Laudato Si 96-100: 'Contemplating his gaze on the world', by Brother Dan

 Today's entry focuses on this final section of Chapter two, which quite honestly borders on the mystical. I kind of prayed with it in a dream like state this morning, but I feel that these paragraphs lent themselves very fruitfully to a more contemplative frame of mind.

It begins with this idea that through scripture, we can reflect on the way Jesus would have gazed at the world. To help us reflect on this, Pope Francis turns to scripture rather beautifully, quoting Gospel passages 10 times( and other New testament sources 3 times)in this section. This may seem like overkill and it certainly would not be the first time a papal document was accused of being a little excessive with the use of bible quotations that are sometimes taken out of context just for the sake of 'quoting the source'.

However, I feel the verses are there not only to help us reflect upon Jesus' loving gaze, but also deepen our understanding of his world view. Francis reminds how important it was for Jesus that those following him recognize that paternal relationship God has with all God's creatures. (96) One of the passages he uses to illustrate this is from Luke 12:6 which invites us look at creation in order to understand how God has indeed carefully provided for the survival of all creatures, each one which is deeply valued and cherished by God.

Inspired by the gaze of Jesus, we're asked to go a little deeper in our understanding of God at work in creation, to focus less on the pragmatic 'look at how God cares for us', and enter the more contemplative state of fondness and wonder where we 'marvel at how much love and beauty is expressed in each individual species'. In fact, Francis believes this is of great importance in Jesus' teaching, as it was an invitation to 'be attentive to all the beauty of God expressed so eloquently in nature (97).

                The beauty of the divine expressed in sacred new life every day at Ignatius Jesuit Center, Guelph
 (photo: Susan Sprague)

We don't often think of Jesus being 'in harmony' with creation, but think back to all the various food, grain, harvest, farmer, shepherd, and other imagery in his teachings that point to this clear relationship between us and creation. Look at those moments when Jesus was so connected to creation, he seemed to control it: “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Mt 8:27). 
Think back to how Jesus was fully engaged in his experience of humanity, that unlike John the Baptist, he would not live the ascetic life denying himself all human pleasures in the world ( Mt 11:19) but would fully share with his friends, disciples, and all of us many profound joys of the human experience... an idea phrased so eloquently in the prologue of John's Gospel that captures the essence of our belief that the destiny of all creation is bound up with the mystery of Christ, creatively present from the beginning as the as the Divine Word (Logos), but also fully incarnate in the human story (the word became flesh) . (99) (Jn 1:14). But there is one other piece of this mystery that Francis names so concisely: the mystery of Christ is at work in a hidden manner in the natural world as a whole, without thereby impinging on its autonomy. (99)

This is humbling to me, because it reminds me that God created beauty, and shared it with us but doesn't allow it to affect how we live our freedom and autonomy;Christ partook in that beauty and continues to express himself through it (a simplistic expression of the controversial theology of the Cosmic Christ that even some Jesuits find theologically lacking, but that I find is so instrumental to helping us enter deeper in union with the idea of the trinity at work in creation!) but we are free to ignore Christ's expression in the cosmos; And the Holy Spirit nudges us to engage with the mystery, to contemplate the way Christ would have gazed upon the world, and upon us as individuals and leading us towards a renewal of love and hope in our world, a renewal we're very free to walk away from if we so chose. Like I said. Humbling...especially when we think back to all the moments when we did walk away from it in our collective history.

Thankfully, With the trinity's help, we can indeed understand more and more how the entire New Testament reveals to us facets of that mystery, that interaction between the divine and the world, everyday. And the more we get caught up in this interaction, in this story, the more we can start thinking about being directed toward 'the fullness (of our humanity) as our end' as our purpose as daughters and sons of God, and sisters and brothers of Christ, and of all creation. A tall order to live up to, but not so daunting when we're reminded again and again that God's gaze is upon us, and his strength always available to us!

Laudato si 93-95: The Art of Sharing.

The Vatican sharing it's space to project a Laudato Si inspired light show  last year!
Would you believe, many found this sacrilegious!!

                                        


 After having been blessed by  an overabundance of collaborators on our blog for the past few weeks, I will take over the next 3 entries before a new roster of Summer bloggers comes your way! I'm actually quite privileged to be engaging in this shorter entry, which connects very directly with an idea Francis will explore in Chapter 4:  The need to focus on an ecology that " incorporates a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged" (93). This is to me, one of the core ideas of  the Catholic Church's social teaching that reminds us  that there is not one single issue or cause can really deserves our entire attention. As we were reminded in the last entry, everything is interconnected. Therefore, the way we address various issues needs to be connected as well.  In other words, in caring for the earth, we should care for all creatures and people who dwell on earth, not just focus on caring for nature; In calling ourselves pro life, we should protest any issue that is an affront to life, not just abortion; Neither our concept of injustice, nor our understanding of who is marginalized can ever be limited, as we continue to deepen our care for all of creation.

Francis uses the words of St John Paul II  to remind us that there's another dimension to this idea:"God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favoring anyone".(93) So while many of Francis' critics have accused him of being a  socialist because of the way he has emphasized this idea that  we should go out of our way to care for others, it seems that within 'natural law', within God's original designs for humanity, the sense of sharing, and equality was quite strong. The hording, unbalance, and injustice created by generations of our power hungry and self serving ancestors for whom sharing wealth with others was contrary to whatever 'ideology' that governed their inner being, continues to haunt us today in many shape and form. 

It is so prevalent in our western society that many people of good will easily get discouraged that this brokenness within our world will ever be healed, that these bad habits we've been developing for millenniums will only deepen. This particular generation is certainly seeing the worse in humanity when 'Twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive.” (94) Francis doesn't just throw these quotes in to shock us...he is reminding us that our care for creation and for each other has become crucial, because our neglect of it has caused tremendous damage that many fear may be irreparable.


 Meanwhile, there is a certain sacred rhythm in creation, where goods are quite easily  shared, given, and taken equally by all creatures that on earth do dwell (hopefully, this is the first and last time I make reference to a CBW hymn on this site!!). St Francis certainly referred to how much we were a part of this in his prayers to our Brothers, Sisters in creation, reminding us, as the Psalms and other scriptures did, that we continue to depend on the wealth produced by creation.  As Pope Francis stated in the beginning of Laudato Si, Nothing in this world is indifferent to us (2). So he uses all these shocking quotes to remind us why it is exactly that  we can't be indifferent to this world. Let us reflect how we can carry that message in our prayers and in our lives this week, and try to see how it is that we can be a little less indifferent to creation and to those around us.

Laudato si 89-92: Gratitude is the Path to A Universal Communion

"It follows that our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings." (Laudato Si 92)

This is a section that is so crucial for Christians to read, but it's also a section in which Francis holds no punches. The language is powerful, perhaps hard to read, but incredibly meaningful and pertinent to how we proceed with regards to our relationship to creation. To help us reflect on it, a man who is a dear friend and a son of Ignatius who has chosen a different path in life but will always remain close to Ignatian Spirituality (he can certainly speak more eleoquently about it than I ever could!) and has much wisdom to offer, Santiago Rodriguez (Santi). Enjoy Reading, and being challenged! - Br. Dan

Santiago is a husband and father. He is the Youth Minister at Historic Christ Church in Alexandria, VA. Through a background in Ignatian spirituality, he specializes in the relationship between social media and prayer. When he is not geeking out about spirituality, politics, or sports, Santiago enjoys hiking with his family or watching stand up comedy. You can follow Santiago on Twitter, @sayochia, or Instagram, @owlourhearts.

Santi in communion with the mountains in Banff, Alberta

Let men, who cannot be brothers to themselves, be brothers to mulleins and daisies that have learned to live on the earth... let them know that the foxes and the owls are joyous in their lives. - Wendell Berry

As a Jesuit novice, I made the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola – a 
30-day silent retreat to contemplate and be transformed by the life of Christ.
During the Second Week of the Exercises, my novice master invited me to
 meditate on my call to be a Jesuit. To discern my unique way to follow Christ, I left my cozy room in the  retreat house and spent two days in a sparsely furnished shack serving

as a hermitage. The small cabin had all I needed: a squeaky bed, a dusty reading chair, a wood stove, and the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. This shack afforded me the seclusion I craved to pray alone in the presence of God. On my final morning in the hermitage,
I rose early to build a fire. The fiery stove served three purposes: warmth for the cabin, flames to contemplate, and heat to make coffee. The coffee brewed. The sun rose. I sat looking out the window to take it all in. As dawn light flooded the room, the birds began to sing. Suddenly, I felt grateful for this moment of solitude with God. Gratitude led to joy. In that moment, I experienced a communion with God I had never known before. I looked around me and everything
proclaimed the glory of God. The black oaks and the white cedars seemed to shout, “God is here.” The birds in their singing praised God. The sun greeted the day and the sky praised God with a colorful shroud. Even the stones embraced the road and yelled 'Hosannas'.

This sense of interdependence and connection is what Pope Francis conveys in Laudato Si when speaks of our spirit of brotherhood with all living beings and inanimate things. “This is the basis of our conviction that, as part of the universe, called into being by one Father, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect” (LS 89).
 This all-inclusive connection – our universal communion with all of God's creation – is borne out of a deep sense of gratitude for the gift of creation. If you’ve ever felt a bond with someone or something – your beloved or your child, a trail in the woods, a pet, a
mighty river, a beautiful place – then you’ve experienced the deeply connected nature of who we are. We are all God's creatures. This experience leads us to awe and thanksgiving. Awe for the beauty of God's creation. Gratitude for our connection with that creation.

Nature's interconnectedness capture by Santi

 Awe and gratitude are at the heart of
the final contemplation during the Spiritual Exercises – the Contemplatio ad Amorem. The Contemplation to Gain Love is not an exercise to attain the love of God, but to help us love God more deeply. For St. Ignatius, gratitude is the first step in the spiritual journey, and it is quintessential in our path to love – and to a universal communion with all creation.The Contemplatio invites us “to recall to mind the blessings of
creation and redemption, and all other particular gifts” we have received (Sp. Ex. 234), “to reflect how God dwells in all creatures” (Sp. Ex 235), “to consider how God works and labours for me in all creatures upon the face of the earth” (Sp. Ex. 236), and “to consider all blessings and gifts as descending from above” (Sp. Ex. 237). Our contemplation of God's love for us leads us to greater love for him – and for all his creatures. This begins with gratitude for the way God dwells and labours in all creation. Gratitude for the way God warms the earth with the sun, how he pours rain on the fields, and makes the ground put forth grass. For how God guides the bear with its cubs, and provides the raven its prey.For the way he gives the horse its might and clothes its neck with a mane. For how God gives wisdom to the eagle to fly and to the trout to swim. Gratitude with God for 'clothing' the lilies of the field and giving roses their splendour. Thankfulness for technicolour maple trees and cherry trees in bloom.^[1]

When we give thanks for the way God dwells and labours in all creation, we are healed and transformed. We are restored to the ancient biblical understanding that the earth is holy. All of God's creatures are holy. The whole created world is lit up with the power and presence of God. As Gerald Manley Hopkins, the great Jesuit poet, would put it, the world is charged with the grandeur of God.Our contemplation of the grandeur of God leads us to gratitude. Gratitude leads us to generosity, joy and greater communion with the world around us. A universal communion helps us develop a more holistic understanding of God's creation – avoiding destructive dualisms (humanity vs. nature). The entire world is a gift of God and the human being is part of God's creation. We are all creatures of God.

A universal communion is a bond with all of God's creation and the understanding that everything is related. “We human beings are united as brothers
and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth” (LS 92).

---

^[1] A paraphrase of God's Answer to Job in Job 39.

Laudato Si 84-88: Connecting with Our Sacred Space

This evening's entry comes to us from a Reginan,  a dear friend with a wonderful writing ability, Sarah Hanna. In this section, Sarah tackles this  short but  important idea:  Exploring  the message each of us created beings carry within us in harmony with one another (or if you prefer, deepening our sense of  interconnectedness  and Harmony with all creation.)


Sarah is the Engaged Learning Coordinator at Campion College at the University of Regina.  This is just title, but she is also engaged to be married.  In school she studied anthropology and wrote her master's thesis about the Society of Jesus, so she likes to think of herself as a Jesuit-ologist.  She dreams of one day being in the top ten Google results for her own name, but for now you can find her at sarahhanna.ca.


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Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God. The history of our friendship with God is always linked to particular places which take on an intensely personal meaning; we all remember places, and revisiting those memories does us much good. Anyone who has grown up in the hills or used to sit by the spring to drink, or played outdoors in the neighbourhood square; going back to these places is a chance to recover something of their true selves. (Laudato Si, 84)

One of my many sacred spaces

                                                     


As I write this, there is an apple tree blooming in my backyard.  This afternoon, I sat in my garden, with the bees buzzing peacefully and the soft breeze blowing the heavenly scent of apple blossoms, I surely felt the caress of God. 

And yet, I have also stood at a bus stop in cold deep enough to take the breath away, with the howling wind bringing tears to my eyes.  God must surely get the blame for a Saskatchewan winter if He is to take credit for fresh spring afternoons? 

In this passage, Pope Francis seems to draw our attention to the sacredness of the world not merely in the moments or places when God's presence feels warm and abundant, but in the world as a complete system, in which humans, like other creatures, have their right place.

The Pope has taken criticism for presuming to weigh in on the question of climate change, by some who have felt that it is not the place of a religious and spiritual leader to address matters deemed to be the proper purview of scientists.  On the point of the interconnectedness of living things, scientific insight may lead directly to spiritual reflection.  The earth can be understood as a vast network of systems of energy and matter, in endlessly complex relationships – anyone who remembers trying to puzzle out the nitrogen cycle in biology class has scratched the surface of this idea.  It follows then, that care for the earth entails not only gratitude and care for my garden, but for my neighbour's garden, and indeed for the seemingly empty tundras and deserts that have no hold on my heart at all.

 As I read this section of Laudato Si', I thought about the places that have become sacred to me -  the bike path I used to ride along with my Father, the stretch of prairie road where my best friend and I would go to storm-watch or stargaze – places where I came to know people who love me.  I was struck by broad view this passage seems to suggest: the earth itself, in its fullness is one of these precious sites, because it is the place where we have come to know God.

Laudato Si 80--83: Our journey to the fullness of Christ.

In a world where power is measured by wealth and beauty...
Thank God we have Francis to remind us that the fullness
of God's beauty  is found in the broken and humble of our world.

Today I continue the reflection that was initiated by Lauren on section 3 of chapter 2, a section entitled 'The mystery of the Universe.' As  we read from her entry, part of this mystery is that we're drawn by our faith to question how we relate to all of creation. It can be a difficult question to address, one that could paint a rather grim picture of the ways in which we've related to creation so far in human history: While many people understand that we are stewards of God's creation and respond to that invitation with deep authentic care, many others have limited their interpretation of that responsibility by seeing it as an an opportunity to express our power and domination over the created world. This has given rise to (as we saw in Lauren's entry) what Pope Francis calls 'the modern myth of unlimited material progress'(78).This myth has been the source of a brokenness in the way we do relate to creation.

It's been perpetuated even more by people who believe that God does not interfere with our own autonomy for one specific reason: She/He gives us the freedom to chose the path we want to chose. This allows people to act without really having to deal that nuisance of a conscience which asks us to consider how our actions reflect (or don't reflect) our faith, or our relationship with the divine or with other aspects of creation. This type of behavior reflects another modern vision (or myth) that Pope Francis mentions has been rather dominant in our world: "Might is Right" or another variation of it 'the Winner takes all'. This is a 'philosophy' that has been a burden upon our whole world by engendering 'immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority of humanity, since resources end up in the hands of the first comer or the most powerful.'(82)

 When faced with this reality, it's easy for even the greatest of  activists with the biggest heart to lose hope as we confront the mess created by these false myths so many in our world still cling to.Ever the champion of hope, Francis reminds us that ' The Spirit of God has filled the universe with possibilities and therefore, from the very heart of things, something new (and something good) can always emerge'. (80) From the heart of things, means everything, even the more discouraging situations, even the most stubborn of people.

Scripture certainly becomes a source of that hope for us as well, when we remember that " in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ( Col 1:16-17). Hundreds of other passages could be quoted to remind us of the importance of connecting with the Spirit of God at work all around us. The point of this is to remember that with all the richness and beauty we see in this world, with all the gifts and talents we see in others, we CAN NOT ever treat anyone, or any aspect of creation as 'object',(82) but only as something/someone that is co-created in the same spirit of love and dignity as we are. That,in the end, we all share the same journey and destiny: To find within us and all around us, the fullness of Christ (83)  and to relate to it accordingly. In other words, to remember that we are all journeying to finding the fullness of God together. Separately, according to our own talents and abilities (1 Cor 12) but always remembering how united we are in this journey. Our sense of unity will play an integral part in our efforts to restore right relations with creation, as we collectively start moving away from the rampant individualism of our age, and towards a more holistic, more spirit centered experience of all creation as gifts that are meant to be cherished and celebrated every day.

Have a blessed weekend, and may your path to discovering
the fullness of God in your life be fruitful!

Brother Dan

Laudato Si 76-79: Creation – God’s Handiwork

On this beautiful Monday morning in which the Universe seems to be alive with joy around the Ascension of our Lord, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, a beautiful contribution from a Regis College friend of mine, one of the infamous 'Theo-buds' ( some people at Regis still refer to us as such  apparently!), a women with a big heart and a creative mind, Lauren van Vliet. She picks up where Robin and I left off in Chapter 2 of this great document.  Where as we were following  the role of scripture in how we understand ethics and creation,  Lauren now takes us through a new section that will look at God’s own Word for the foundation of ethics and creation. More specifically, we’re looking at God's  handiwork: the universe.  I will be joining her in reflecting on this later this week

- Brother Dan and Lauren

  

About Lauren:

Born and raised in Prince Edward Island, Lauren has made it her mission to explore this country from coast to coast to coast. She has a Master of Divinity from Regis College (Toronto). She is now working as the Youth Ministry Coordinator at a dynamic, young Catholic parish in Regina, SK. Living in diverse areas of Canada, from the salty shores of PEI, to the bustling downtown core of Toronto, to the wide open prairies, has given Lauren an appreciation for the beauty of nature however it manifests itself. When she’s not travelling, you can probably find Lauren writing, reading, or coming up with more shenanigans for her the kids and youth to whom she ministers.

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What does creation tell us about God?

Pope Francis begins the section by reminding us that creation is more than just a system that we can study and control, it is a gift from the Father (76) that was intentionally created (77). There was thought and order put into the act of creating; it did not materialize out of chaos, or merely by chance – it was an act of God’s love moving all things into being (77). This means, as we are reminded, “Even the fleeting life of the least of beings is the object of the Father’s tenderness…” (77).

Let’s just stop and appreciate the magnitude of what the Holy Father is saying here. God loves EVERYTHING He has created. Everything from the most annoying insects, to the poisonous plants, to the multitude of people. And, based on the above, all of these acts of creation were intentional on God’s part. We can’t say: ‘Mosquitoes must have been a mistake’, or any other plant, animal, or person. They were all created through love and an intentional decision.

This isn’t the first time we are reminded of God’s love for His creation. Jesus reminds his disciples, and us, that if God clothed the fields with lilies (which Jesus points out don’t have a long lifespan), then God will also take care of us (Matthew 6:25-34). To put this in context, Jesus is explaining why the disciples don’t need to worry about their material and physical well-being, namely that God will provide for them. Providing for the needs of creation is one way God shows His love for creation. We, as a materialistic culture that arguably controls the bulk of the world’s wealth, must be careful not to misconstrue this teaching to suggest that we are loved more, or that God provides for us differently. Because we are all created in love, we are part of a universal communion (LS 76), and God provides for all the members of that communion.

But, God does more than provide for creation, he has tasked humanity with caring for nature by providing them with the gifts and skills necessary to study and understand it. Pope Francis reminds us that we “…have the duty to cultivate [our] abilities, in order to protect [creation] and develop its potential” (77).  In remaining true with the mission of LS, Francis does not just discuss the potential in creation, but its limits and fragility as well. (78) Knowing those limits are in fact part of our efforts to  learn more about nature,  and this will enable us to care for it, as we learn to relate to both its limits and its potential. However, the one thing that will have to change is that we must finally acknowledge that unlimited material progress is impossible, precisely because both humanity and nature are limited (78). Rather than seeing this as a bad thing, Pope Francis sees this is as a way to challenge us to creatively find ways to reach our potential and use our abilities, while limiting the power we exercise as individuals (78).

Limiting our individual power may seem contrary to ideals of our society: wealth, popularity, influence, possessing material goods. But THESE are precisely the things which must be limited. Achieving these things, will not bring us the fulfillment. This  can only come from God. When we are in communion with God, we can see the beauty of creation, and begin to see the webs of relationships that make it up. More importantly, as we more deeply appreciate the beauty and our place in it, and live within the limits, we can enter more deeply into the beauty and relationships by appreciating how both improve our lives.

But so often our materialism sees nature and people as resources to be used; things that can help us now, and then tossed away and forgotten. Treating creation in this way is a refusal to acknowledge the love and intention that went into every act of creation. To put is simply, this is rude. This is like throwing a beautiful gift in the garbage in front of the person who gave it to you, which damages the relationship between you. In much the same way, using and abusing creation damages our relationship with God. It slowly erodes our ability to see His presence in creation and how He working in our lives. Instead, we need to value creation, even the parts that we find annoying or challenging, not only because God created it, but because creation is beautiful, and it can teach us about both God and ourselves. All of this richness is a mystery waiting to be probed further.

Laudato Si 71-75: A labor of love

Following in the steps of Robin and his wonderful entry, today I will continue the reflection on this second part of chapter 2 of Laudato Si that explores how the wisdom sacred scripture can affect our collective ecological reflection. One of the points of this section, is to give us the spiritual tools to help us develop a new 'ecological ethics'. This idea is one that Francis certainly alludes to a lot, but a it's a term he  only uses once in the entire document (paragraph 210.) As we've noticed before about this pope, what is important to him is not just the ideas we formulate in our efforts to live an ecological conversion, but the actions those ideas may inspire. This is reflected in this chapter where he reminds us that  'the light offered by faith' goes far beyond simply embracing the inherent value of all creation: It calls on us to act in ways that reflect the sanctity of all God's creatures, and that recognize, as Robin boldly stated at the end of his entry " that the dignity of every creature is unimpeachable."

It's a powerful message scattered throughout Laudato Si, but one that is counterbalanced with a humbling realization that many Christians don't see things that way. As the Franciscan friar and Youtube commentator,  Father Dan Horan explains in his series on LS, and as Pope Francis emphasizes time and time again in this document, many Christians will relate to creation from a paradigm of dominion, and even domination. People who do so would argue 'Genesis 1:28 does after all say that God wants us to subdue the earth". While I'm sure there are theological responses to this point, what strikes me the most is how sad it is that THIS WORD is what some people of faith latch onto, and not the rest of sacred scripture that invites us to celebrate, and commune with God's divine presence in creation. It's heart breaking to see how far removed we have become from God's original design of harmony in creation, but it seems we've been down this path before, as illustrated by many biblical accounts of the ways people have strayed from God’s plan.

However, even when we stray, God has always left the door open for new beginnings. Pope Francis understands this as an opportunity to become more aware of depth of the bond that exists between all creatures on earth. The closest thing to this idea in scripture is the celebration of the year of Jubilee mentioned in Leviticus. "This law  (that) came about as an attempt to ensure balance and fairness in (people's) relationships with others and with the land on which they lived and worked. At the same time, it was an acknowledgment that the gift of the earth with its fruits belongs to everyone."(71) “When you reap the harvest of your land... you shall leave  (the harvest)for the poor and for the sojourner” (Lev 19:9-10).

liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants” (cf. Lev25:10)

The idea of a jubilee year is powerful, because it's so counter cultural to our human endeavors, yet so close to the dream of harmonious living with all creation that God continues to have for us. Unfortunately, despite all the good we are capable of in the world,on the global scale, we couldn't be further removed from God’s dream for us. This notion of 'restoring a sense of balance and fairness to society' doesn't seem to fit in our world that focuses more on individual rights than on working for the greater good. Even if the idea may be enticing to some, too many people in our secular society are convinced that God can not exist in a world where so much evil occurs, and so the idea of a communion with God in creation and with others is lost to many.

And yet, we have these prophetic figures throughout history, and even in our times that constantly invite us to connect with this notion that God is alive in a world where people are united in care for each other and for the land. And certainly, many would subscribe to and even labor for  this noble mission even though they may not believe in God. But it's important for religious and spiritual people to remember that the source of our own labors for this juster fairer world doesn't exist in a vacuum.  Our labour truly begins when we   " find renewal and strength in times of trial by contemplating the all-powerful God who created the universe" (73).  Our sense of justice must be rooted in the power of the creative love that we believe has infused dignity and beauty in everything.

More specifically, our yearning for justice, and better relations with the earth, becomes our way of praising God, and laboring with the divine. This yearning is fruitful,but it does need a rich foundation. It needs to be rooted in a strong spirituality, one that ‘entails both welcoming divine love and adoration, confident in the Lord because of his infinite power. ' (73 ) I feel that if we're able to receive love from God and to respond to that love with adoration, soon, our adoration will become concrete acts of love and communion with others, and not just a spirituality that is lived individually. Furthermore, being more aware of that love, we become more in tune with the ways that God loves, and  'strengthens the powerless' in our world(Isaiah 40:29). Becoming more aware of this, perhaps we also become stronger in our efforts to bring ecological and social justice in our world. Indeed, once we remember that God is with us in this labor, as "the (One) who created the universe out of nothing… who  can also intervene in this world and overcome every form of evil" (74) how can we not be strengthened in our desire to act out of  faith, hope and love!?

Laudato Si paragraphs 65-70: "An unimpeachably treasured creation"

  A few firsts this Monday evening: Our first collaborator since this blog has been revived, and certainly our first Lutheran blogger!  Robin Lutjohann will help us explore this exciting passage of Laudato si that looks at  our relation to creation, and our quest for a stronger ecological ethics, rooted in deep respect for human dignity, a respect grounded in the wisdom of  sacred scripture, especially the Torah (though as Robin mentions, Francis will eventually look at our call to be more in communion with creation through the whole TaNaKh ( what Christians call the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is an Acronym built on the first 3 letters of the principle divisions of sacred scripture: Torah (teaching) Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")).

Robin is the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge, MA. He is a dual
German/American citizen, who received his education for ordained ministry at McGill University in
Montreal, Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH.
Baptized as an adult in Boston’s Charles River, he feels closely tied to the ecological and political life of this city. As a Lutheran, he understands himself as standing in a historical reform movement within the Western Catholic Church.

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In  this section of Laudato Si, Pope Francis introduces the biblical foundations for ecological ethics. Later, he will move on to the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament. But in this initial section  he deals primarily with the Torah, the five books of Moses.

Appropriately enough, he begins at the beginning: He cites Genesis 1:26, the creation of human beings in the image of God, and argues that this story makes it impossible to deny the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. In doing so, he stands in the lineage of his predecessor Pope John Paul II’s passionate defense of human rights as a God-given and biblical founded non-negotiable. In fact, he quotes him: “Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”

This point resonates deeply with me, not only as a Christian but also as a German. My grandfather’s
generation is responsible for perhaps the worst crime in human history, the Holocaust. By their
participation or silence, millions were denied their God-given dignity, humiliated, dispossessed, and
systematically annihilated.It is important to remember, however, that the Nazis did not begin implementing the death camps right away. They started more slowly, chipping away gradually at the conviction of human dignity. First, they targeted society’s vulnerable, forcing the sterilization and then euthanasia of people with physical or mental disabilities. Hitler’s National Socialist government justified these successively escalating actions by making the argument that “non-productive” members of society were a drag on its resources and a blemish on the purity of the race. In other words, they were disposable. Quickly, the circle of “disposable” humans widened to include anyone who did not fit into the Nazi vision of society: Communists, members of the LGBT community, religious minorities like Jehovah’s Witnesses, and of course ethnic minorities, like Jews and Roma. But at the root of this slaughter was the denial of the conviction that human dignity was basic and given, no matter a person’s background, conduct, or life. Germany’s history stands as a warning to all of us. Curtailing human dignity in any way opens the floodgates of human evil. That is why the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany today begins with a brilliant, short, foundational statement: “The dignity of humanity is unimpeachable.” That is why the Bible begins with the affirmation of the divine image in human nature. And that is why Pope Francis begins his exposition on ecological ethics with the same sentiment.

But Francis builds on this ethical foundation of the Jewish Torah and the harrowing experiences of the twentieth century and takes the moral challenge to humanity one step further. Not only does the Bible insist on the inherent worth of every human being, nonhuman creatures are guaranteed rights as well! And like human rights, these are inherent and unconditional. This is not a novel concept, of course, not even in traditional Catholic doctrine. Francis quotes none other than the Catechism of the Catholic Church in arguing that non-human beings have inherent dignity “by their mere existence.” He goes on: “Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness.” ( LS 69)

The genius of the Pope’s argumentation here is not the novelty of its individual parts but rather the
juxtaposition of human and non-human dignity. He presents them as intertwined and inseparable. And so he moves swiftly from the story about humans made in the divine image (Gen 1:26) to the command to “till and keep” the Earth (Gen 2:15) to the Torah’s ethical injunctions against abusing animals (Deut22:4,6) and giving appropriate rest (Sabbath!) to the fields, just as to humans and animals (Ex 23:12).

It seems to me that the rhetorical strategy behind this section in Laudato Si’ is to convince those who
are already committed to human rights to expand their ideals in keeping with the earth-bound ethics ofthe Torah. Or, as Francis phrases it: “Clearly, the Bible has no place for tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures.”(LS 68)

With these words, Pope Francis moves decisively away from presentations of the Christian Gospel that focus exclusively on the well being and life of humans but regard non-human creatures are disposable resources to be exploited and ransacked for the sake of human convenience. Since the Age of Industrialization, Christians have misquoted the line in Genesis 1:28 about humans having “dominion”over the Earth as a justification for irresponsible stewardship. By speaking of human and nonhuman dignity and rights in the same breath, Francis makes an end to this historic distortion and positions the official teaching of the Catholic Church against it. That is to say: If you say you care about human beings, you must care about the planet as well. And if you are fighting for human rights, you have to fight for the rights of nonhuman creatures as well.


                                           
                                         

         A great summary of this document, no matter

 what your views on climate change are!!

Scientific evidence and economic research support this stance. We know that the world’s poorest
people will be disproportionately affected by climate change. They are the first to suffer, both because of geographical factors and because their inability to defend themselves against drought, adverse weather conditions, and other factors is much less developed than, say, coastal cities in the United States.Likewise, we know that the reduction of biodiversity and the poisoning of water resources make human life more difficult to sustain. We will either stand or fall together, human and nonhumans united in death and in salvation.

But even if such evidence were not overwhelmingly convincing, Pope Francis makes it crystal clear that the Bible’s own ancient witness already makes the same point. So, take it from the inherited historical experience of this German: We cannot afford to open the flood gates again. We are called by God and by common sense to learn from our forebears once more that the dignity of every creature is unimpeachable.

R.L