Not another cause – but joyful repentance

A gift from God and the common home of humanity, the earth is threatened by our rebellion against God. In his encyclical Laudato Si’ (Praise be to You), Pope Francis challenges both Christians to praise and thank God for his glorious creation and all people  to work together with God to safeguard her.

We’ll be using Laudato Si’ as the basis of this year’s Lenten study series God’s earth – Our Home. Francis’ encyclical will set the agenda for much of our teaching next year. It’s a rich document and I’m receiving a great blessing from reading it – slowly. Though we’ll be handing out extracts for the study series, I urge you to get hold of a copy (only $21 from Book Depository) and read it joyfully as prep for our penitential season. 

 The summary below is adapted from Amazon. Given that  Francis’ concern is with ‘conversion’ and discipleship, I recommend also reading Matt Bartlett’s sermon God’s Earth – Our Home (to be posted soon) for a more insightful summary of Laudato Si’ themes and some helpful reflections on where too from here.

Grace to you, Newt

picfromcover-cropped1

Popes Benedict XVI, John Paul II, and Paul VI addressed key themes regarding stewardship of God’s creation, but Francis is the first to devote an entire encyclical to the subject. The encyclical takes its name from Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures, which depicts cre­ation as “a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us”. Pope Francis declares, “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.”

Francis calls for an “integral ecology” based on what Pope Saint John Paul II called an “ecological conversion”—a moral transformation linking the proper response to God for the gift of his creation to concern for justice, especially for the poor. He challenges people to understand ecology in terms of the right ordering of the fundamental relationships of the human person: with God, oneself, other people, and the rest of creation.

Francis examines such ecological concerns as pollution, waste, and what he calls “the throwaway culture”. Climate, he insists, is a common good to be protected. He explores notions such as sustainability from a Judeo-Christian perspective. The loss of biodiversity and the unequal distribution of resources, largely caused by the consumerism and excessive individualism of the wealthier nations, threaten the good order of creation, he writes. While valuing technology, he rejects efforts to repudiate the natural order, including the moral law inscribed in human nature. He cautions against an over-reliance on science to solve ecological problems and emphasizes the need for openness to God and awe for God’s creation.

Expounding the biblical tradition regarding creation and redemption in Christ, Francis stresses man’s subordination to God’s purposes for his creation – including humanity. He insists on the primacy of the human person in creation and rejects treating it as if it were “divine”, yet he traces the roots of the ecological crisis to man’s self-contentedness and the rise of practical relativism. While emphasising the need for political changes and the restructuring of the political economy, he implores people to change their hearts and their ways of life.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

* Copy This Password *

* Type Or Paste Password Here *

7,366 Spam Comments Blocked so far by Spam Free Wordpress

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>