There is growing expectation for Pope Francis' soon to be released encyclical on the environment. Some may question why the Pope would devote a teaching letter to this issue. Most certainly we know that we are called to be good stewards of the earth. A pope writing on such an issue is not simply concerned with the physical preservation of the planet. The state of the physical environment is also a symbolic expression of the state of the world and its people.
The world can be painful place but it was not created to be so. The biblical image of the Garden of Eden is a metaphor of God's design. Our broken humanity alone is responsible for the pain. A selfish disregard of the worlds physical resources is indicative of the selfish disregard for other lives. Unfortunately one of our reactions to the pains and sorrows of life is the perpetuation of that pain, through our selective outrage to injustice. Protests which bring injustice to light are important. Fighting within ourselves, however, or the demonizing of a class of people or law enforcement only increases the pain. And media fueled outrage for a select agenda only enhances the divide.
If our outrage was genuine would there not be riots over the shooting death of a 14 year old boy?
If we truly cared about injustice would not the shooting death of a police officer and mother of a new born child cause an outburst of indignation.
Or if all lives matter shouldn't we be outraged that nearly 1 in 3 minority children are aborted every year? http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/21/j-kenneth-blackwell-black-abortions-a-crisis-in-am/
As we celebrate Pentecost this weekend we also celebrate Memorial Day and remember those whose lives were lost in service to the protection of life. We do not honor those who died for peace with the perpetuation of violence. We do not respond to injustice with further violations of justice. And we do not reserve our outrage to those protests which are politically correct or elevated by the media. We can not seek the physical healing of the earth without understanding that the healing of humanity is constitutive to that effort.
May this classic prayer to the Holy Spirit be our guide for what we seek, renewal, a fire of love and wisdom
May this classic prayer to the Holy Spirit be our guide for what we seek, renewal, a fire of love and wisdom
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations,
Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
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