Care for Creation
Canticle of the Creatures
O Most High, all-powerful, good Lord God,
to you belong praise, glory, honor and all blessing.
Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation
and especially for our Brother Sun, who brings us the day and the light;
he is strong and shines magnificently.
O Lord, we think of you when we look at him.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon, and for the stars
which you have set shining and lovely in the heavens.
Be praised, my Lord, for our Brothers Wind and Air and every kind of weather
by which you, Lord, uphold life in all your creatures.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful to us,
and humble and precious and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom you give us light in the darkness:
he is bright and lively and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us,
bringing forth fruits and vegetables of many kinds and flowers of many colors.
Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love of you;
and for those who bear sickness and weakness in peace and patience.
Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Death, whom we must all face.
I praise and bless you, Lord, and I give thanks to you,
and I will serve you in all humility.
- Saint Francis
"The entire universe speaks of God’s love. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God."
- Pope Francis
“We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time to acknowledge that lighthearted superficiality has done us no good. When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment”
- Pope Francis
"The Universe is a communion of subjects and not a connection of objects."
"The human community and the natural world will go into the future as a single shared community, or not at all."
"I am not myself without everything else."
- Thomas Berry
"There are almost no straight lines in nature. When a river meets an obstacle, it does not bulldoze over it to obliterate it; it moves to embrace it, to engage it, to transform and be transformed by it. There is a holy wisdom in the river's way."
- Terrance J. Moran
If Mama Ain't Happy...
The earth is the mother of us all. And if mama ain't happy... we're f@#%ed.
- Jason Mamoa, Common Ground
Revolution of the Heart
The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?
- Dorothy Day, Loaves and Fishes
Franciscan Creation Spirituality
A one-day reflection on creation spirituality through the eyes of St. Francis.
The beauty of creation sings the praises of God.
Francis of Assisi in Relationship with Nature
Francis sets out on the road, excited because he knows his vocation is to be a contemplative, spending time in nature in solitude and prayer, and to be in active ministry and to preach to people what he’s experienced. Along the way, he sees a tree filled with birds. He approaches the tree and the birds don’t fly away, so he starts talking to them. We have several accounts of this first sermon which is not to human beings but to animals, to birds. Maybe it’s been romanticized, but the story is that they stayed and listened to him. At the end of the sermon he says, now go off, because I’ve told you who you are.
For the rest of his life, Francis is in relationship with a variety of animals, birds, fish, trees, and flowers. He always tells these creatures, “Do you realize that by your very existence, you are inherently giving glory to God? So just be who you are. Every animal, every created being has a unique thing to do. Each of you, do your thing; and in that doing, you are giving glory to God!” He would take delight in everything doing its thing. This is a mutual mirroring and I think it allowed him to do his own thing. He realized that just by being Francis, in all his freedom and joy, he also was giving glory to God. He has no trouble being alone because mirrors are everywhere.
_______________________________
Richard Rohr, In the Footsteps of Francis: Awakening to Creation (Albuquerque, NM: Center for Action and Contemplation, 2010)
The Economy and Ecological Collapse
Our global civilization as currently structured is unstable and unsustainable. Ecologically, our civilization sucks out too many of the Earth’s resources for the Earth to replenish, and it pumps out too much waste for the Earth to detoxify. Economically, our civilization’s financial systems are complex, interconnected, fragile, and deeply dependent on continual economic growth. Without continual economic growth, financial systems will stumble toward collapse. But with economic growth, we intensify and hasten ecological collapse. In addition, our global economic systems distribute more and more money and power to those who already have it, creating a small network of elites who live in luxury and share great political power, while billions live in or near poverty with little political power.
_______________________________
Brian D. McLaren, Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2024)
Rediscover Mother Earth
The key to stopping the environmental apocalypse is not science but love. For decades now we have been staring at the scientific reports. They have not sufficiently inspired us to change our apocalyptic reality. But where science has failed, faith can succeed. We must help humanity rediscover [Mother Earth], their loving parent, the living world that sustains them. We must help them feel her love just as we show them how that love can be returned. And it can begin by gathering people around two simple questions: Where were you in nature when you experienced a vision of such beauty that it took your breath away? And how did that make you feel? If you can answer those two questions, you are on your way to meeting the Mother you may never have known before.
_______________________________
Steven Charleston, We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope (Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2023)
In My Dream…
I dream that the wisdom of Indigenous people, the wisdom of St. Francis and St. Clare and the Buddha and Jesus, the wisdom of climate scientists and ecologists and spiritual visionaries from all faiths could be welcomed into every heart. Then, we would look across this planet and see not economic resources, but our sacred relations … brother dolphin and sister humpback whale, swimming in our majestic indigo oceans, with sister gull and brother frigate bird soaring above them beneath the blue sky. We would see all land as holy land, and walk reverently in the presence of sister meadow and brother forest, feeling our kinship with brother bald eagle and sister box turtle, sister song sparrow and brother swallowtail butterfly, all our relations.
In my dream, our life-giving connection to each other and to the living Earth would be fundamental, central, and sacred … and everything else, from economies to governments to schools to religions … would be renegotiated to flow from that fundamental connection. In my dream, we would know God not as separate from creation, but as the living light and holy energy we encounter in and through creation: embodied, incarnated, in the current and flow of past, present, and future, known most intimately in the energy of love.
_______________________________
Brian McLaren, Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2024)
Helpful Resources and Organizations
On Care for Our Common Home
Laudato si' - on care for our common home is an encyclical of Pope Francis. In it, the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and climate change, and calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action."
Catholic Climate Covenant inspires and equips people and institutions to care for creation and care for the poor. Through their 20 national partners, they guide the U.S. Church's response to climate change by educating, giving public witness, and offering resources.
SER advances the science, practice, and policy of ecological restoration to sustain biodiversity, improve resilience in a changing climate, and re-establish an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture.
EARTHDAY.ORG’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working in over 192 countries to drive positive action for our planet.
Boston
The Boston Catholic Climate Movement (BCCM) is the Boston chapter of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM), with the goal of bringing the Pope’s Laudato Si’ encyclical to life in the Boston Catholic community.
Connecticut
The Interreligious Eco-Justice Network is Connecticut only faith-based environmental non-profit organization. Committed to justice and grounded in hope, IREJN is a unifying voice dedicated to positive, hopeful action on behalf of the earth, the one thing we all share and the one place we all call home.
Franciscan Justice Circles connect Franciscan-hearted individuals who feel called to engage in local grassroots advocacy. Rooted in the tradition of St. Francis and St. Clare, the Franciscan Justice Circles move us toward being a community of love in action for justice. Conversations are happening across the country now.
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform, an initiative of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, is inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. It equips the Church to achieve real and lasting solutions to the ecological crisis.
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