Conventuals sing the praises of God in the company of all His creatures. Francis’ love for creation was neither cute nor simplistic; rather, Francis saw in creation a manifestation of the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Creator. He appreciated nature as a source of Divine Revelation, and creatures as exemplars of being that which they were created to be.
Franciscan care for creation, then, is twofold: an enjoyment of the majesty of the created world for its own sake, and a protective guardianship of the natural world that recognizes our place as stewards of something not our own.