15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
It is summer now, and besides a short homily, you no doubt are looking forward to sitting outside, relaxing and catching a few rays, and perhaps do some reading.
Our readings today touch on a profound theme ….
Isaiah today tells us about the life-giving rain, that comes from Heaven, that brings forth life, food, bread, that accomplishes God’s purpose. Our psalmist today sings about how God enriches the earth, blesses it’s growth, and how in response, the earth sings for joy. Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us that ALL of creation awaits freedom from bondage. And in our Gospel today, Jesus reminds us in his parable that the earth provides bountifully for us, if we but have ears to listen to what he is saying to us.
What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? What is the purpose of our life in this world? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? What need does the earth have of us?
Just over two years ago, Pope Francis issued a radical document.It is an encyclical called “Laudato Si” … the title means “Be Praised … or Praised be to You”. In it, the Pope answers those questions and calls out for a moral and spiritual transformation in our connection to the earth and it’s ecosystems.
This is not a new conclusion. Caring for creation is as old as Genesis, Caring for creation is as clear as the Sermon on the Mount, Caring for creation is as transformative as St. Francis.
Saint Pope John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI both spoke frequently and eloquently about the Christian requirement to tend the garden and protect the poorest.
10 years ago this month, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said “Our Earth speaks to us, and we must listen if we want to survive.”
Pope Francis calls us to listen to the earth.
The Pope reminds us that all life depends on clean air and water, and a stable and reliable climate. As a chemist by background and with a team of scientists and an observatory at the Vatican, the Pope is clear that climate change is the greatest threat life our Earth has ever seen. And as a priest, he stands in protection and care for his flock, 1.2 billion Catholics world-wide, and for all God’s children, especially the poorest.
Perhaps the most important new perspective of his encyclical is the relationship between
global poverty, catastrophic inequality, and worship of the golden calf of consumerism that leads to environmental destruction.
The Pope does not back down in his condemnation of worshiping gross national product over human life and health. The poor and marginal are his greatest concern, and they suffer the most from economic and environmental injustice. He is their champion and he will not rest.
It is a radical document. A challenging document. One that calls us to task for our collective behaviours of the past, One that reminds us that as believers we are called to a greater level of commitment to protect Gods creation. Yet, one that presents a message of Hope.
The letter takes us through the background on how through the burning of fossil fuels, human action is causing the Earth to warm dangerously; that this warming has already inflicted great harm and is certain to inflict catastrophe in the future, especially on poorer peoples and on future generations; that it will poison the oceans, transform lands into deserts, and lead to a tragic thinning-out of the wonderful diversity of living things.
But Pope Francis looks further and deeper.
For him the climate crisis is only the most extreme expression of a destructive tendency that has accompanied industrialism: we have ceased to regard the Earth, our common home, with awe and wonder and have come to behave as masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters,
unable to set limits to our immediate needs. Never have we hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years. Our industrial age may be remembered as the most irresponsible in human history.
Is there a core message in this document?
Well, there are many, and some will resonate deeply within you … but the only way to find out is to read the document. I mean, it is summer after all, and you no doubt are looking forward to sitting outside, relaxing and catching a few rays, and perhaps doing some reading. Why not read an encyclical?
For me, one of the most profound insights was that Everything is Connected. Early in the document, he points to St. Francis of Assisi, who shows how “inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace” He reminds us of that sense of deep communion with the natural world we inhabit. He reminds us that we can’t really grow and flourish if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings. He reminds us that our human family is disfigured by radical inequality.
Pope Francis says …‘This inequality should arouse our indignation. It rarely does.’ Ouch.
He also tells us that our consciences have been numbed. That what we are seeing is the globalization of indifference. Ouch again.
The wealthy are barely in touch with the conditions of life of the poor. One of the reasons for the environmental crisis is ‘the obscene level of consumption concentrated in the wealthy nations, and amongst the wealthy classes in both the developed and the undeveloped worlds.’
Some of the wealthy haven’t the slightest idea of what to do with all their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed advantages and leaving behind them waste that encumbers the Earth. We face an urgent crisis, when, thanks to our actions, the earth has begun to look more and more like, in Pope Francis’ vivid language, “an immense pile of filth”
Like Jesus, Pope Francis doesn’t pull any punches. He tells it like it is.
Still, the document is hopeful, reminding us that because God is with us, we can strive both individually and corporately to change course. We can awaken our hearts and move towards seeing the intimate connection between God and all beings, and more readily listen to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”. To use his own words, “All is not lost. An authentic humanity seems to dwell in the midst of the technological culture, almost unnoticed, like a mist seeping gently beneath a closed door”
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to reveal the true nature of God, of creation, and of our meaning and purpose in life. He taught in stories, in parables. And for the past two millenia, we have explored ever more deeply, ever more richly, the profound truths in those stories, and have strived to apply them in our lives.
You owe it to yourself to read Laudate Si.
But even more, you owe it to your children, your grandchildren, your neighbours, and your world to explore the teachings in this document.
Because it is summer now, and you no doubt are looking forward to sitting outside, relaxing and catching a few rays, and perhaps do some reading.
Let Laudate Si be at the top of that reading list.
You can read it below, or click here to go to the Vatican website and download a copy ….
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