The ideal is to discover the action of God in the soul (and) discover God in all things
When there are environmental conflicts, whether it is reclamation or mining projects or the cutting of trees to give way to malls, resorts, or parking spaces, I turn to the papal encyclical Laudato Sii.
I teach the encylcial in many Catholic schools and lecture about it frequently because Pope Francis’ reminders about our relationship with nature is good guidance in decision making. Catholic universities must particularly mainstream this thinking in their actions.
Here are some excerpts:
“If we approach nature and the environment without…openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs.
“By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.” (Laudato Sii, #11)
“We must be grateful for the praiseworthy efforts being made by scientists and engineers dedicated to finding solutions to man-made problems.
“But a sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly.
“We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves. (Laudato Sii, #34)
“Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another. Each area is responsible for the care of this family.” (Laudato Sii, #42).
“Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. “Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.” (Laudato Sii, #44).
“Together with our obligation to use the earth’s goods responsibly, we are called to recognize that other living beings have a value of their own in God’s eyes . . . Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection…
“Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness.
“Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things”. (Laudato Sii, #69).
“Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous.
“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.
“The history of our friendship with God is always linked to particular places which take on an intensely personal meaning; we all remember places, and revisiting those memories does us much good.
“Anyone who has grown up in the hills or used to sit by the spring to drink, or played outdoors in the neighbourhood square; going back to these places is a chance to recover something of their true selves.” (Laudato Sii, #84).
“We have to accept that technological products are not neutral, for they create a framework which ends up conditioning lifestyles and shaping social possibilities along the lines dictated by the interests of certain powerful groups.
“Decisions which may seem purely instrumental are in reality decisions about the kind of society we want to build.” (Laudato Sii, #107).
“The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.
“The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things” (Laudato Sii, #233).
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