A great deal of attention is developing around the theme of global warming or, sometimes, described as our climate crisis. I know many people do not see it as a crisis and, likely, don’t like the crisis language. It is an easy topic for cynicism or even dismissal, because to the normal person, the evidence seems flimsy. When winter rolls around and snow begins to fall, I hear the cynical remarks which snarl, “Where’s global warming when ya need it!” When it is twenty degrees outside and the north wind howls, it is a tough sell. But I trust the scientific community and there is near-consensus that our earth is in peril.
Personally, I feel the attraction of cynicism. I am old enough to be quite confident that global warming won’t get me! The end of planet earth is surely not coming this calendar year. Because it seemingly happens slowly, it is easy to delay or deny. No doubt, I will be dead before there is much of a price to pay. But I am not willing to head down that cynical path.
Again the reason I don’t want to go there is personal. It is personal because of grandkids and all their friends. I feel responsible for those unborn kids that my grandkids may bring into the world. And even if they don’t have kids, all their friends and the rest of the folks on the planet will keep having kids. Nobody wants to hand them a crappy world. And yet, that’s apparently what we’re doing.
As I think about this, my mind goes back to the encyclical Pope Francis gave the world in the spring of 2015. It is the kind of document I assume most Catholics do not read. And of course, most Protestants and all the interfaith religious adherents around the world may not even know was written. I know the Pope hoped it might be read and heeded. It is meant for all of us---people of all faiths and no faith. I thought it might be good to go back to the document to be inspired again by this forward-looking church leader. It can be again a starting point for some discussion and action.
The title of the encyclical (Laudato Si in Latin) is a straight borrowing from the Pope’s namesake, Francis of Assisi. The Pope makes it clear in his opening line. “Praise be to you, my Lord.’ In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.” (1) Even if we don’t know much about saints in the Catholic Church, we might know about Saint Francis and know that he is the nature saint or really liked animals. And so he did.
But Saint Francis didn’t just think about becoming a nature saint and Pope Francis isn’t “into Francis” because he, too, is a nature guy or also likes animals. Maybe he does, but it goes deeper than that. Both men named Francis---the Saint and the Pope---see the earth and the rest of the universe, for that matter, as theological issues. They matter because there is a God and their God they understand to be the Creator. Furthermore, they are sure God intended earth to be---or become---a paradise, not a pollution zone.
I urge us to notice the imagery that Saint Francis uses to describe our earth. The earth is like our sister. With this deft move, Francis has used a personal image to describe this wondrous globe on which we all live. It is our sister---our sister with whom we share life. That means we share a relationship with our earth. Sometimes this is hard to fathom when we spend our entire life in cars, on pavement, in buildings where the temperature is climatically controlled. So many have created their own paradises inside---inside homes, office buildings, amusement parks, etc. We call it reality, but often there seems to be very little real left in our lives.
Saint Francis makes another metaphorical move. He compares the earth to our mother. Now he gets really personal. She is our mother who opens her arms to embrace us. I almost laugh out loud. If the earth is our mother, then we the kids have certainly been misbehaving! We pay her no respect. We may treasure little parts of nature and call them “parks and nature preserves,” but otherwise we have no hesitancy to trash instead of treasure. Perhaps a fitting metaphor for modern culture is the trash truck hauling away our trash and garbage to the dump. And of course, we will dump it in the area which is out of sight and nearest the poorest in our little worlds.
In effect, climate crisis or global warming is a consequence of treating our family---our sister and mother---badly. But we don’t see it that way. It may be that most of us don’t really have a personal relationship with nature. “She” has become “it.” Most of us de-personalize nature by talking about “it.” It is inanimate, that is, no spirit. It does not really live. You can abuse people, but not “its.”
Very quickly, the Pope gets provocative. “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.” (2) The Pope’s intent and words are not meant to bash us. He does want to raise our awareness. I applaud that. With raised awareness then, the Pope says “I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.” (3)
I am ready to talk about our common home…hope you are, too.
Personally, I feel the attraction of cynicism. I am old enough to be quite confident that global warming won’t get me! The end of planet earth is surely not coming this calendar year. Because it seemingly happens slowly, it is easy to delay or deny. No doubt, I will be dead before there is much of a price to pay. But I am not willing to head down that cynical path.
Again the reason I don’t want to go there is personal. It is personal because of grandkids and all their friends. I feel responsible for those unborn kids that my grandkids may bring into the world. And even if they don’t have kids, all their friends and the rest of the folks on the planet will keep having kids. Nobody wants to hand them a crappy world. And yet, that’s apparently what we’re doing.
As I think about this, my mind goes back to the encyclical Pope Francis gave the world in the spring of 2015. It is the kind of document I assume most Catholics do not read. And of course, most Protestants and all the interfaith religious adherents around the world may not even know was written. I know the Pope hoped it might be read and heeded. It is meant for all of us---people of all faiths and no faith. I thought it might be good to go back to the document to be inspired again by this forward-looking church leader. It can be again a starting point for some discussion and action.
The title of the encyclical (Laudato Si in Latin) is a straight borrowing from the Pope’s namesake, Francis of Assisi. The Pope makes it clear in his opening line. “Praise be to you, my Lord.’ In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.” (1) Even if we don’t know much about saints in the Catholic Church, we might know about Saint Francis and know that he is the nature saint or really liked animals. And so he did.
But Saint Francis didn’t just think about becoming a nature saint and Pope Francis isn’t “into Francis” because he, too, is a nature guy or also likes animals. Maybe he does, but it goes deeper than that. Both men named Francis---the Saint and the Pope---see the earth and the rest of the universe, for that matter, as theological issues. They matter because there is a God and their God they understand to be the Creator. Furthermore, they are sure God intended earth to be---or become---a paradise, not a pollution zone.
I urge us to notice the imagery that Saint Francis uses to describe our earth. The earth is like our sister. With this deft move, Francis has used a personal image to describe this wondrous globe on which we all live. It is our sister---our sister with whom we share life. That means we share a relationship with our earth. Sometimes this is hard to fathom when we spend our entire life in cars, on pavement, in buildings where the temperature is climatically controlled. So many have created their own paradises inside---inside homes, office buildings, amusement parks, etc. We call it reality, but often there seems to be very little real left in our lives.
Saint Francis makes another metaphorical move. He compares the earth to our mother. Now he gets really personal. She is our mother who opens her arms to embrace us. I almost laugh out loud. If the earth is our mother, then we the kids have certainly been misbehaving! We pay her no respect. We may treasure little parts of nature and call them “parks and nature preserves,” but otherwise we have no hesitancy to trash instead of treasure. Perhaps a fitting metaphor for modern culture is the trash truck hauling away our trash and garbage to the dump. And of course, we will dump it in the area which is out of sight and nearest the poorest in our little worlds.
In effect, climate crisis or global warming is a consequence of treating our family---our sister and mother---badly. But we don’t see it that way. It may be that most of us don’t really have a personal relationship with nature. “She” has become “it.” Most of us de-personalize nature by talking about “it.” It is inanimate, that is, no spirit. It does not really live. You can abuse people, but not “its.”
Very quickly, the Pope gets provocative. “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.” (2) The Pope’s intent and words are not meant to bash us. He does want to raise our awareness. I applaud that. With raised awareness then, the Pope says “I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.” (3)
I am ready to talk about our common home…hope you are, too.
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