Chapter Six: Integral Ecology

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

Again, each of these classes are filled with many things, lots of words and images. Please don’t feel that you have to do everything. If something speaks to you, follow your heart. If not, simply let it go.
The title of Chapter Four is: (INTEGRAL ECOLOGY #137-162)
Don’t let the title of this chapter scare you. It only means that every-thing is connected. To see that (contemplate that), and act/respond knowing deeply that all we do affects others. This is “deep truth”, using Christian images and language is behind Roman 12:4-5 “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” This basic principle, this foundation principal of all life is what we are called to live out of.
Wow!!!
And then in the open paragraph Pope Francis Says: “Since everything is closely interrelated, and today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis, I suggest that we now consider some elements of an integral ecology, one which clearly respects its human and social dimensions.” (#137)

Video
As I have done in other classes, I start with a video or image. Today 3:42 second video is a bit heavy for it calls us to question what are we doing on this planet which is 4 billion years old and when are we going to become what we are called to be? As people of faith, we speak of being sisters and brothers-children of the Light, building the Kingdom of God while at the same time seeing it in our midst. For we are “Wonderfully Awesomely Created”. (Psalm 139:140)
 https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video%2c+how+all+is+connected%2c+related&docid=608012466590125618&mid=13EFE9CD148273BC5A5B13EFE9CD148273BC5A5B&view=detail&FORM=VIRE


So, Pope Francis is very clear that the Ecological Crisis and many others crisis’ have a human root. (We are seeing this in this time of Covit-19.) Somewhere over these past few decades we have lost our balance, our vision, the sense of the common good and our care for each other. He is not calling us back to the “good old days” (a romantic illusion for most), but he is calling us into the fullness of Christ/the Realm / Reign of God. (Mt3:2) Repent-Change your ways, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.)
In # 138 Francis says again; “It cannot be emphasized enough how everything is interconnected.  Time and space are not independent of one another, and not even atoms or subatomic particles can be considered in isolation. Just as the different aspects of the planet – physical, chemical, and biological – are interrelated, so too living species are part of a network which we will never fully explore and understand (mystery and the stance of awe).  A good part of our genetic code is shared by many living beings. (This speaks of the process of evolution!) It follows that the fragmentation of knowledge and the isolation of bits of information can actually become a form of ignorance, unless they are integrated into a broader vision of reality. (The need of seeing the big picture-integral ecology). #139.  “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live.  We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it.”

As I reread this text, these individual sentences become for me a moment of stillness and meditation.   

From #139 to #142 Francis begins to look at economic and government. Once again, we have to see that all are related with in the web of life. Move one thread of the web and the web shakes and quivers. (# 139) “It is essential to seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems.  We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” How true this is. So often we look only at one issue, yet the moment we look a bit closer, things get complex; For the “the whole is greater than the part”. At times this overwhelms me, and I have to step back and take a deep breath.
In #142 speaks me and is a concern as I look at our present society; “Every violation of solidarity and civic friendship harms the environment”.^[1]  Civic Friendship in our polarize city, church, state, country, world is a concern. Where is respect and common curtesy? And then the honest question is How do I get hooked and brought down in “this or that” rather than relationship, respect and dialogue?

Let’s take a music break and remember, “We are World”.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=we+are+the+world+2020&docid=607993946705103365&mid=F63C6DF40A3B4B337B78F63C6DF40A3B4B337B78&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

#143 to #146. These paragraphs bring us to another place that speaks to heart of Pope Francis; and that is indigenous culture. He notes that technologies, language and global economy without care and respect are annihilating local traditions and cultures.
Francis speaks of this more clearly in the recent papal letter about the Synod regarding the Amazon.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-02/final-document-synod-amazon.html

From that Document Francis writes: #9 “The search of the Amazonian indigenous peoples for life in its abundance takes the form of what they call 'good living', buen vivir, which is fully realized in the Beatitudes. It is a matter of living in harmony with oneself, with nature, with human beings and with the Supreme Being, since there is intercommunication throughout the cosmos; here there are neither exclusions nor those who exclude, and here a full life for all can be projected. Such an understanding of life is characterized by the interconnection and harmony of relationships between water, territory and nature, community life and culture, God and various spiritual forces.”

So, in all this, Francis is saying, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL!!! As we look at “the care of our common home” we need to look at the Big Picture knowing that to heal creation we need everyone and everyone’s gifts and talents. “Ecology, then, also involves protecting the cultural treasures of humanity in the broadest sense.  (#143)

Here is a beautiful and touching video from the Vatican about the many gifts of the people and the land of the Amazon.  Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08w-ZpL_o0w&list=PLdu7tsNYIRxlEUHymfkdgFiZj_2zh7CNE

ECOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE (#147 to # 155)
Wow, these next few paragraphs take us on a trip to issues of Housing, Urban Development, Neighborhoods, Protecting Common Area, Transportation, and then what Pope Benedict called “ecology of man”, and enters into morality. I hear what Francis may be trying to say, yet it seems that science/psychology/biology and much more may need address.

(#156 to #158) has to do with the “Common Good”.
Here is one definition of the “Common Good”; The common good is “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment”. (#156)
Respect for the Human person
Overall welfare of the society
Social peace and stability and security
And then in #158 a powerful statement is made: “In the present state of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.” 
I remember a quote by Bishop Kenneth Untener back in the 90s; "How shall what we are doing here affect or involve the poor?” https://homelessinamerica.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-should-we-think-about-poor.html
And as we know, the poor has many faces, including that of the Earth that cries out in pain.

Here is a small video from the Diocese in Singapore that is both informative and uplifting as they look into the face of the poor.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube%2c+faces+of+the+poor&docid=608013733617141773&mid=3A4A3DD68425CF80D8C43A4A3DD68425CF80D8C4&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

In this last portion of this chapter is titled: JUSTICE BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS
Just this title is monumental, and Earth shaking and speaks to me!
For it speak the Deep Truth of what First Nations People have been saying for generations.
7th Generation Principle: The Seventh Generation takes its name from the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee, the founding document of the Iroquois Confederacy, the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth. It is based on an ancient Iroquois philosophy that:
“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
http://7genfoundation.org/7th-generation/
From the book “Grandmothers Counsel the World”, Mayan Elder Flordemayo speaks of caring for plant as a way to care for the future generations, she says; “We have the power to regenerate with the plants. But we must honor, respect, preserve, and pray for them. We have a reationshiopo with the spirit of the plant, the spirit of the sacred water. We must take care of these things for the generations to come.”                                                                                                                                                                                

I know this seems like a no brainer! “The notion of the common good also extends to future generations.” (#159)
What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?   (#160)
When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values.  Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results (#160) This statement needs to be understood through the term “Ecological Conversion” and “Integral Ecology”.  Without a change of heart, nothing really changes.

• What is the purpose of our life in this world?
• Why are we here? 
• What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? 
• What need does the earth have of us?