The translation above is written in a prose style making it difficult to set to a metred melody. Of interest though are the adjectives “useful, humble, precious, chaste”. This 2026 Season of Creation highlights care for water and our relationship with water – water that is ever so useful and precious. As the world awakens to its relationship with water, “useful and precious” stand as beacon calls against our destructive treatment of water, our overuse of water and misuse of water. The adjectives “humble” and “chaste” reflect the unique personhood of water – water as created gift with rights for protection.
What St. Francis understood in 1225 and expressed in his mystical relationship with all God creates has been reflected in the 2015 encyclical Laudato Si. Now in 2026 as we conclude the marking of this Season of Creation may we who have inherited this song of praise become heralds for the precious, humble, chaste, useful gift of water.
-Sister Loretta Manzara, csj
Image: Nick Castelli @nickcastelliphotography / Unsplash