As we come close to the end of the Season of Creation (October 04), it brings us to reflect on humanity’s responsibility to preserve and nurture the earth. The past two hundred and fifty years have brought on the onslaught of the industrial revolution but it has brought some very dire consequences to the earth.
Consider the reality of global warming and the threat that large parts of the earth may become uninhabitable to both humans and animals. How many of our waterways and lands have been polluted by chemicals. And what will we do with all the plastics floating in our oceans?
Human beings will not change their present practices unless they are moved by a love for the earth. You will not preserve and nourish what you do not love! This is why care for creation is an intense struggle within our hearts. All the scientific information about pollution and the warming of the atmosphere is just so much ‘data.’ Only when the heart is moved will we move to care and nourish the earth.
This is why Pope Francis opened his encyclical “Laudato si” with the image of the earth as our common home. When we all live together we will take care of the home we live in and not leave a mess for the other members of our family. The earth is not there for humanity to exploit and get rich but to live in harmony with one another and with all the plants and animals. In our common home we are also concerned about how well the deer in the gullies and forests are doing. How are the insects thriving?
Spend a good amount of time and energy absorbing the reality of our common home and how much your life benefits from living in harmony and care for all parts of creation. Allow the awareness of all that we share with and are supported by creation sink into your heart. Feel what it means to live in the home of all living things.
We need to be captured by the insight of our common home. “Our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and the beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.” (Laudato si, #1)
Humanity is at a crossroads. We all have the choice to move completely away from industrial pollution (and our own personal pollution) into a time when we live and thrive with all of creation. No one country can do this on our own.
But every individual counts. Every one of the eight billion humans alive at this moment can make a difference. We all have power by the choices we make in our lifestyle to work toward preserving the earth. But we want to do this because we first of all love the earth and all its forms of life.
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