All has been consecrated:
The creatures in the forest know this,

the earth does, the seas do,
and the clouds as well,

as does the heart full
of love.

~ St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)

What I love more than life itself is the gift that nature gives us – how everything alive is connected: every curl, every rustle of leaves, the velvet of moss, the fragrance of air after rain. We, too, are part of this grand symphony of aliveness. Catherine of Siena is right – “all has been consecrated”, we are here to experience it, in body and in spirit. What riches we have, what a good fortune it is to be alive!

Have I not stood, amazed, as I consider
the perfection of the morning star
above the peaks of the houses, and the
crowns of the trees
blue in the first light?
Do I not see how the trees tremble,
as though sheets of water
flowed over them, though
it is only wind, that common thing,
free to everyone, and everything?

Have I not loved as though the beloved
could vanish at any moment …
Have I ever taken good fortune for granted?

~ Excerpts from “Am I Not Among the Early Risers” by Mary Oliver.