Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Enmeshed in God's creation

This week's reflection is brought to you by
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7.

O God,
Your words to the suffering servant
in the book of Isaiah
can also apply to each one of us:

You are my servant,
whom I uphold,
my chosen,
in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit in you
to bring forth justice to my earth.

You will not break those who are bruised
and you will not extinguish any small hope;
you will faithfully bring forth justice.

I am God,
I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you your gifts and talents
to be a light in my world,
to open the eyes of those who cannot see my way,
to free those imprisoned by fear and darkness."

You call us to be mindful
O God,
of your ways in our world,
of how we are enmeshed in your creation.

Help us to hear
and do
what you ask of us!

We need you,
and you tell us that the world needs us
to become your action
for the good of all.

Help us to work together
to bring all of creation
to your light,
your hope,
your freedom.

+Amen.

* * * * * * * 

God is always calling us from our problems toward solutions, and that's what the rest of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home is all about. Not that they will be easy solutions. The reason Pope Francis's letter to the world is something of a hard sell is that, if we are to make it work, it is the wealthy 8% of the world's population who will have to overhaul our lives with an eye to what the planet requires for the survival. We are the ones who will have to rethink our jet-setting vacations, recreational vehicles and over-sized homes. And it comes down to the wire -- will we change willingly, or will the increasingly dangerous climate conditions force change upon us? Australia's wildfires are yet another wake up call that we can't afford to ignore!

How many of us are willing to sacrifice for the common good, and to reduce our ecological footprints so we can live more sustainably? This week we are reflecting on paragraphs 137 to 142 of Laudato Si, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down.

Before I get into the Pope's discussion of an integral ecology, I'd like to share once again a little piece I came across from Australia's Rolling Stone Magazine (Issue 771, February 2016). David Suzuki, our Canadian environmental scientist and global climate change crusader, an avowed atheist, noted that many of our planet's issues have been separated into different categories, to be handled by different agencies. Suzuki was thrilled by Pope Francis' encyclical, commenting that,

We are enmeshed...

 ...we [environmental activists] act as though [hunger, poverty, social justice, environment] are separate issues. And the Pope doesn't separate them: he says, 'We've spent all our time focused on two relationships: our human relationship with God, and our relationship with each other. But there is a third relationship, and that's our relationship with the rest of Creation.' Thank you, Francis. It's an astounding thing to come out of the Catholic freakin' Church!

Suzuki is right -- the beauty of the Pope's letter to the world is that it underlines, over and over again, the importance of realizing that everything we do impacts life on this planet in some way, and that there are no "separate issues." We are enmeshed in creation, in our world's many issues, in each other's lives.

Paragraph 137 begins with the refrain that everything is closely interrelated (we hear it twice more in these 6 paragraphs!), followed with the reminder that we need to take into account "every aspect of the global crisis" using an integral ecology. In other words, we must look at what is happening to the environment through the lenses of science, culture, politics, technology, faith, health, resource use, equality and solidarity, climate change, economics, everything.

Facing up to the challenge of employing an integral ecology requires "reflection and debate about the conditions required for the life and survival of society" (paragraph 138), not to mention the rest of creation. "Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it" (paragraph 139). And the crises we face are both social and environmental, demanding "an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." If we can do those three things, our ecology becomes wholistic or integral.

Paragraph 140 notes that researchers have an important role in determining the environmental impacts of human activity, and that they must have the academic freedom to help us to understand the balance of the ecosystems that make up our planet because otherwise, we can't begin to live sustainably. We humans are pretty good at seeing the things that directly impact us, but wear blinders when it comes to impacts on other creatures essential to the world's survival. And often we don't see impacts until much further down the road. Case in point? The past and present use of DDT and other pesticides -- that we now know are found in our own bodies, though they were only supposed to suppress certain "pests."

Pope Francis is trying to make us realize that the economy's "predictable reactions and... standardization with the aim of simplifying procedures and reducing costs" can no longer be the driving force in our earth's development (paragraph 141). The quality life for all creatures and the human institutions that protect justice, peace and freedom for all of creation need to be given higher priority than the many financial and political forces that have overseen our planet and allowed it to fall into ruin.

One major problem, according to paragraph 142, is that lack of respect for the law has become more and more common at all levels. The pope and friends cite the continuing destruction of forests in countries that have clear forest protection legislation, and the importing of drugs to affluent societies from poor regions that suffer because of the drug trade. If we follow world news at all, we can probably name dozens of other examples of international, national, and local laws that are being ignored all the time, or situations where industry or politics find and exploit loopholes in various social and environmental regulations.

It makes me happy that more and more, activists are discovering and speaking up about the places where laws are ignored to the detriment of our planet -- and that average citizens are getting involved through social media campaigns. But what really needs to happen is that we all need to develop an integral way of thinking at all levels, all the time.

We've just begun a new decade, and as I see it, our challenge as a human race is to see our lives with integral ecology in mind. Almost every choice we make as human beings, whether we realize it or not, has an impact on our planet. For example, my choices this morning have included what to eat for breakfast (what do my food choices cost my planet?) how to prepare it (how is my energy use impacting the environment?), what I will wear (how has it been produced, and who or what is affected by that?) and how I will get to church (can I reduce my fossil fuel emissions?) Seeing how we are enmeshed in the bigger picture takes effort and practice, but it can certainly help us to live more sustainably.

In the 2020s, we must all ask ourselves: How am I enmeshed in God's creation? How can I live more sustainably? How do I fit into an integral ecology? And how can I bring others to this kind of mindfulness?

Celebrating Earth Day Sunday

It's Earth Day Sunday today, and what is my church doing about it? Not much that I can see. But that needs to change.

Almost three years ago, Pope Francis wrote  Laudato Si, a letter to the world about how human beings have to change our ways for the sake of our sister, Mother Earth, and I was very hopeful that it would be the catalyst for major ecological efforts in Catholic churches, and, at the very least, lead to more prayer and reflection designed to make our communities more aware of environmental issues. But while our Catholic liturgies often give passing mention to human beings affected by poverty, oppression and natural disasters, they still ignore the plight of our planet's other zillions of creatures. Praying "for our good and the good of all creation" isn't really on our radar, and I have yet to hear a priest give a homily on something found in Laudato Si.

Other churches have been on the Earth Day bandwagon for years, and do all kinds of things on Earth Sunday and other Sundays to raise their communities' awareness of the importance of reducing human impact on our planet. Here are just a few ideas adopted by other Christian denominations:

--Art and Garden shows (a bit too early to do that here this year, though we could do the art part!)
--Seedy Sunday Gardeners' Gatherings where seeds are swapped and composting is taught
--Speakers about Indigenous Spirituality and Creation Care
--Walk, Bike or Bus to Church Day
--Community litter collection on church grounds and in local parks
--Church energy efficiency audits
--Nature walks
and even solar panel blessings!

And these are just a few ideas. Lots more can be accessed by clicking here. Personally, I would really love to hear a good homily on how being good to our planet is part of living Christ's imperative to do to others as we would have them do to us, and encouraging us to reduce our impact on the earth. And not just one homily on Earth Sunday... many homilies, on many other Sundays throughout the year, with bits and pieces taken directly from Laudato Si, backed with solid ideas for environmentally friendly actions that individuals can undertake. In fact, it's been on my mind so much that I'm tempted to write some Laudato Si homily helps and post them here on a regular basis, if only I can find the time.

Today I might write about how our Good Shepherd looks at every being in creation, not only people, as his sheep. It wouldn't be theologically correct to suggest that God worries as much as I do about the 76 remaining Salish Sea Orcas whose existence will be even more threatened by tanker traffic and potential oil spills if the Kinder Morgan Pipeline goes through. However, I'm sure that nature would be better off, and we along with it, if we could find ways to rely less on fossil fuels for the sake of all of God's amazing creatures. So my homily help would include a recommendation that we find ways to cut our fossil fuel use for at least one day this week. It might mean extra effort or inconvenience on our parts, and it might not have a huge impact on our planet, but if enough of us do one small thing, small things add up.

It's all been said before, but it needs to be repeated until it really makes a difference. Our churches have been so focused on our souls and the things of heaven for so long that it seems we're forgetting about the things of earth that we're also supposed to look after. What's the old saying? Act like everything depends on you, and pray like everything depends on God. Catholics seem to be good at the latter, but the former needs attention too!

Here's my favourite prayer from Laudato Si, below. Pray it with me? And then think of and carry through on your own action to live more lightly on our earth in the week ahead...

 from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana