Rounds in Creation

St Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Sun

Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor, 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 splendor!
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 colored 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





I have always been inspired by the depth of St Francis' Canticle of the Sun and his insight into our connection with all of Creation.  Francis has always prefigured, for me, the living in the Divine Will.  It's only in the Volumes that I've discovered that this Canticle is only the initial insight of a greater truth.

I believe St Francis had a glimpse of the deep connection we all have in Creation.  In the Volumes Jesus speaks of how God created everything, leaving himself in each created thing, so as to always be able to be in contact with man and to have something to do with him.  Yet man hardly even senses or acknowledges him there.

The whole of Creation is for Me like the body to the soul, like the skin to the fruit. I am in continuous immediate act with man, although created things hide Me, just as the body hides the soul. However, if it wasn’t for the soul, the body would have no life. In the same way, if I withdrew from created things, they would all remain without life. In all created things I visit man, I touch him and I give him life. I am hidden in the fire, and I visit him with its heat; if I were not there, the fire would have no heat - it would be a painted fire and without life. But while I visit man in the fire, he does not recognize Me, nor does he give Me one greeting. I am in the water, and I visit him by quenching his thirst; if I were not there, the water would quench no one’s thirst - it would be dead water. But while I visit him, he passes before Me without bowing once to Me. I am hidden in the food, and I visit man by giving him substance, strength and taste; if I were not there, in taking food man would remain on an empty stomach. Yet, ungrateful, while he feeds on Me, he turns his back to Me. I am hidden in the sun, and I visit him with my light almost every instant; yet, ungrateful, he repays Me with continuous offenses. I visit him in all things: in the air that he breathes, in the flower that gives off its fragrance, in the breeze that refreshes, in the thunder that strikes - in everything. My visits are innumerable. Do you see how much I love him? And you, being in my Will, are together with Me, visiting man and giving him life
Vol. 14, May 12,1922
　

Not only did God leave himself in each created thing so as to be able to always have something to do with man but each created thing is as a room where God meant to communicate himself and all his different attributes to man, a "communion" as he, himself, puts it.

 "My daughter, look at the creation: the sky, the countless stars, the sun, the wind, the sea, the flowered fields, the peaks and the valleys - they are all rooms which I formed, and in each room I formed My court so that I could live there. This I did so as to give man the easy possibility of wherever he wanted to come he could find his God. I made it easy to find [God] immediately, and everywhere. And God placed Himself in each room in an act of waiting for him, [and] left all the rooms open so man wouldn’t have to bother with knocking, but thus could enter freely as often as he wanted; God was ready to receive him.

"The Creator of heaven and earth didn’t place Himself in one single place, but everywhere, so that man could find Him everywhere. He placed these rooms very close together to form many shortcuts, because there must not be any distance between Creator and creature, but closeness and communion. So all these rooms were and are relations, ties, and ways between God and man...

"What did the Paternal goodness of the Creator not do in creation for love of man? Not only did He form many rooms but they were different one from another so that He could be found in many different ways, by [man] whom He loved. In the sun He let Himself be found invested in light, all majesty, burning with love, waiting for man to give him His light, to make Himself understood, [and] to give him His love so that man, entering into this room to find his God, would himself become light and love. In the sea He let Himself be found as the strong God to give man strength. In the wind He let Himself be found ruling and dominating so as to give man rule and dominion. In other words, in each created thing God was waiting for man so that He could make him participate in all of His qualities."
Vol. 21, May 26, 1927

Each created thing is a lesson on how to acquire the attributes of God.  God himself is beyond our understanding so he created all things, each as a veil, a simplified lesson, in order to make himself understood by the created mind.  God, who is unfathomable, wants us to understand him, wants us to imitate him and to grow more and more in his likeness.  And yet hardly anyone looks beyond the surface to see God in his Creation.

"My daughter, see how beautiful all of creation is: what fascination of light, what enchantment of varieties, what rare beauty! Yet these are none other than the ornaments of our Divine Being, If such are our adornments, our Being surpasses in an unfathomable way our own ornaments, [and] the creature is incapable of understanding the incomprehensibility of our own Being.

"The eye is incapable of enclosing within itself all the vastness of the light of the sun, but [the sun] pours its light into the eye for as much as it can contain. However, to enclose within [the eye] the measure of the length and breadth of wherever the light extends itself is impossible. The sun is [similar] to Our Being, [and the eye] to human capacity; it is always Our adornments that the creature sees and experiences: he sees the sun, its light touches him and makes its warmth felt; he sees the immensity of the waters of the sea; he sees the blue expanse of the sky with many stars. But who can say of what the light is formed? How much light do (the Heavens) contain? How much water does the sea contain? How many stars are there, and of what is the blue vault of Heaven made? Man doesn’t know how to respond in the least, he just sees and enjoys all those things; he is the first among the ignorant ones in arithmetic, weights, and measures.

"If it is that way with our ornaments, much more is it with our Divine Being. But you must know that all of creation, and each created thing, gives a lesson to man. They all narrate Our Divine qualities, and each thing gives a lesson about the quality that it contains: the sun gives a lesson in light, and teaches that to be light it is necessary to be pure, stripped of every material thing. Light always contains heat united to it - you cannot detach the light from the heat - so if you want to be light you must love only your Creator, and this will bring to you, like the sun, the fecundity of good. The sky gives you a lesson about My Celestial Fatherland, it calls you continuously to your Creator, it gives you a lesson of detaching yourself from that which is of the earth, [and gives you a lesson] on the heights of holiness which you must reach. (It teaches you that) you must adorn yourself, with all the Divine virtues more than the stars. Each thing gives a lesson and calls man to reflect himself in them, to copy and imitate them. I did not create My ornaments just to make them be seen, but so that by imitating them man could be adorned. Yet who pays attention and listens to so many lessons? Almost no one!"

Vol. 21, April 22, 1927

"My daughter, My Will never exhausts Itself If I do not speak to you about It, all of creation will speak to you. Even the stones will change into voices to speak to you; the heavens, the sun, the sea, all creation has much to say about My Eternal Volition, because being full of Its Life, all things have a great deal to say about the Life of My Will, which they possess. So you must pay attention, because if you look at or touch something, you will hear new lessons about My Will."
Vol. 21, May 4, 1927

Each meeting with his creature in Creation was to be a "communion" his presence in each created thing is an "exposition" of himself.  Because mankind does not recognize God in Creation he does not give God his due honors.  We are called to adore God in all his manifestations and make up for those who don't.



"Oh! If the creatures paid attention to all the expositions which My Will makes in all of creation, they would need to stay always in an act of adoration to adore My Will exposed in the flowered fields with its radiant scents, in the loaded fruit trees with their variety of sweet flavors. There is no created thing which does not have its special Divine exposition, and because the creatures do not bestow the honors upon [My Will in creation] as they should, it’s up to you to maintain perpetual adoration in the exposition that the Supreme Fiat has in all of creation. My daughter, let it be you who offers herself as a perpetual adorer of this Will, for now It is absent of adorers and receives no exchange of love on the part of the creature.
Vol. 21, February 26, 1927



We can make God happy by bringing to him all of his Creation.  This is often referred to as a round.  In fact it is a duty of ours to do so.  We recognize God in each created thing, we thank him, we adore him, we praise him, we do this for ourselves as is our duty and for all mankind.  Only in the Divine Will is this possible.  And by doing so God reflects each of his attributes more and more in us, continuing and extending his Creation, his Kingdom within us.

"Besides that, all Our Divine qualities are spread out in creation, and each created thing occupies an office of Our Attributes. One is a child of Our Power, another of Justice, another of Light, another of Peace, another of Goodness - each created thing is a child of one of Our Attributes. So when you bring Me all of creation, you are the bearer of My happiness which is scattered in it, and I recognize My child of the light, of the sun, and my child of justice. In the sea I recognize the child of the surging wind, and the child of peace in the flowering earth. In other words I recognize each part of My Attributes in all created things, and I rejoice in recognizing My children which the little daughter of My Volition brings to Me. I do just as that father who has many children and each one of them occupies an office of love - one is prince, one is judge, one is a representative, one is a senator, one is a governor. The father feels happier as he recognizes each of these offices in the very fruit of his loins, and the honored nobility of his own children.

"All things were created to flow before and delight the children of the Supreme Fiat, and as I see you bring back to Us Our works We recognize in you Our design; and oh, how We rejoice seeing you make your rounds to gather together all Our works to again give Us Our joy which is dispersed in all of creation. So let your flight in My Will be continuous."
Vol. 21, February 23, 1927
　

I thought to myself: ‘If I spent one day without doing these acts, what would be the good I would lose and the evil I would do?’ And my always lovable Jesus told me: "My daughter, do you know what you would do? By not doing your acts in my Will, you would lack the reflection of all Creation; and because you would lack Its reflection, on that day the heavens would not extend within you, the sun would not rise, the sea would not flow within you, your earth would not let the new flowering bloom, nor would the joy, the music, the singing of the inhabitants of the air, the sweet symphony of the spheres, be heard in you. My Will would not find Its echo in you, therefore It would feel the sorrow that, on that day, the little daughter of Its Volition has not given It the requital of a heaven for love of It, because she lacked the reflection of Its heaven; she has not made the sun rise in return for Its eternal light; she has not let It hear the sea flowing, nor its sweet murmuring, nor the darting of the mute inhabitants of the waves. My Will would feel all of Its acts, the reflection of Its works, missing in you, nor could It form Its echo in you. And in Its sorrow, It would say: ‘Ah! today my little daughter has not given me a heaven as I have given to her, nor a sun, a sea, flowers, singing, music and joy, as I have given to her. So, she has gone out of my likeness; her notes have not harmonized with mine. I have loved her with many manifestations and with incessant love – she did not.’ See what you would do! My Will would not tolerate in you, Its little daughter, the void of Its works."
 Vol. 20, Nov.14, 1926

This purpose of Creation is to reflect each of it's attributes in man teaching us who God is and helping us to be more and more like him.  Like our Catholic catechism teaches us:  "God put us into the world to know, love and serve him, and so come to the happiness of paradise." 1720  The more we know him, the more we love him, the better we serve him in his Will.  It can also be seen in the Bible how Creation has longed to achieve it's goal.
 
 
¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Romans 8: 19-21
 


Each created thing contains a sea of the qualities of God which they want to form within us.  And with the fall of man Creation has been frustrated in achieving this end.  It is only by living in the Divine Will and doing our rounds in it that we can bring this about.  But it is not us who brings this about but only our cooperation in God's plan.  For as creatures it is impossible to follow his continuous motion in Creation.  God, however, has given us the echo of this continuous motion to join to his own.  It is always God who achieves these things but he needs our faithful cooperation and good will to be united and to live in his Divine Will.

 
 "My daughter, as you go around in my Will, to follow It in each created thing, all of my attributes hear your call and enter the field in order to form, each one of them, the little sea of their qualities. Oh! how they triumph in seeing themselves active – being able to form each one its own little sea. But their highest pleasure and delight increases in being able to form in the little creature their seas of love, of light, of beauty, of tenderness, of power, and so forth. My wisdom acts as a talented artisan and with marvelous ingenuity, in placing its immense and infinite qualities in the littleness. Oh! how the soul who lives in my Will harmonizes with my attributes. Each one of them takes on its office in order to establish its divine quality. If you knew the great good that comes to you by following my Will in all of Its acts, and the crafting It carries out in you, you too would feel the joy of a continuous feast."

Then, after this, I continued to follow the Creation, and I could see that eternal motion that never stops, flowing everywhere; and I thought to myself: ‘How can I follow the Supreme Volition in everything, if It runs so rapidly in all things? I do not have Its virtue, nor Its rapidity; therefore I have to remain behind, without being able to follow Its eternal murmuring in everything.’ But while I was thinking of this, my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: "My daughter, all things have a continuous motion, because, having come out of a Supreme Being who contains a motion full of life, as a consequence, all things that came out of God were to contain a vital motion that never ceases. And if it ceases, it means that life ceases. See, you yourself have a murmuring, a continuous motion in your interior. Even more, the Divinity, in creating the creature, gave him the likeness of the Three Divine Persons; It placed in him three motions which were to murmur continuously, to unite themselves to that continuous motion and murmuring of love of their Creator. And these are: the motion of the beating of the heart that never ceases, the blood circulation that always circulates without ever stopping, the breathing of the breath that never stops. This, in the body; in the soul, then, there are three more motions that murmur continuously: the intellect, the memory and the will. Therefore, everything is in keeping your motion bound to the motion of your Creator, in order to murmur together with His eternal motion. In this way, you will follow my Will in Its motion that never stops, in Its acts that never cease, and you will make your motion return into the womb of your Creator, who awaits with so much love the return of His works, of His love, and of His murmuring.
Vol. 20, Nov. 20, 1926

 
　
The purpose of Creation will not be complete until creatures take possession of all of their riches.  In order for this to happen the creature must come to know the divine acts in Creation and by knowing them they will come to love them and in loving them they will come to acquire the right to possess them.  Only by turning and returning in all the acts of Creation, that is by doing rounds in the Creation, can one arrive to that point in which God has been calling us to return to him.  In this way God can return to resume his Creation in man which became interrupted with the fall and establish his Kingdom.
　

　


How, in the Creation, the Divinity bilocated Its Will. The nature of the Divine Will is happiness. How It constituted Itself act of everything. The possession It wants to give to the creature.
I continue in my state of abandonment in the Supreme Volition, and while I was going around with my mind in the whole Creation, to follow It in all created things and make my will one with Its own, so as to form one single act with Its own, my always lovable Jesus, making me pause, told me: "My daughter, in issuing the Creation, the Divinity bilocated Its Will, and One remained within Us, for Our regime, joy, happiness, contentments and innumerable and infinite beatitudes which We possess; because Our Will has the first place in all Our acts. The Other bilocated Will of Ours came out from Us into Creation, to give Us, also externally, divine honors and glory, and innumerable happinesses and joys. In fact, Our Will possesses joys, happinesses and beatitudes as Its own qualities – this is Its nature; and if It did not release from Itself these innumerable beatitudes and contentments which It possesses, it would be for It something against Its own nature. Now, the Supreme Majesty, by issuing Our bilocated Will into the whole Creation so that It might be constituted life and act of each created thing, issued from Itself innumerable riches, countless beatitudes and joys, which only the Power of the Eternal Fiat could preserve, maintaining their regime, so that they would never lose their integrity and beauty.

Now, while all these properties issued by Us glorified Us, giving Us the glory of as many continuous and divine acts for as many created things as came out to light, they were established as properties of creatures, who, unifying their wills with Ours, were to have their act in each act of Our Will, in such a way that, just as We were to have the divine act of Our Will in each created thing, We were to have the act of the creature, transfused, as if they were one alone. With this, she would come to know Its riches; by knowing them, she would love them, and she would acquire the right to possess them. How many divine acts does my Supreme Will not do in each created thing, and the creature has not even the most remote knowledge of these acts? And if she does not know them, how can she love them and possess them, if they are unknown to her? So, all the riches, the happinesses, the divine acts present in the whole Creation are inactive and lifeless for creatures; and if they receive anything at all, it is not as property, but as the effect of the Supreme Goodness which always gives of Its own. It gives, as alms, also to those who have no right of possession; others, then, take them as usurpations. In fact, in order to possess these goods which the Celestial Father put out in the Creation, the creature must make her way; she must elevate herself to union with that Divine Will, in order to work together with It, do the same acts, know them in order to do them, so as to be able to say: ‘What It does, I do’. With this, she acquires the right of possession in all the acts of this Supreme Will; and when two wills form one single will, ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ no longer exist; rather, by right, what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.

And so, this is the reason why my Supreme Will calls you – awaits you in each created thing, to make known to you the riches which are in It, to make you repeat Its divine acts together with It, and to give you the right of possession. You yourself become Its own property; you remain dissolved within Its immense riches and within Its very acts, and - oh! how the Divine Fiat enjoys making you the owner of Its immense riches. Its desire of constituting Its heiresses is so great, that It feels twice as happy when It sees one who knows Its possessions and makes Its divine act her own; so much so, that even though It saw that man, by withdrawing from Its Will, lost his way to reach the possession of Its dominions, It did not stop, but in the excess of Its Love and of Its long sorrow of seeing Its riches inactive for the good of creatures, as soon as the Eternal Word clothed Himself with human flesh, It constituted Itself life of each of His acts, so as to form more goods for them, powerful aids and effective remedies, more within the reach of decayed humanity, so as to realize the purpose of making them possess what was issued in Creation. There is nothing that comes from Us, which does not have this purpose – that the creature and everything return into Our Will. If it were not so, We would render Ourselves extraneous to Our own works. So, Creation, Redemption, my daughter, have the primary purpose that everything be Our Will, in Heaven and on earth; therefore, It flows everywhere, It is present in every place, to make everything Its own, and to give everything that belongs to It. Therefore, be attentive in following Our works; satisfy this desire, so insistent, of my Supreme Will, which wants those who possess Its goods."
Vol. 20, December 19, 1926 　

　
In so many words all of this speaks of the return of the Kingdom.  "Creation, Redemption...have the primary purpose that everything be Our Will, in Heaven and on earth."  So to turn and return in all of Creation every day, and in Redemption too...it's a Herculean task to be sure but Jesus promises that all of Creation is an army which is always ready to regain this Kingdom and it will not retreat.  It's presence is a sure promise that the Kingdom will return.




“It is similar to that which happens to a king who, because of war, lost his kingdom - but is there not the possibility that one of his children could win back with another war, his father’s kingdom which is already his?  It is [even] more likely [for the Kingdom of My Will] because I, as the Divine Winner, came to earth to recover man’s losses; and, having found one who would want to receive this Kingdom, I restored these forces to him by once again putting My army at his disposition to maintain the order, the decorum, and the glory of [My Kingdom].

“And. what is this army?  It is all of creation, more than a wondrous and formidable army; it is the life of My Will which is bilocated within each created thing, [put] there to maintain the Life of this Kingdom.  How could man lose hope of again possessing this Kingdom?  If he had seen this invincible army of creation totally disappear, then he could have said that God had withdrawn from the face of the earth His Will which vivifies, beautifies, and enriches this Kingdom, [and] there is no longer any hope that It may return into [man’s] possession.  But as long as this [army] exists, We must wait until the times are right to find those who will want to receive It.

“Then again, if there was no longer any hope for the possession of the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, it would not have been necessary that God manifest to you so many knowledges regarding It, nor how His Volition wishes to reign, nor the extent of His sorrow because It doesn’t reign.  When something cannot be done, it is useless to speak about it; in that case I would not have had such interest in relating so many things regarding My Divine Will.  The mere fact of [My] having spoken about It is a sign that I want It to be possessed once again.

Vol. 21, March 19, 1927Now for those who would like to know better just how Luisa did these rounds there is a little book which can be read here online, which her confessor had her write, again, under obedience.

The Rounds of the Soul in the Divine Will

Now I typically can only do little rounds as my mind gets lost in such large undertakings.  So in order to make it even smaller for me to handle I've come up with a little rhyme to do in the mornings to help me.

Thank you Lord for this new day.

Thank you Lord in every way,

For the sun high up above,

which burns with the purity of your love.

Within this sun I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this burning fire of your purity.

 

I thank you Lord for the sky so high,

so blue, so wide, eternal smile.

Symbol of your eternity,

your ever present love for me.

Within this sky I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this symbol of your eternity.

 

I thank you Lord for water all,

the springs, the rivers, the waterfalls.

The babbling brooks, the deep blue sea,

a symbol of you power and humility.

Within all water I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this symbol of your humility.

 

I thank you Lord for the Earth so green,

the hills, the valleys and all in-between.

the burning steppes and deep ravines,

symbol of your immutability.

 Within this world I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in my this symbol of your immutability.

 

I thank you Lord for the stars up high,

that shine and twinkle in the sky.

A symbol of your order and harmony,

your virtues displayed for all to see.

Within them all I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me your order and you harmony.

 

I thank you Lord for the birds and fish,

that fly, that dart, that splash and splish.

In loving notes each pass they weave,

A loving woven tapestry.

Within them all I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this constant weave of love for thee.

 

I thank you Lord for the animals all,

the big, the tall, the fast, the small.

The ones with fur, the ones with shells,

with hair, with scales or only skin.

Within them all I place my love, my praise, my thanks,

may your Kingdom come.

I ask you Lord to place in me this symbol of you fecundity.