This prayer by the Jesuit saint Robert Bellarmine puts a new spin on finding God on all things:What various powers lie hidden in plants! What strange powers are found in stones, especially magnetic stones and amber. What strength do we see in animals, such as lions, bears, bulls and elephants. How clever, although tiny, are ants, spiders, bees and flies. I pass over the power of the angels and the might of the sun and stars, which are far away from us. Finally, how great is human genius, which has invented skills such that we wonder whether nature surpasses art or art surpasses nature! Now lift up your eyes to God, my soul, and reflect on how great is the strength, efficacy, and power of the Lord your God”¦.
The Powers in Created Things
By Jim Manney
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Jim Manneyhttps://www.jimmanneybooks.com/
Jim Manney is the author of highly praised popular books on Ignatian spirituality, including A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer (about the Daily Examen) and God Finds Us (about the Spiritual Exercises). He is the compiler/editor of An Ignatian Book of Days. His latest book is What Matters Most and Why. He and his wife live in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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I do believe in the power of nature – plants and stones as my herbal medicine practice shows again and again. This is also very obvious in the teaching of St Hildegard of Bingen, of which the medicine I practice as well.
God has given us remedies in nature and yet man keep inventing medicine to replace nature and in the process cause ecological damage through the chemicals we dump in our environment.
As man becomes denatured we despised natural medicine and called man’s medicine the only rational medicine. It is actually man running away from the Source again.