Caring for our common home - Creation is a precious gift from God

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruitwith colored flowers and herbs.” St. Francis of Assisi penned these words in his Canticle of the Creatures. It is with these words thatPope Francis begins his encyclical Laudato Si’, which is Italian for “praise be to you.”
In this amazing declaration, Pope Francis uses the image of the earth as our sister who has been pillaged and damaged. This is a moving metaphor
because, if we think of any one of our family being seriously wounded, it immediately evokes anger. The emotions of sadness and anger are exactly what the Holy Father is seeking to evoke in us when we ponder the damage that has been done to our planet and, by extension, to all of us.

In Laudato Si’ the pope is not making scientific, economic or political arguments. Rather, he speaks the language of faith to explain that creation is a holy and precious gift from God to be reverenced by all men and women. He points out that the poor are usually the most affected by the damage done to our environment. Care for our common home is a moral imperative that we must take seriously not just as Catholics but also as members of the human family.

Subsidiarity is central to Catholic social teaching, and it means that decisions in society need to be made at the lowest competent level. This is to say each of bears responsibility to do what we can today in our own lives, home and neighborhood to care for our home. We must do what we can not simply because it is a good thing to do but also because our faith requires that we care for the gifts that God has given us.

With this in mind I have asked a group of faithful, who are committed to this cause, to bring Laudato Si’ into reality here in western Massachusetts. Through small but meaningful efforts we can go a long way, breathing life back into the world. We are charged by our Lord to be good stewards of all God’s creation, so let us take on this challenge, not for ourselves but for future generations.