• The Importance of Wonder

The 20th century poet T.S Eliot wrote, “the child wonders at the Christmas Tree … let him continue in the spirit of wonder …  so that the reverence and the gaiety may not be forgotten in later experience, or in the bored habituation, the fatigue, the tedium, the awareness of death, the consciousness of failure, or the piety of the convert,  … let him continue in the spirit of wonder, so that before the end, the accumulated memories of annual emotion, may be concentrated into a great joy … because the beginning shall remind us of the end, and the first coming of the second coming”.

T.S Eliot was aware of how cynical and oppressed the tragedies of the world can make us, but he was also aware of our longing for something more than this world. He knew that the earth reflects a beauty and a joy whose origins surpass it. Like children, therefore, let us allow ourselves to be in awe! Let us allow ourselves to marvel with a keen and sensitive heart. The rest will follow suit!

• As with all Christian celebrations, at its heart, Advent is a time in which God continues to give Himself to us! But on our part, as human beings, what does it take for us to fully and authentically ‘receive’? 

Reflecting upon this, the German philosopher Joseph Pieper concludes that, “there can be no festivity when man, imagining himself self-sufficient, refuses to recognize that Goodness of things which goes far beyond any conceivable utility; it is the Goodness of reality taken as a whole which validates all other particular goods and which man himself can never produce nor simply translate into social or individual “welfare”. He truly receives it (God’s love and goodness) only when he accepts it as pure gift”.

Certain objects of this world cannot be made or seen as tools for us to simply use. Rather, they need to be appreciated for their own sake. In this, we can slowly discover that they are gifts given to us freely. This is what love does, after all. It gives freely. And it is only when we see creation as a free and pure gift given to us by God, that we can feel truly loved by God and understand what creation truly is.

• Seeing desires as pathways to God

In the words of St Augustine, “the entire life of a good Christian is a holy desire. What you desire, however, you don’t yet see. But by desiring you are made large enough, so that, when there comes what you should see, you may be filled”.

Augustine reminds us that desires are signs that need to be prudently understood and interpreted.  But desires are also bridges. In desiring beauty, we reach out to it. In desiring love, we seek it. This is all good, because God wants to us to be filled. And so, let us not tire to ask, to beg, to be open, to yearn! And in doing so, let us try to turn to God as well. Augustine knew too well that, ultimately, only God can fully and completely satisfy us.

• No wounds are too big for God

In one his poems St. Thomas More wrote, “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal”.

Advent is a space in which Heaven can continue to penetrate and cultivate the earth. The earth is not fully separate from heaven, the two are not completely distinct. Indeed, in fact, the glory of earth is realised when God (heaven itself) is made one with it! This all culminates in the God-man; in Jesus himself, in him, the heaven and the earth are one.

• We’re all, in our unique ways, a faint image of God 

C.S Lewis, iconically known for crafting the Narnia book Series, noted that “we cannot conceive how the Divine Spirit dwelled within the created and human spirit of Jesus…. but what we can understand is that our own existence is a faint image of the Divine Incarnation itself… the same theme in a very minor key”.

We already harbour traces of God within us, and this can be discovered by us if we reflected deeply upon certain capacities and desires that we experience. Our nature, in its deepest core, longs for beauty, for love, for goodness, for truth – these are God’s fingerprints.

• Let yourself be perfected!

Finally, this Advent, with St. Theresa of Avila, let us express our humility and open our self to God’s healing grace. Time and again, St. Theresa prayed,

“I want to keep Advent in my soul, that is, a continual longing and waiting for this great Mystery wherein You, O Word, became flesh to show me the abyss of your redeeming sanctifying mercy….Come, O Lord, come! I too wish to run to You with love, but alas! My love is so limited, weak, and imperfect! Make it strong and generous; enable me to overcome myself, so that I can give myself entirely to You… What a consolation it will be, O Lord, at the moment of death to think that we shall be judged by Him whom we have loved above all things!”

Read more:

Astronomy and Faith – Universe of Faith

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The Laudato Si’ Action Platform, is an online platform through which the Vatican’s Dicastery Promoting Integral Human Development is promoting a 7-year action plan with clear goals and concrete actions, in favour of integral ecology. Families, educational institutions, economic entities, healthcare organisations, parishes, dioceses, organisations/groups and religious institutions can implement this plan. Certainly, both the Catholic Church and other non-religious entities can adopt it.

Pope Francis, in 2015, wrote a letter to all people of goodwill entitled Laudato Si’ – On Care For Our Common Home, is a letter. This letter encourages us to be “stewards of creation”. Pope Francis writes that urgent action needs to be taken to re-examine and restore our relationships. He mentions our relationship with our Divine Creator and our relationship with our fellow human beings especially the poor. Finally, our relationship with Mother Earth. He believes that these three are connected – “everything is connected.” (Par 91)

Laudato Si’ goals and concrete action

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is based on the goals outlined in Laudato Si’. Most noteworthy, these goals emphasise redefining and rebuilding our relationships with each other and with our common home. These seven holistic goals call for a spiritual and cultural revolution to achieve integral ecology. They are found in a document within the Laudato Si’ Action Platform website entitled Overview of Goals and Action. In addition to each goal, a set of actions is being proposed in the coming months. These can be implemented by various entities around the world.

Some of the proposed actions include:

– “Improving sustainability in diets by reducing food waste before and after market, composting, buying food from local producers when possible, transitioning from meat-based to plant-based meals.”

– “Protecting waterways and land by ensuring sensible fertilizer use, instituting drop irrigation and other conservative irrigation models, planting waterway buffers, avoiding the installation of impermeable surfaces around buildings.”

– “Promoting and protecting Indigenous leadership by ensuring Indigenous communities have the rights to their land and by elevating Indigenous leadership.”

– “Sharing resources and wisdom by learning from elders, sharing social resources, sharing monetary resources, and holding community-wide action days.”

– “Ensuring financial investments are ethical and sustainable by divesting from fossil fuels, investing in socially responsible enterprises, and choosing ethical banking and insurance companies.”

– “Practicing fair and sustainable purchasing by supporting ethical businesses, taking a “total cost of ownership approach” to purchases, making a sustainability shopping list, and purchasing from local retailers.”

– “Improving sustainability in consumer purchases by eliminating the use of disposable plastic and styrofoam, correctly recycling as much as possible, and reducing purchases of new consumer goods.”

– “Delivering equitable access to education by ensuring under-represented groups are educated, shaping education programs with a wide variety of people, offering culturally appropriate and/or alternative forms of education, and ensuring that education promotes human rights and dignity.”

These actions and many more are listed under the 7 goals which are: adoption of sustainable lifestyles, community engagement and participatory action, ecological economics, ecological education, ecological spirituality, response to the cry of the earth and response to the cry of the poor.

Endorsement in the community

This 7-year action plan is being endorsed by 150 organisations around the world so far. These include CAFOD, Caritas International, EcoJesuit, the Don Bosco Green Alliance, the Focolare Movement, and The Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of the Franciscan Minors. Moreover, many more organisations are still enrolling.

What is the Laudato Si’ Action Platform?

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform provides an action-oriented 7-year ecological conversion journey in the spirit of integral ecology. All people of goodwill, are guided by the seven crosscutting Laudato Si’ Goals mentioned above, to learn, grow together and respond to Pope Francis’ letter On Care for Our Common Home. Furthermore, the platform offers inspiration, resources and a flexible framework. This helps translate the values and knowledge of Laudato Si’ into communities of action around the world. This platform is still open to new individuals and groups who wish to join this community and pledge their commitment to developing their own Laudato Si’ Plan.

There is hope

In spite of the social and environmental crisis we are facing, Pope Francis believes that there is still hope. He calls us to develop a “loving awareness” of the common home we share. Furthermore, he encourages us to act on the values we hold dear. He also calls us to urgently embark on new ways of living with “creativity and enthusiasm”, to promote integral ecology. (Par 220 and 221)

For more information and FAQs on the Laudato Sì Action Platform, please visit:
https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/more-information/

Read more:
– Astronomy and Faith
– Ecological Conversion Definition

The post Vatican Encourages “Transitioning to Plant Based Diets” – Laudato Si’ Action Platform appeared first on Universe of Faith.

By the end of the film I was sure of two things:

i) I wanted to verify whether all this was real.

ii) If it were real, I did not want to be part of it.

As I finished watching the film,  I immediately opened my laptop and visited the Facebook page of the Ocean Ambassador for Malta, Prof. Alan Deidun. He had watched the film too! In a Facebook post, he writes that this film is a “must see”. So I emailed him my questions and did not consume any fish until he replied.

Here is what he told me:

How true is the documentary Seaspiracy?

Prof. Alan Deidun: “The documentary Seaspiracy is factual and credible given that (i) the producer went to great lengths to give the ‘other side’ of the story as well, rather than only peddling his own narrative. (ii) Moreover, the producer consulted with a number of eminent experts in their field, including Dr Sylvia Earle and Prof. Callum Roberts. They are two of the most respected oceanographers and conservation biologists on the global stage.”

Is it true that we do not have models of sustainable fishing at the moment?

Prof. Alan Deidun: “Seaspiracy’s claim that we do not have any examples of sustainable fishing at the moment is true if one looks only at the models of industrial fishing. Such models have a high degree of wastefulness in terms of bycatch which is discarded and thrown into the sea, and over-exploitation of stocks. Within such models, the meaning of the term ‘sustainability’ has been twisted so as to represent only an economically-viable process. This process can be performed year after year for maximum monetary benefits, with little consideration to the environmental impact.”

Can fishing be sustainable?

Prof. Alan Deidun: “Fishing can be sustainable if it is performed at the local level, on an artisanal basis. The documentary Seaspiracy underscores this fact by featuring the difficulties of native western African fishermen.

In Malta, 93% of the Maltese fishermen work on small-scale, artisanal ones, operating from boats which are smaller than 12m in length. This restricts their time out at sea, ensuring that they do not catch much more than they can realistically sell in a few days. That should be the real meaning of sustainability – taking just what is necessary today, rather than hoarding fish so that my competitor does not gain access to it.”

Is it true that dolphin friendly/safe labels are unreliable?

Prof. Alan Deidun: “Regarding the credibility of the dolphin friendly/safe labels: We obviously do not have the investigative means to substantiate such a claim. The onus is now on the certification entity, issuing such a label, to refute the claims made in the documentary. However, what we know as a fact from the scientific literature available, is that at least hundreds of thousands of dolphins of different species fall victim to industrial fisheries each year. Unfortunately, this statistic does not show any sign of levelling off.”

Is the environmental impact of fishing as huge as described in Seaspiracy – bigger than the plastic problem?

Prof. Alan Deidun: “Although I have and still am a vociferous advocate for a ban on single-use plastics, I believe that the ecological impacts being exacted by the over-fishing of our ocean are in fact being downplayed. I think that they are not receiving the immediate attention they deserve. Once again, I stress that I am referring mainly to industrial fishing. It generates exorbitant levels of bycatch. Moreover, the ecological impacts of trawling, which are releasing carbon and pollutants stored in seabed sediments, are contributing to climate change. These changes are also visible from space.

Despite its vastness, there are very few spots within the global ocean which have never taken the toll of bottom trawling. Most of these pristine sites are located close to the poles. The single statistic featured within the documentary which most impressed me concerning fishing subsidies. An estimated 350 billion dollars are being thrown into the fishing industry each year, in the form of subsidies, presumably to keep fish prices low.  This figure outstrips the total needed to fight global hunger (300 billion dollars) as estimated by the United Nations. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14 calls for an end to such harmful fishing subsidies.”

What are the solutions? Should one stop eating fish?

Prof. Alan Deidun:  “Giving up the consumption of fish is, in my humble opinion, not a viable option given that (i) eating fish is generally healthy (despite it being occasionally laced with contaminants, as claimed in the documentary) and that (ii) a considerable fraction of the world’s population depends on fish as its primary source of protein. You do not simply change the mindset or behaviour of billions of people overnight.

What we can feasibly aspire to achieve, however, is to have consumers opt to go for local catch. One can find fish markets and hawkers almost everywhere, including in cities away from the sea. In Malta, given the small-scale nature of Maltese fisheries, this is possible by taking the pain to verify the origins of the fish one is buying. One ironclad way of verifying this is by buying your fish directly at a fish market or from a local fish hawker, and in season (e.g. purchasing lampuki (dorado fish) during the summer and autumn seasons), rather than from a supermarket.  Even the UN’s SDG 14 advocates the need to support small-scale fisheries on a global scale.”

Now I felt clearer about what I could do as a consumer.

Fishing in On Care for Our Common Home

Until I received the Professor’s replies I had googled again On Care for Our Common Home. There are seven mentions of fishing in this letter. Two notable statements Pope Francis makes are in:

Par 48 when Pope Francis outlines the dwindling amounts of fish in our seas: “the depletion of fishing reserves especially hurts small fishing communities without the means to replace those resources.”

Par 40 when Pope Francis brings up the issues of uncontrolled fishing and bycatch: “What is more, marine life in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, which feeds a great part of the world’s population, is affected by uncontrolled fishing, leading to a drastic depletion of certain species. Selective forms of fishing which discard much of what they collect continue unabated. Particularly threatened are marine organisms which we tend to overlook, like some forms of plankton; they represent a significant element in the ocean food chain, and species used for our food ultimately depend on them.”

Seaspiracy: A great eye opener

Seaspiracy was a great eye opener for me, both on the issues of uncontrolled fishing, bycatch, death of sea animals due to plastics and abandoned fishing gear, and sea floor destruction. It also alerted me to the other heart-breaking issue of slave labour engaged to catch shrimps in some Asian countries. I appreciate the fact that the director Ali Tahrizi and his team went to great lengths to produce the exceptional footage seen in this film, possibly risking his life at times.

Today, I feel more empowered as a consumer because I do not want to be part of this destruction.  For me, this means no more canned tuna in my Maltese ftira (a flat bread), no more salmon, and shrimps. Opting for local catch (not farmed or caught through industrial fishing) can be more sea-friendly. I’m also trying flaxseed oil to replace the omega 3s etc and look forward to exploring eating sea plants when the opportunity arises.

Read more:
– 4 Maltese Professional Read Laudato Si
– My Covid-19 Experience Poem

The post My Experience of Watching “Seaspiracy” – Should I Stop Eating Fish? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Ecological Conversion Definition 

The word ‘ecological’ comes from the noun ‘ecology’ which means the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. Whilst the word ‘conversion’ comes from the Anglo-French word, ‘conversio’ which means a complete change.

Thus, ‘Ecological Conversion’ implies a change in how we look at, interact and behave, to care for our common home. It means changes in the choices that we make in our daily life, that have an effect on the environment as a whole;  on other living organisms, including people. It is a change for the betterment or improvement of all creation and its creatures. A person who has ecologically converted acts like a human being in the image of God where s/he seeks to live in harmony with nature (including people); a steward rather than someone who dominates.

Ecological conversion in the Catholic perspective usually includes:

1. A sense of gratitude and gratuitousness (cf. Care for Our Common Home 220)

Through the Catholic faith one becomes open to a sense of thankfulness and wonder as one recognises “that the world is God’s loving gift, and that we are called quietly to imitate his generosity in self-sacrifice and good works,” even when no one is looking.
What are you thankful for? What do you wish to give in return?

2. Awareness that I am also part of the book of Creation (cf. Care for Our Common Home 220)

“It also entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings. By developing our individual, God-given capacities, an ecological conversion can inspire us to greater creativity and enthusiasm in resolving the world’s problems and in offering ourselves to God “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable” (Rom 12:1).” So creation is like a word of love from God to you and you are a word of love from God to the rest of Creation.
What does God’s trust in you inspire within you? 

3. Awareness that every creature reflects something of who God is: goodness, knowledge, beauty, love, gentleness (etc.) (cf. Care for Our Common Home 221)

The Catholic perspective of ecological conversion is recognising “that each creature reflects something of God and has a message to convey to us, and the security that Christ has taken unto himself this material world and now, risen, is intimately present to each being, surrounding it with his affection and penetrating it with his light.”
Choose a creature, an insect, a flower, a fruit, a person… and contemplate on it. What does this creature tell me about God?

4. Acknowledging harmony and order in creation (cf. Care for Our Common Home 221)

Ecological conversion for the Catholic is also knowing “that God created the world, writing into it an order and a dynamism that human beings have no right to ignore. We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that “not one of them is forgotten before God” (Lk 12:6). How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm?”
Observe the rhythms, colours, cycles and seasons in nature. What is God’s invitation to you today?

Ecological Conversion is a particular way of looking at creation prompting a change of heart

Therefore, “Ecological Conversion” in the Catholic sense is this new way of looking at creation; a new way of living our life in deeper harmony with the people around us, with the creatures we live with and with God. It can mean choosing to have less in life but living more of life to ensure that all, including future generations, benefit equally from the Earth’s resources.

Pope Francis presents the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi as a model for this conversion: “to realise that a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change. To achieve such reconciliation, we must examine our lives and acknowledge the ways in which we have harmed God’s creation through our actions and our failure to act. We need to experience a conversion, or change of heart”. (cf. Care for Our Common Home 218)

Ecological conversion definition

Read more:
– Why Care for our Common Home? – Fr Rob Galea
– Top Pope Francis’ Sustainability Quotes

The post Ecological Conversion Definition appeared first on Universe of Faith.

The heart of a Pope who loves the heart of a loving God

“When I first read this letter, I thought ‘oh my goodness! this is another letter about the environment, what we need to do, why don’t we focus on the Church, on things that matter.

But as I read this letter and reflected on it I just understood the heart of a Pope who loves the heart of a loving God! You see, God has given us this planet, not because of anything else but just the fact he loves us. He wants us to be people who are happy and full of life. But we have taken this mansion, this planet, and we have abused it, we have destroyed it. In that we have also destroyed the beauty of it that is a reflection of who God is.

The Church has a history of advocating for beauty

The Church has a history of looking after beauty, the Sistine Chapel, all these beautiful works of art and ornaments we have in the Church. She is the biggest advocate for beauty and we love to promote beauty. So it makes sense for me that the Church is the loud voice here advocating for this beauty which is our planet. It’s not only the beauty of this planet, but it is also who it is affecting, that is more important than the rest of creation, that is affecting you and me, but ultimately it is also affecting the poorest of the poor.

So even though we might destroy things and think it doesn’t affect us, actually it does. Everything you do affects me, just as much as anything done in Brazil affects me here, in Australia, and affect you in Malta.  The thing is, we impact one another, that is the nature of humanity, the nature of living on a shared planet. But we can do something about it, we can restore this beauty if we put our heads together to make something beautiful, even out of something so desperate.

“On Care For Our Common home” and Covid-19

We are in a place of a pandemic, a place of isolation, and the planet has had a chance to breathe. Let’s take this opportunity now, a time where we have isolated ourselves and used less fossil fuels, used less resources, travelled less. Let’s try to continue this streak to look after this planet.

We don’t do it because we love the planet only, but because we love God, who has given us this planet. We love God who is Beauty and in this planet we see the beauty of God. So let us make a difference, get our heads together, and look after what God has given us just to give glory to God. In doing so, we’re worshipping and honouring the God of Beauty, the God who loves us and the God who wants to give us life and beauty to the full.”

The post Why Care for Our Common Home? – Fr Rob Galea appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Prof Paul J. Pace – EkoSkola Programme Co-Ordinator

“In his letter, Pope Francis emphasises the need to change today’s economic model. This model generated development which put profit before the wellbeing of people and creation, promising us a secure future. COVID -19 showed us how trifling this promise was. True development is enjoyed by all, especially the vulnerable. It builds communities of solidarity and respects creation. I hope that we learn from this experience and we won’t repeat the same mistakes.”

Architect Joanna Spiteri Staines – Din L-Art Ħelwa Council Member

“The intrisic qualities of the landscape of Malta and Gozo are very precious to many of us. For this reason, the publication of Laudato Si struck a cord for me personally. For the first time in many years, I felt that I was fighting a battle with the Church on my side; indeed “united by the same concern”. For indeed, to destroy the environment is a form of violence against the earth. The encyclical calls for change to stop the global environmental destruction. However, it also calls for change of our common home and such change must start here on these tiny islands. ”

Prof. Ruben Paul Borg – Chairman of Sustainable Built Malta

“Pope Francis refers to the balance which exists in nature, and how this contrasts directly with the throwaway culture affecting our World. We have been ineffective in the adoption of a circular model of production, which reduces the consumption of non-renewable resources, optimizes their efficient use and which promotes reusing and recycling. Industrial systems need to absorb waste at the end of the cycle. As responsible consumers, we need to put in a greater commitment for the preservation of resources, for present and future generations.”

Prof. Alan Deidun – Ocean Ambassador For Malta

“The Church fully accepts the findings by scientific community, and acknowledges that in matters related to the environment, science should have the final say. I’m glad by this major breakthrough. Besides an economical, political and social reality, there is also a spiritual dimension to the environment.  The environment is now deeply entrenched in the Catholic Social Teaching. The poor are the ones who are badly hit by climate change so this is indeed a social justice issue. Laudato Si is a landmark document on how Catholics and non-believers should relate to the environment.”

This article written on the occassion of Laudato Si Week 2020 was worked in collaboration with the Interdiocesan Environmental Commission.

Read more:
– “I Was Raised On The Farm” – 11 Life Lessons From The Field
– Top Pope Francis’ Global And Local Human Solidarity Quotes

The post 4 Maltese Professionals Read Laudato Si- Laudato Si Week 2020 appeared first on Universe of Faith.

“A message from the church, mosque, synagogue or temple, has more power to motivate action than an economic message”

‘There are many ways in which people have sought to make climate change personally salient and actionable through self-interest, such as national security and human health. But the Pope’s recent encyclical letter, On Care of Our common Home‘ has elevated the importance of religious morality as a motivator. It’s a bold appeal to re-evaluate our worldviews, values and spiritual beliefs and elevate climate change and the broad sweep of environmental issues beyond that of strictly an “environmental issue, a label that has ghettoised the issue as one that is associated with a liberal environmental movement. When people hear the message to address climate change and protect the environment from the church, mosque, synagogue or temple, it will have far more power to motivate action than a regulatory or economic message ever will. Religion, unlike any other institutional force in society, has the power to directly influence our values and beliefs’.

Earth and man need to enter a relationship of mutual responsibility

Pope Francis admits that for a long time the Church has misinterpreted the sacred texts of Genesis. ‘The biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognising that they tell us to “till and keep the garden of the world “(cf. Gen 2:15). “Tilling refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while “keeping means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. “The earth is the Lord’s (Ps 24:1); to him belongs “the earth with all that is within it (Dt 10:14). Thus God rejects every claim to absolute ownership” (On Care of Our Common Home 67).

The concern for creatures in the Bible

One of the central themes of the encyclical is found in the second chapter. Quoting from the document: ‘The laws found in the Bible dwell on relationships, not only among individuals but also with other living beings. “You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and withhold your help If you chance to come upon a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs; you shall not take the mother with the young (Dt 22:4, 6). Along these same lines, rest on the seventh day is meant not only for human beings, but also so “that your ox and your donkey may have rest (Ex 23:12). Clearly, the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures” (On Care of Our Common Home 68).

The Torah warns us that if we refuse to let the Earth rest, it will “rest anyway”

These words were echoed in a Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis issued shortly after the official publication of On Care of Our common Home’, and eventually signed by more than 425 rabbis from all over the world. ‘The texts of Torah that perhaps most directly address our present crisis are Leviticus 25-26 and Deuteronomy 15.  They call for one year of every seven to be.. a Sabbatical Year.. and a Year of restful Release for the Earth and its workers from being made to work, and of Release for debtors from their debts. In Leviticus 26, the Torah warns us that if we refuse to let the Earth rest, it will “rest anyway, despite us and upon us , through drought and famine and exile that turn an entire people into refugees. This ancient warning heard by one indigenous people in one slender land has now become a crisis of our planet as a whole and of the entire human species‘.

Protecting nature and social problems need one comprehensive solution

In the second chapter, the Pope then reminds us of an ancient teaching in the Bible that living beings have a value of their own, and not merely in view of their usefulness for human beings (On Care of Our Common Home 69). Even more so, because ‘in the Christian understanding of the world, the destiny of all creation is bound up with the mystery of Christ, present from the beginning: “All things have been created though him and for him” (Col 1:16)’ (On Care of Our Common Home 99).

Undoubtedly, a key concept in the present Church’s social magisterium is that of integral ecology. In Pope Francis’ words, ‘Given the scale of change, it is no longer possible to find a specific, discrete answer for each part of the problem. It is essential to seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems. We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature’(On Care of Our Common Home 139). Similarly, the Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis states that ‘justice and earthiness cannot be disentangled. This is taught by our ancient texts , teaching that every seventh year be a Year of Release… in which there would be not only one year’s release of Earth from overwork, but also one year’s sharing by all in society of the Earth’s freely growing abundance, and one year’s release of debtors from their debts… So we call for a new sense of eco-social justice… that includes… the healing of our planet‘.

“I still believe that people are really good at heart”

In her famous Diary, Anne Frank wrote the following: “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.” It is the same kind of optimism that Pope Francis promotes in the last chapters of his encyclical, where he reiterates the need of personal conversion, education and dialogue as tools for change.

I find these words of Leonardo Boff very inspiring as a way forward: ‘Because of the inseparability of the ecological and the social, the looming depletion of resources could lead to social unrest of great proportions.. Our system does not have the tools to solve the problems it has created.’ As Albert Einstein eloquently stated, “We cannot solve the problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. We have to think and act differently. The Earth Charter explicitly states, and Pope Francis has repeated, “Common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. This requires a change in the mind and in the heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility to reach a sustainable way of life locally, regionally, nationally and globally. This is the foundation for a different way of inhabiting the Common Home in which material resources are finite. In contrast, human and spiritual capital are inexhaustible because they are intangible and include limitless values such as love, solidarity, compassion, reverence, and care. This places life at the centre: the life of Mother Earth, the life of nature, and human life‘.

Heeding Pope Francis’ call and following his example, I too would like to conclude with a prayer as written by the Jewish poet Leah Goldberg:

‘Teach me, O God a blessing, a prayer , on the mystery of a withered leaf, on the splendour of ripened fruit, on this freedom to see, to feel, to breathe, to know, to hope, to despair. Teach my lips a blessing, and a song of praise. As You renew your time with morning and with night , lest my day today be like the one before, lest my day become routine’.

Fr Mark Ciantar OFM gave this presentation on Protecting Nature at the Interfaith seminar held at Millenium Chapel on the occasion of the closure of the Season of Creation on the 4th October 2017. Fr Mark presented the Jewish perspective in the absence of Rabbi Chaim Chabad Segal.

The post Protecting Nature – Insights From the Christian & Jewish Tradition appeared first on Universe of Faith.

“As to the Divine Design, is it not an instance of incomprehensibly and infinitely marvelous Wisdom and Design to have given certain laws to matter millions of ages ago, which have surely and precisely worked out, in the long course of those ages, those effects which He from the first proposed.

Mr. Darwin’s theory need not then to be atheistical, be it true or not; it may simply be suggesting a larger idea of Divine Prescence and Skill. Perhaps your friend has got a surer clue to guide him than I have, who have never studied the question, and I do not [see] that ‘the accidental evolution of organic beings’ is inconsistent with divine design. It is accidental to us, not to God.”
John Henry Newman, Letter to J. Walker of Scarborough, May 22, 1868

Read more:
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“For just as though some musician, having tuned a lyre, and by his art adjusted the high notes to the low, and the intermediate notes to the rest, were to produce a single tune as the result, so also the Wisdom of God, handling the Universe as a lyre, and adjusting things in the air to things on the earth, and things in the heaven to things in the air, and combining parts into wholes and moving them all by His beck and will, produces well and fittingly, as the result, the unity of the universe and of its order.”
St. Athanasius

“But where in all the varied movements of creation is there any work of God which is not wonderful, were it not that through familiarity these wonders have become small in our esteem? Nay, how many common things are trodden under foot, which, if examined carefully, awaken our astonishment!”
St. Augustine, Letter CXXXII., Chapter 3, 10.

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– Protecting Creation Today – Resources from the Global Catholic Climate Movement
– The Beginning of Creation – The Big Bang does not rule out faith in God…
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The post Creation Quotes From the Fathers of the Church appeared first on Universe of Faith.

When God created us we really knoweth not.
We know, for sure, He took five long days to make
Sun, moon, Earth and seas, plants, animals the lot
Oak trees, thrushes, tigers, crabs, hill, desert, lake.

One other day spent to craft: a puzzle solved?
His best creation, Man. Ruler of the world.
But man is ape. It can be seen; nay, proved.
Darwin’s dogma so ordains; a helix curl’d.

From primordial soup amino acid; how?
Twenty, more perhaps; to shape the blocks of life
Deoxyribonucleic acid, wow.
Piecemeal revolution rock and roll and jive.

Could both these sculptures of the universe be?
Dilate the days in one: Let it unto He.

Read more:
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– Poem – Describing God

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