As I write this post concluding CNEWA’s series on the Season of Creation, which concludes today, 4 October, I am watching from my library window the destruction of yet another healthy, mature tree from my neighborhood once defined by its mature oaks, poplars, maples and firs. Alas, no more.
No longer a priority, the care for creation in our disposable culture of today is inconvenient at best, woke at worst. As Pope Francis wrote in his landmark encyclical, “Laudato si,” the earth “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.
“We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail’ (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”
Subtitled, “On Care for Our Common Home,” and released on the Solemnity of Pentecost in the year 2015, the pope’s encyclical addresses not only Catholics, but all Christians and people of good will, as together we share the earth as our common home.
“In a series of seminars organized between 1994 and 1998 on the island of Halki off the coast of Istanbul in Turkey,” wrote the ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I, in Time magazine upon the encyclical’s release, “we drew attention to the close connection between ecology and economy.
“Both terms share the Greek root oikos, which signifies ‘home.’ It, therefore, came as no surprise to us that our beloved brother Francis of Rome opens his encyclical, which is being released today in the New Synod Hall of the Vatican, with a reference to God’s creation as ‘our common home.’
“Nor again did it come as a surprise to us that Pope Francis underlined the ecumenical dimension of creation care — the term ‘ecumenism’ also shares the same etymological origin as the words, ‘ecology’ and ‘economy.’
“The truth is that, above any doctrinal differences that may characterize the various Christian confessions and beyond any religious disagreements that may separate the various faith communities, the earth unites us in a unique and extraordinary manner. All of us ultimately share the earth beneath our feet and breathe the same air of our planet’s atmosphere. Even if we do not enjoy the world’s resources fairly or justly, nevertheless, all of us are responsible for its protection and preservation.
“This is precisely why today’s papal encyclical speaks of the need for ‘a new dialogue,’ ‘a process of education,’ and ‘urgent action.’ ”
Urgent action is indeed needed. As the stories in this series for the Season of Creation point out, sadly, the resources of our common home, our flora and fauna, the air we breathe and the water we drink, are increasingly seen as objects to exploit, control, deny and destroy in this zero-sum total culture that has now taken hold of our world and our people — from the West Bank to Gaza, Ukraine to Ethiopia, Lebanon to India.
+ Kyrie Eleison +
Even as governments roll back policies designed to safeguard our common home, and our militaries poison our lands all in the pursuit and power and dominion, “all is not lost,” Pope Francis reminds us. “Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning.
“We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. “I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us.”
Amen.