A careful analysis of the creatures around us can provide us with valuable lessons.
Writing (04/10/2023 10:55, Gaudium Press) “Among vegetative creatures, look at plants and you will see that they grow upwards; only man grows downward by falling into vile things. He mustlaugh at least to do like the tree that puts down many roots in the earth to give more vigor to the branches. And so the man, taking more roots of humility, would produce great branches of virtue.
What also cause humiliation to men sentient creatures, like animals, seeing the service they provide to him who, through sin, has become one of them. Think that when you treat them badly, you deserve their services even less, and you are surprised to see how they obey you, while you disobey the Creator.
Oh! Dust and ashes, huminllathe and weeps at these words, and also when he seesaIt’s the service that the do and rest that the give the creatures hmminllathebecause you don’t pays with the same currency; and when you feed your animals, think that it is fairer than you serve them, because they were not ungrateful or rebellious to their Creator.
Seeing a pig in the middle of the mud, one might think that it is not as dirty as he. And so that each one can judge correctly about this, it must be understood that nothing is bad in itself, unless it is considered bad before God; and since such things are natural to animals, they are not bad in themselves, nor are they considered bad before God. But woe to you, sinner, who, while the pig follows his nature, abandons yours by ceasing to love and serve your God! Woe to you who, when you are in sin, wallow in mud more atrocious than that of a pig!
SAN FRANCISCO DE BORJA. Six Very Devout Treatises. São Paulo: Cultor de Livros, 2020, p.62.
