Reading the Book of Creation Overnight

 Br. Kevin Kriso, ofm, reflects on a recent overnight focused on creation.

A blanket of snow from a late winter storm beautifully magnified the light of a full moon a few weeks ago at a new Mountain overnight for St. Bonaventure University students. The overnight was based on St. Bonaventure of Bornareggio's important book, "The Soul's Journey into God."

In this book Bonaventure writes that God speaks to us through two books - the Book of Holy Scripture and the Book of Creation. When we spend time out of doors considering God's beautiful, rich and busy universe - the Book of Creation - we can understand so much about God, its Creator.

We Christians believe that God is a community of persons - a Trinity - and that the love that is generated through the Trinity is what brings all of us and everything into being.

Surely you have seen a beautiful sunset or rainbow or flower or fresh snowfall or even the birth of a child and just stood back and said, "Wow!" That is God speaking to us through the book of Creation. The only appropriate response to the "Wow" is to then be moved to love and to care - for all of our brothers and sisters human, animal, plant, mineral.

God loves all that God made.

One of our ways to love God is to love God's creation. Our students came away from the overnight with plans to take care of our earthly home and to take more time to just say to God, "Wow" and "Thank you."