Points
for Homily JUSTICE SUNDAY
Praise be to
you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us,
and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs. This sister now
cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our
irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her (LS,
nos. 1, 2.). 6 The beginning of the encyclical Laudato Si brings to our mind
the pain and the suffering of Mother Earth as God heard the cries of his people
in Exodus (LS, Chp.3&7). Today it is Mother Earth who cries to the Lord. As
human beings we have the capacity to self exceed but instead of using it to our
benefit we have misused the same. The word “dominion” used in the book of
Genesis did not really mean the liberty to use and exploit creation instead it
was a basic call to human beings to be the stewards of creation to be the care
takers of it. It is human greed which has led to the present scenario where
Mother Earth seems to be crying, may not be for her own sake, but for the sake
of her own sons and daughters who seem to be unaware of their folly. In pursuit
of the idea that in becoming rich one could live happily forever we all are
digging our own graves. The encyclical of the pope has come at the right time
when the heads of various nations will meet in Paris at the Climate Convention
to discuss about climatic change and our response towards the same. The pope in
this encyclical hence calls us to seriously reflect and act more urgently on
the climate crisis as surely otherwise we are heading towards our own
destruction. For our reflection today on this Justice Sunday where one speaks
of environmental justice we could surely pick out a few points from the
encyclical per se. A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are
presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent
decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level
and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even so a
scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular
phenomenon. Hence humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of
lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at
least the human causes which produce or aggravate it. (LS, no. 23) Our actions
have serious repercussion on others, the encyclical points out. “The warming
caused by huge consumption on the part of some rich countries has repercussions
on the poorest areas of the world, especially Africa, where a rise in
temperature, together with drought, has proved devastating for farming. (LS,
no. 51) 7 The pope says: All of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form
a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred,
affectionate and humble respect. (LS, no. 89) and so encountering God does not
mean fleeing from this world or turning our backs on nature (LS, no. 235) but
to be united with the moon the stars and the whole of ecology. Pope Francis
further says that: We have to realize that a true ecological approach always
becomes a social approach; and hence one has to hear both the cry of the earth
and the cry of the poor. (LS, no. 49) and hence in finding solutions one needs
to have an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the
underprivileged, and at the same time protecting nature (LS, no. 139). The crux
of our problem lies in our desire to have more. Pope emphasizes: “The emptier a
person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume.
(LS, no. 204) Many people know that our current progress and the mere amassing
of things and pleasures are not enough to give meaning and joy to the human
heart, yet they feel unable to give up what the market sets before them. (LS,
no. 209) We have become selfish we do not think of the next generation and
hence the pope writes 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 generation, since the world we
have received also belongs to those who will follow us (LS, no. 159). Today’s
reading calls us to be wise. The book of Proverb says “Follow the way of
knowledge ‘and Ephesians Chp.5: 17 “Don’t be fools, but try to find out what
the Lord wants you to do” To become wise and to follow God would be to eat of
His flesh and drink of His blood. The one who has truly encountered God will be
an integrated person who will draw from the earth only for his sustenance while
taking into account the moral and just responsibility of taking care of creation.
