Care for our common home has become urgent yet remains controversial
2015 – LAUDATO SI’
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
Colossians 1:15-16
“Laudato Si’ is viewed as a green encyclical, but I would say that, first of all, it is a social encyclical. A real option for the poor is too also an option for creation. We are called to become more aware that the defense of creation is, in the end, awareness that everything is going to be made anew. It is the promise of Scripture, in the book of Revelation, when the Lord tells us, ‘I make all things new.’”
Pope Francis: The Strength of a Vocation, 2018. Extract from Provincial Assembly Document
“The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face. The ideal is to pass not only from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things”
Laudato Si’, §233
Prayer
Son of God, Jesus, through you all things were made. You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother, you became part of this Earth, and you gazed upon this world with human eyes. Help us to see the wonders of Creation through Your eyes and to enable all that is living to flourish, in imitation of You.
Amen.
(Adapted from A Christian Prayer in Union With Creation based on Pope Francis’ A Prayer For Our Earth; Catholic Climate Covenant)
“The Earth is indeed a precious gift of the Creator who, in designing its intrinsic order, has given us guidelines that assist us as stewards of his creation. Precisely from within this framework, the Church considers that matters concerning the environment and its protection are intimately linked with integral human development. (…) How important it is then, that the international community and individual governments send the right signals to their citizens and succeed in countering harmful ways of treating the environment!”
Statement of Pope Benedict XVI to UN Summit on Climate Change, 2009
