Why is the Pope so hot on climate change these days?
I was kicking around Facebook the other night and hit a link posted by Jesuit Fr. James Martin (who I deeply respect) entitled: “When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job: (subtitled) Among many climate scientists, gloom has set in. Things are worse than we think, but they can't really talk about it.” Whoa. After being jolted out of my complacency with the darkness forecast in that article, I turned to Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home for a little hope. But quite frankly, it only confirmed the urgency.
Not that any of this concern for climate change is particularly new, but it IS new to hear it SO boldly proclaimed in our very own Catholic language, reflecting our theology and morality from the pen of our globally respected leader. It is strange and uncomfortable to realize that it is the scientists who are predicting the end of days and the religious fundamentalists who deny that anything is wrong…I’m thankful that the Pope has placed us squarely in the scientists’ camp!
Change doesn't happen until the status quo becomes unacceptable, right? Seems that day has arrived. Courage (and/or character) isn’t the absence of fear but our response to it, right? So, what is to be our response?
Here is what Pope Francis advises: “We require a new and universal solidarity. The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change...”
The Pope says our Catholic “spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption.” He encourages us to embrace the “ancient lesson” that “less is more” and makes an “urgent appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. For all our limitations, gestures of generosity, solidarity and care cannot but well up within us, since we were made for love.”
What do you think this ‘new dialogue’ really sounds like and looks like in action? I can only speak for myself, but I attend this church to pray, dream and work along-side people who share in my beliefs and concerns and to be inspired and empowered by our shared hope in God. Let’s dream up some practical new ways for our community to live this prayer below, found at the close of the encyclical. Please email me or post your clever ideas on our bulletin board in the vestibule on how we might better “Live simply, so others may simply live.” (challenge the kiddos to post something too!)
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
That we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.
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