Fr. Rutler on the redacted canticle of St. Francis in Laudato Si

There is nothing more profound than a priest who has spent decades zealously living out his vocation in a state of Sanctifying Grace. Their words transcend your mind to a mystical place. They reach into your soul and turn on a light.

Here's Fr. Rutler's latest which leaves little room to doubt the albatross he sees in Rome.

This is why it is important that the “Canticle of the Sun” be invoked in its entirety. The first and last three verses do not appear in the encyclical. An uninformed reader might get the impression that the saint of Assisi did not sing his song in a transport of joy to God whose glory is ineffable. “Most High, all powerful, all good Lord! All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing. To You alone, Most High, do they belong. No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your name” (verse 1). The last three verses praise the Lord for the strength he gives to forgive and to endure sickness and trial, for the mystery of death and fear of dying in mortal sin, and for serving him “with great humility.”

A satirist once described a trendy clergyman who “collects butterflies and considers the word ‘not’ to have been interpolated in several of the Commandments.” While Christ bid us to “consider the lilies of the field,” he did so not as a botanist but as the Lord who “is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). To redact the “Canticle of the Sun” risks being left with the Sun, but without the Son.

ADDENDUM

Fr. Z adds:

How does St. Francis’ hymn end?

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

May God have mercy on those who have caused such vast scandal.

May God have mercy on those who will fall to their baser appetites.

Everyone… pray for the deeply confused and clean your own house!

GO TO CONFESSION.

n.b. What is painfully obvious: This pope is leading souls to die in a state of mortal sin while telling them they must now turn their attention to utilizing their powers to control the weather to save themselves, listen and execute the ideas of heretics and help the communists. He's helping us all out.