Are We at Home in the Cosmos? A Franciscan Perspective

There is an age-old saying that captures the sacredness of place where lies our deepest sense of peace and comfort, of all that we are and strive to be, where memories are drawn and dreams unfold. “Home is where the heart is,” not only speaks to every weary traveler who arrives safely home after a long trip but to anyone who searches for that place in the world where one can truly be oneself. The Franciscan theologian, Bonaventure, captured this idea in his own way when he wrote: “You truly exist where you love not merely where you live.” In other words, you truly are yourself and the fullness of all you can be where you love, and where you love is truly where you live. If loving and living are so united, we may question whether or not we truly love where we live. For we live in creation, in the natural world of created things. Scientists today tell us that creation is our “home,” that we are biologically related to other living forms of life and that, on a broader level, we are joi...