“God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creatures having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven. And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth. And the evening and morning were the fifth day. And he said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so done. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good.”
It is the natural end of all love to desire to reproduce in the context of beauty. Love that is kept for one’s own is lost, “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25), and nothing desires to bring forth children in a context of hostility and ugliness. No, it is in the beauty of the created world, with the stars in the air, the waters running and beautiful in its own sense, that the Lord said to the elements, “Bring forth life, living creatures of all different varieties: “Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 103:30). Every creature glorifies its creator, and the loveliness of all things is meant to fill your heart with rejoicing. When you walk and hear the birds singing, Theophila, this is a symphony performed for you that your Lord has given you out of love. When you see bees taking nectar from bitter flowers and turning into sweet honey, “The bee is small among flying things, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness” (Ecclesiasticus 11:3), you can learn that drinking from the bitter cross with love yields waters of love that are quite sweet: “But he cried to the Lord, and he shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, they were turned into sweetness” (Exodus 15:25). The creatures of the sea all have stories to tell; consider the clam, who hides within it a treasure that is protected by a secure shell. So too is the treasure of your love safeguarded by God’s truth: “His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night” (Psalm 90:5); “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Ephesians 6:14). There is such an innumerable variety amongst the creatures of earth, wind, and sea; each one so wondrous that the natural reaction to even one little animal is heavenly joy: “How great are thy works, O Lord? Thou hast made all things in wisdom: the earth is filled with thy riches” (Psalm 103:24). Consider also that the greatest adornment to creation is life. The sun, moon, and stars are the great heavenly bodies, but the ordering of creation gives a greater dignity to the little bird. Mighty oaks and wondrous flowers spring across the earth, but these are not filled with the same kind of life possessed by the squirrel that makes its home in the same tree, or the butterfly that sits upon the same flower. How beautiful life is, Theophila! “He hath made all things good in their time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11); “I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 138:14), thus God gives life, “And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7), that you may know the gift of love, radiant through creation: “For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity” (Romans 1:20). Thus, God gives the commandment to His creatures to give the gift of life; for people this is so that the magnificent gift of life may be known, but for beasts this is so that they may be a spectacular adornment upon the marriage feast of the Lamb with your soul: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath prepared herself” (Apocalypse 19:7). There is an interesting point here, too, about the generation of animals, for their reproduction is blessed, and though the wording is the same as the blessing to man: “And God blessed them, saying: ‘Increase and multiply’” (Genesis 1:28), the blessing is not the same, for animals reproduce purely out of instinct, whereas man is created by an overflow of love, and each soul that is created He directly creates alongside man and woman: “From my mother’s womb thou art my God” (Psalm 21:11), therefore he repeats this blessing to each person, that they may bring forth the fruit of love, be it by physical or spiritual children, or both: “The fig tree put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell” (Canticle 2:13). Finally, there is a mystical sense to the creation of the creatures, for there are three paths of life: The fish, that live in the waters of sin, never coming above the surface to see the goodness of heavenly reality, the beasts, which though in the daylight of truth, still cling to the things of earth, represented by their limbs all being fastened to the ground, and the birds, that, knowing the love of God and racing to Him, fly effortlessly above the pleasures and trials of earth in heavenly love and truth, singing sweet songs of love in their hearts.