Treating Creation

Expergiscere, O homo, et dignitatem tuae cognosce naturae. Recordare te factum ad imaginem Dei; quae, etsi in Adam corrupta, in Christo tamen est reformata. Utere quomodo utendum est visibilibus creaturis, sicut uteris terra, mari, coelo, aere, fontibus atque fluminibus; et quidquid in eis pulchrum atque mirabile est, refer ad laudem et gloriam Conditoris. Noli esse deditus illi lumini quo volucres et serpentes, quo bestiae et pecudes, quo muscae delectantur et vermes. Lucem corpoream sensu tange corporea, et toto mentis affectu illud verum lumen amplectere quod illuminat omnem hominem venitentem in hunc mundum, et de quo dicit Propheta: Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini, et vultus vestri non erubescent. Si enim templum Dei sumus, et Spiritus Dei habitat in nobis, plus est quod fidelis quisque in suo habet animo, quam miratur in coelo. Non itaque vobis, dilectissimi, hoc aut indicimus, aut suademus, et despiciatis opera Dei, aut contrarium aliquid fidei vestrae, in iis quae Deus bonus bona condidit, aestimetis; sed ut omni creaturarum specie, et universo hujus mundi ornatu rationabiliter et temperanter utamini: Quae enim videntur, sicut ait Apostulus, temporalia sunt; quae autem non videntur aeterna sunt. Unde quia ad praesentia sumus nati, ad futura autem renati, non temporalibus bonis dediti, sed aeternis simus intenti. Sanctus Leo Magnus, Sermo XXVII, In Nativitate Domini VII, Cap VI Source: Migne PL 54.220b-221b

Awake, O man, and know the dignity of your nature. Remember that you were made in the image of God, 1 which although it was corrupted in Adam, yet was restored in Christ. Use visible creatures as they should be used, as you use earth, sea, sky, air, springs and rivers; and whatever in them is fair and wondrous, ascribe to the praise and glory of the Creator. Do not be subject to that light in which birds and serpents, beasts and cattle, flies and worms delight. Confine the material light to your bodily senses and with all the sense of your mind embrace that true light, which coming into this world enlightens every man, 2 and of which the Prophet says, 'Come to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not blush.' 3 For if we 'are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us,'4 that which every one of the faithful has in his own soul is more than what he admires in heaven. Thus we do not, dearly beloved, exhort or counsel you to despise the works of God, or to think there is anything contrary to your faith in what the good God has made good, but that you use every kind of creature and all the ornaments of this world reasonably and moderately; for as the Apostle says: 'the things which are seen are transient, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' 5 So because we are born for the present and reborn for the future, let us not hand ourselves over to temporal goods but be eager for eternal ones. Pope Leo the Great, from Sermon 27, Chap 6 1 Gen 1.26 2 John 1.9 3 Ps 33.6 4 1 Cor 3.16 5 2 Cor 4:18