Chapter One: Finding our place in the Universe

Again, a picture is worth a 1000 words!!!! This photo of “Mother Earth” may seem ordinary now; yet it is anything put that. This is truly awesome and is a game changer. Why you might ask?
Imagine this; it is Christmas Eve, 1968 (a difficult year) and you and three astronauts; Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, are circling the moon in Apollo 8 and you were about to get the first glimpse of the far side of the Moon. “We fired the spacecraft engine something like four minutes to slow down enough to get into lunar orbit,” says Borman. “We’re about halfway through when we looked down and there was the Moon.” Lovell: ““The Moon is essentially grey, no color; looks like plaster of Paris or sort of a grayish beach sand.” And then they saw Planet Earth rising, like a Blue Marble in the darkness of space. Anders cried out; “Oh my God, look at that picture over there! There is the Earth coming up. Wow is that pretty!” he exclaimed. “You got a colour film, Jim? Hand me a roll of colour, quick, would you?” and Borman said; “The Earth was the only thing in the entire universe that had any colour-a beautiful sight, we’re very fortunate to live on this planet.” (We know now there is colour throughout the universe, yet at that time (pre Hubble telescope 1990) all seem grey.) https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-8-in-lunar-orbit

Video
https://emergencemagazine.org/story/earthrise-film/  
This is a 30:01 video from NASA/CBS News that brought tears to my eyes. It is the story behind Apollo 8 mission and the “Blue Marble”

The Earth was not flat and there were no national boundaries. The earth is ONE, a seamless garment of radical beauty. Pope Francis said on Wednesday 22 April Earth Day 2020; The Earth “is not just our home but also God’s home”.

Full text of Pope Francis regarding Earth Day 2020
https://zenit.org/articles/pope-francis-general-audience-full-text/


Let us ask ourselves the question: would we live differently if we truly believed that Earth “is not just our home but also God’s home”. “May the Lord of Love, who hides in all creation like a spider in a web, Grant us Illumination.” (Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6:10)

Music: Missa Gia/Mass of the Universe; Paul Winters: For the Beauty of the Earth  (I know the link is long, but: copy and paste and it worked for me)
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=paul+winter+for+the+beauty+of+the+earth&view=detail&mid=F1444154740256D09762F1444154740256D09762&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dpaul%2bwinter%2bfor%2bthe%2bbeauty%2bof%2bthe%2bearth%26filters%3dufn%253a%2522paul%2bwinter%2bfor%2bthe%2bbeauty%2bof%2bthe%2bearth%2522%2bsid%253a%25220e513f05-bf1e-3e2e-1dbf-59397ebd762d%2522%2bcatguid%253a%25224a5d5734-cec2-952c-003a-6b48b8076ed5_498707c2%2522%2bsegment%253a%2522generic.carousel%2522%2bsecq%253a%2522paul%2bwinter%2bfor%2bthe%2bbeauty%2bof%2bthe%2bearth%2522%2bpsid%253a%2522dd3943ea-396c-5fba-ceb7-3a2abc3341ea%2522%2bsupwlcar%253a%25220%2522%2bsegtype%253a%2522U29uZw%253d%253d%2522%26FORM%3dSNG1CR%26crslsl%3d512%26efirst%3d5

This was all just the introduction and now I would like to respond to the questions that I posed in the first “class” hand out.

You can find Laudato Si on the Computer and download it from the Vatican Website for free or buy the book online.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf
 

• Who wrote Laudato Si, Why was it written, Who was it written to?

2. More than fifty years ago, with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear crisis, Pope Saint John XXIII wrote an Encyclical which not only rejected war but offered a proposal for peace.  He addressed his message Pacem in Terris to the “Catholic world” and indeed “to all men and women of good will”.  Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet.  In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I wrote to all the members of the Church with the aim of encouraging ongoing missionary renewal.  In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.

13. It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter, which is now added to the body of the Church’s social teaching, can help us to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face.  I will begin by briefly reviewing several aspects of the present ecological crisis, with the aim of drawing on the results the best scientific research avaiable today, letting them touch us deeply and provide a concrete foundation for the ethical and spiritual itinerary that follows.  I will then consider some principles drawn from the Judaeo-Christian tradition which can render our commitment to the environment more coherent.  I will then attempt to get to the roots of the present situation, so as to consider not only its symptoms but also its deepest causes.  This will help to provide an approach to ecology which respects our unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings.  In light of this reflection, I will advance some broader proposals for dialogue and action which would involve each of us individually no less than international policy.  Finally, convinced as I am that change is impossible without motivation and a process of education, I will offer some inspired guidelines for human development to be found in the treasure of Christian spiritual experience.

• “can help us to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face.” Pope Francis is pointing to the situation in our world that needs to be addressed/faced and it is urgent.
• “the best scientific research available today and provide a concrete foundation for the ethical and spiritual itinerary” This is important, (1936 Vatican established the “Pontifical Academy of Science”) and we ought not fear science. Like faith, science is ongoing in development-always learning always questioning.

63. If we are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damage we have done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be left out, and that includes the religious and the idiom proper to it.  The Catholic Church is open to dialogue with philosophical thought; this has enabled her to produce various syntheses between faith and reason. The development of the Church’s social teaching represents such a synthesis with regard to social issues, which is called to be enriched by taking up new challenges.

• principles drawn from the Judaeo-Christian tradition: Throughout the encyclical Pope Francis will refer to Sacred Scripture
• as to consider not only its symptoms but also its deepest causes

2. 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.  We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.  The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.  This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22).  We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

• provide an approach to ecology which respects our unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings

•  I will advance some broader proposals for dialogue and action

209. An awareness of the gravity of today’s cultural and ecological crisis must be translated into new habits.  Many people know that our current progress and the mere amassing of things and pleasures are not enough to give meaning and joy to the human heart, yet they feel unable to give up what the market sets before them.  In those countries which should be making the greatest changes in consumer habits, young people have a new ecological sensitivity and a generous spirit, and some of them are making admirable efforts to protect the environment.  At the same time, they have grown up in a milieu of extreme consumerism and affluence which makes it difficult to develop other habits.  We are faced with an educational challenge.


I hope this is addressing the Educational Challenges before us.

A lot to ponder, so I will end by sharing a video clip. Only 1:30 minutes
http://ourcommonhome.world/
Laudato Si!

3^rd Reflection: Earth Day – Laudato Si

Here is the link to the Vatican Document; Laudato Si
http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

In each of the previous reflections I started with an image or a video. In entering a video or image we give our minds and hearts a simple place to rest and go with the flow rather than over thinking the situation before us. So, as we enter into the text of Laudato Si lets allow St Francis to take us into the beauty of nature and embrace of love.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=brother+son+and+sister+moon+youtubes&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dbrother%2bson%2band%2bsister%2bmoon%2byoutubes%26form%3dEDGHPT%26qs%3dPF%26cvid%3d418028ce211f447089f656dba0cf1430%26refig%3d290fcb4031dc496c82de228265844cc4%26cc%3dUS%26setlang%3den-US%26plvar%3d0%26PC%3dDCTS&mmscn=vwrc&view=detail&mid=15CBB970B5BF8E20FDFA15CBB970B5BF8E20FDFA&rvsmid=D3ED58610D37CC718148D3ED58610D37CC718148&FORM=VDQVAP

I noticed that this video just continues on from one song to the next. See one, watch them all and simple rest and allow the smile from within to simple wash over you.
I remember this movie back in the 70s and it touched me deeply. I know that, because forty years later I still experience joy, beauty and the fluttering of the heart. A few years ago, when I was in SE France/Provence where St. Francis’ mother is from, I had the gift of walking through fields of tall grass with red poppies surrounding me. Yes, it was a Francis experience.

St. Francis has been a guide to Pope Francis from the moment he said Yes to being called to be the Pope/Bishop of Rome and taking the name Francis. He was reminded that with that name he was to remember the poor and care for creation. And so Laudato Si, simple means “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “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.

Opening Prayer From the Chinook Psalter/Earth Prayers
May we today be touched by grace, fascinated and moved by your creation, energized by the power of new growth at work in your world.                                                                                                                                                                                
May we move beyond viewing this life only through a frame, but touch it and be touched by it, know it and be known by it, love it and be loved by it.
May our bodies, our minds, our spirits, learn a new rhythm paced by the rhythmic pulse of the whole created order.
May spring come to us, be in us, and recreate life in us...

From paragraph 3 to 16 Pope France in Laudato Si begins by building a foundation for this encyclical by looking back at the statements from the recent popes: Pope Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI. Pope John Paul II wrote: “The destruction of the human environment is extremely serious, not only because God has entrusted the world to us men and women, but because human life is itself a gift which must be defended from various forms of debasement.  Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in “lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies”. # 5.
This call to change our lifestyle calls for an ecological conversion that begins in the heart. The text from Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is very powerful and challenging for us, for he asks us to “acknowledge ‘our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation”.  And then he brings this into the sacrament of reconciliation. For “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God”. #8

So, before we move on, let’s sit with this. Not in a way that is judgmental or hyper critical, but it away that is real. Acknowledging what is and then through love and mindfulness see what can be.

The following link is one that needs time. For it embraces the moment and the day and beyond. In the “examen” the Jesuit process of reflection, we are called to begin with Gratitude, Awareness, Understanding, Conversion, Reconciliation and ending with a Prayer.

http://www.ecologicalexamen.org/

Take the time you need and remember to breathe through out. Allowing for (the Spirit, the Ruah, the Breath) to guide you to those verdant pastures and quiet waters. Also know that you can go back to any page/link you like at any time for whatever the reason. “Be Gentle”.

From #10 to #13 Pope Francis calls us to look at Francis as guide and Patron Saint of Caring for the Earth. A key phrase that is used often is that of an “integral ecology”. What does this mean? I think it means seeing the world as One and that there is a relationship between our actions and the worlds health (soil, soul, society). It need not be complex and the following two quotes points in that direction.
“An integral ecology includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us….” (#225)
“An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness.” (#230)

Here is a small video/cartoon that may help explain “integral ecology”. Before you see it, I know we are not in Minnesota, but having lived there for six years I think it clearly says what “integral ecology” is all about.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=intergral+ecology%2c+pope+francis%2c+youtube&&view=detail&mid=0B4B584D640E83F047D60B4B584D640E83F047D6&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dintergral%2Becology%252c%2Bpope%2Bfrancis%252c%2Byoutube%26FORM%3DVDRESM

We have entered into the text from Laudato Si and seen how it calls us to live a life of Wholeness. Where there is a sense of integrity and authenticity between our daily lives and our faith life.

I will conclude with the prayer taken from the end of Laudato Si:
#246. A prayer for our earth
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live  as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives,  that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace. AMEN