian language.
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Image: The Sun.
Photo: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, August 2010 - false-colour image observed in the extreme ultraviolet region of the spectrum.
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In St Mary’s prayer cycle for June 2020, today we give thanks for the gift of life and the gift of St Mary’s.
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If you would like to contribute to these reflections, please do email Katherine Cox at kvcox-therapy@gmail.com
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To keep up to date with how we continue the life of St Mary’s in these difficult times – including our ‘Icons of the Day’, Fr Jeff’s and Fr Piotr’s pastoral letters and reflections, weekly Zoom services and more – do please ‘like’ our Facebook page @StMarysTwickenham and bookmark our website www.stmarytwick.org.uk
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