LIVING LAUDATO SI’ THIS LENT

“We have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

—Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, #49 (Praised Be)

Pope Francis rightly reminds us that as human beings, we are bound up in God’s creation. The Earth, the environment—this planet on which we live—is where we work out God’s daily plan for each of us. If we fail to protect our earth, we do so at the risk of inhibiting God’s desires for us. As the pope reminds us, destroying parts of the planet quite literally destroys expressions of God.

How much more, then, are those who live in poverty faced with grave injustices? Poor and vulnerable communities aren’t just robbed of running water, breathable air or fertile soil; they’re robbed of the opportunity to meet God in creation—and to provide for themselves using the natural tools God has given each of us.

Perhaps today’s reflection will inspire a twofold action. First, to give thanks to God for the beauty of creation and the opportunity to meet God within even the tiniest, peskiest bug. And second, to assess our own lives with an eye for instances of injustice, instances where we ignore the cry of the earth and, in so doing, the cry of the poor.