Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Taking nothing for granted

This week's reflection is brought to you by
1 Corinthians 2: 6-10.

O God,
you call us to a different kind of wisdom.

Not one that collects deep thoughts
or has deep pockets,
but the wisdom
that you alone can give,
the wisdom of appreciating
all that you give us.

Before the earth came to be
your wisdom was its glory.

The problem is
and continues to be
that those who speak your wisdom
have been reviled,
humiliated or crucified
figuratively
and
literally.

But you continue to offer
the kind of goodness and glory
that we find hard to realize,
things beyond our sight,
hearing,
and understanding.

Your Spirit
searches your creation
and speaks out
your depths
in the wisdom you give
through the wise ones among us
and the creation you offer to us daily.

Please,
Holy Spirit,
let us appreciate everything,
let us take nothing
for granted.

+Amen.

* * * * * * *

This week we are looking at paragraphs 159-163 of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis' letter to the people of the earth, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down. The section is called Justice Between the Generations, and it's not just referring to those of us alive at this moment.

Some Indigenous community members understand this well, considering the next seven generations in their decision making. Do we?

Pope Francis gets it, too, saying, "The notion of the common good also extends to future generations," and reminding us that

Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us (paragraph 159).

There are many big questions raised by Laudato Si, but for me, the one at the beginning of paragraph 160 is the biggest: "What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us...?" Pope Francis notes that this question is tied in to other questions about the meaning of life and why we are here, the goal of our efforts and our value to the earth itself -- questions whose answers speak volumes about our dignity as God's children.

Paragraph 161 deserves to be read in its entirety:

Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet's capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now. We need to reflect on our accountability before  those who will have to endure the dire consequences.

There have been more environmental catastrophes than I want to think about in the almost five years since Laudato Si was published. The burning of the Amazon and more recently, Australia, the extinction of more species, the Brazil mine tailings dam collapses, the plastic waste that continues to gather in our oceans, flooding, storms... The connection of these problems to our human activity can no longer be denied, and the dire catastrophes Pope Francis is speaking about may arrive sooner than we think.

He and his encyclical writing friends don't mince words in paragraph 162. Our present consumer culture has bred a society of people who are speeding up the earth's decline through our "rampant individualism" and "today's self-centred culture of instant gratification." We need to curb our "impulsive and wasteful consumption" so that we can "broaden the scope of our present interests and... give consideration to those who remain excluded from development" in both "intergenerational" and "intragenerational solidarity" -- the poor of the future, and those we have with us now.

Such solidarity demands the most from those of us who live in the developed world. If everyone on the planet lived like we do, we would probably need another dozen earths to support the present world population. (Check out your ecological footprint by clicking here.) We need to re-examine what we see as essential to our standard of living. How can we live more simply and meaningfully without consuming so many of our planet's resources?

We are told that Mother Earth has enough for all her children, but the problem is that some of us children use up more than our share, which impoverishes those who are living in poverty now, and future generations who may not have enough. It also messes up our planet for all living things. How many species will be extinct when my children are my age? Will future generations ever be able to drink from a mountain stream like I did when I was small?

Laudato Si is the best commercial I know for simple living. Once we build an awareness of where our greed has gotten the better of us, we can begin to appreciate what we already have and live a deeper solidarity with the poor and future generations. In appreciating the gifts God has already given us, we can more easily ignore the way consumer culture leads us to want more than we need.

If we can ask ourselves the four questions on this poster on a regular basis, we can change our way of life to one that is better for all that God has made. Or perhaps you can make your own version with your own awareness-raising questions.

We all need enough to live, but we don't need too much, especially when our greed pollutes our planet, impoverishes creation, and harms the seven generations that come after us. I don't know about you, but I hate feeling greedy. Feeling appreciative is the way to go, the Spirit moving in us all!