by Benjamin WebbIt has been a pleasure reading the thoughtful reflections of other blog contributors who have reviewed the first five chapters of Laudato Si, the Pope’s utterly remarkable encyclical, which in itself will define him historically as the first pope to use this highest form of Catholic social teaching to redefine the human/earth relationship as a Gospel mandate. To have such an environmental encyclical from one of the world’s great spiritual leaders and religious traditions calling all nations and people to “the care of our common home” is a very big deal in our global public discourse! With our seas rising at their fastest rate in 28 centuries and climate change melting our polar ice caps, we all need to be inspired — as Laudato Si does — to work together as we face these existential threats.
In the concluding chapter (Ch. 6) of Laudato Si, Pope Francis focuses on “ecological education and spirituality,” not as a substitute for activism, advocacy, and political and economic change, but to undergird it. He understands that we have to get ourselves onto another path — the long path of renewal — which poses a great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge to all of us. It will involve “new convictions, attitudes and forms of life” that must arise from a fundamentally new “awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone.”
In pointing us towards a new lifestyle, he begins with a classic critique of modernity and our market economy by suggesting they cannot, in and of themselves, offer us the guidance and direction we require as individuals or societies because they are too absorbed with the means rather than the ends or purpose of life. While some have criticized the Pope for failing to acknowledge in Laudato Si the constructive role that the market economy has and is playing with some environmental and climate change solutions (Cap and Trade, etc.), the benevolent force that markets can play is often generated by impulses and ways of knowing and behaving that transcend the ideology of markets, such as our spiritual traditions provide for millions of people.
No system or mental or social conditioning, the Pope reminds us, can suppress our “God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts.” So while humans may be capable of the worst, we are also capable of rising above ourselves and choosing again what is good, including the common good (versus radical individualism) which can bring about significant change in society. What our times require, Pope Francis suggests, is 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.”
Key to this new lifestyle is educating for the covenant between humanity and the environment. It’s no longer enough to educate ourselves about the gravity and risks of the ecological crisis, or the massive myths of modernity (unlimited material progress, endlessly rising material affluence, the unregulated market, etc.). “Environmental education should facilitate making the leap towards the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning.” While political institutions and other social groups are entrusted with helping raise people’s awareness, so too is the Church. All Christian communities have an important role to play in ecological education and deep change, since worldviews and ways of thinking (about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature) really do influence our behavior. How do we counteract the fact that each ad is a small sermon that advances consumerism? Therefore the Pope calls on all “seminaries and houses of formation to provide an education in responsible simplicity of life, in grateful contemplation of God’s world, and in concern for the needs of the poor and the protection of the environment.”
Here the Pope turns to ecological conversion, a subject he states has a rich heritage in Christian spirituality over the past twenty centuries. Certainly much has been written about this in the past forty years, but Pope Francis points especially to the teachings of the Gospel and how its ecological spirituality can motivate us to a more compassionate concern for the protection of our world. In doing so he highlights something vitally important, how the external deserts of our world are growing in proportion to the vast internal deserts of our lives, and how the ecological crisis is therefore also a “summons to profound interior conversion.” As Land Institute founder Wes Jackson once said, "The deterioration of our planet, our environment, and our social contract, is an outward reflection of an inward condition. Like outside, like inside."
So we need to address both, says the Pope, through an “ecological conversion,” where the effects of our interior encounter with Jesus Christ also become evident in our relationship with the world around us. “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.” To keep the faith, we must also keep the earth.
The gospels also testify to the wonder and richness of the world God created and to Earth’s dynamism that we have no right to ignore; that each creature reflects something of God and has a message to convey to us; and that we do not understand our superiority as a reason for personal glory or irresponsible dominion, but rather as a caretaking role containing a serious responsibility stemming from our faith.
This then leads the Pope to the subject of “Joy and Peace,” where he writes, “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 enduring ancient lessons on Christian spirituality from scripture propose a “growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little.”
He points to the profound imbalance many feel today which drives us to frenetic activity and makes us feel busy, in a constant hurry which in turn can lead us to ride rough-shod over everything around us. This too affects how we treat the environment. An “integral ecology” includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us, whose presence “must not be contrived but found, uncovered.” In this we follow Jesus who was “completely present to everyone and to everything, and in this way he showed us the way to overcome that unhealthy anxiety which makes us superficial, aggressive and compulsive consumers.”
Chapter 6 contains other themes that may interest some readers, including: civic and political love, sacramental signs and the celebration of rest, the Trinity and the relationship between creatures, the Queen of all creation, and “beyond the sun.” In concluding his joyful and troubling reflections in Laudato Si, Pope Francis fittingly ends with poetry, not unlike his 12th century namesake who gave us the verses to hymns about Brother Sun and Sister Moon that we all treasure.
In absorbing the clarion call that Laudato Si makes upon the world’s religions and upon us, I am reminded of a comment Robert Bellah, a sociologist of religion, once made when I interviewed him. Describing the problem before us in contemporary religion and society, he suggested that the “systems” of the nation-state (steered by power) and especially of the market economy (steered by money) are invading and colonizing the “lifeworld,” not only its institutions of meaning but devouring the world itself. At the center of the lifeworld, Bellah says, stands the Church and all our religious traditions. “This puts a heavy responsibility on religion whose life is organized linguistically – where language and story are its only resources – to take the initiative in response to these pressures and try to fight back.” Yet that is our task on this long path of renewal.
In Laudato Si, Pope Francis has dived into the enormous depths and riches of our spiritual tradition to summon the enduring power of religious language and story that can redirect us in support of the lifeworld now under threat everywhere. From the pinnacle of religious leadership that he now occupies, he has projected his voice yet humble example, showing us how we might wash the feet of this dear world as Christ’s servants in caring for our common home, this earth household -- this God household -- which all of us share but none of us possess. For the earth is the Lord’s, and everything therein.
If you are looking for additional resources to support the alternative vision, education and lifestyle addressed so substantively in Laudato Si, check out this webpage for Interfaith Power and Light, or contact our state chapter at Iowa IPL to explore their services and programs available in your community and congregation.
Benjamin Webb is Priest-in-Charge at Christ Church in Cedar Rapids and author of Fugitive Faith: Conversations on Spiritual, Environmental and Community Renewal.
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