Laudato Si Ch. 6 Ecological Education and Spirituality Click here to download this week's notes as a PDF
Prayer: Pope Francis concludes Laudato Si with two prayers (#246). Before beginning, you are invited to use the first, A prayer for our earth. Take some time to reflect on the phrases and invite the Holy Spirit to show you what you are invited to live.
“We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone.” (202)
I. Toward a New Lifestyle
Compulsive Consumerism—“This paradigm leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume.” (203)
#204 outlines how self-centeredness and greed add to the common good disappearing. “Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.” (social unrest) (#204)
Hope! “Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social condition. We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. (#205, emphasis added)
#206: Changing lifestyle, a sense of social responsibility on the part of consumers.
#207 The Earth Charter Francis echoes that courageous challenge: “Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”
II. Educating for the Covenant Between Humanity and the Environment
“Environmental education should facilitate making the leap toward the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deeper meaning.” (210) #211 outlines some specific practices that may shift our lifestyle.
“Ecological Education can take place in a variety of settings….” Importance of the family…(213)
“All Christian communities have an important role to play in ecological education.” (214)
Appreciating beauty. Mindsets influence behavior. (215)
III. Ecological Conversion
“I am interested in how such a spirituality can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world.” (216)
“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary
aspect of our Christian experience.” (217)
#219 “Social problems must be addressed by community networks and not simply by the sum of individual good deeds.”
#20 outlines the attitudes for this conversion.
#220-221 invite us to reflect on how our faith informs how we live in this world. “…we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion.”
IV. Joy and Peace
“Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption. …the capacity to be happy with little.” (222)
#223-225 provide a type of self-examination, a look at humility, integrity, integration, inner peace that affects our actions.
Francis ends this section with an invitation to express gratitude before and after meals to God. (227)
V. Civic and Political Love
”Care for nature is part of a lifestyle which includes the capacity for living together and communion.” (228)
“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world and that being good and decent are worth it.” (229)
“An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness.” (230)
“…social love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a ‘culture of care’ which permeates all of society.” (231) #232 is very good about community actions as an expression of self-giving love.
VI. Sacramental Signs and the Celebration of Rest
VII. The Trinity and the Relationship between Creatures
VIII. Queen of All Creation
IX. Beyond the Sun
These chapters are like a mini-retreat. If you can, take a day, or part of a day and slowly read and reflect on this whole section and allow the message to permeate your heart. You will find it hopeful, as well as a deepening expression of how our faith, our life in Christ draws us into the heart of living out our union with God in communion with one another and creation. Francis captures beautifully the heart of our spirituality.
External Resources
https://earthcharter.org/wp-
https://archatl.com/catholic-
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