“Laudato Si –On Care for Our Common Home” 

Encyclical by Pope Francis 2015

 

Laudato Si (PDF) from the Vatican

 

We might call this a “study” but it is about seeing how God is inviting us to live in this beautiful gift of the earth—“Our Common Home” as Pope Francis calls it.  Some notes are provided.  There are questions to aid our pondering.  The important thing is that our hearts are formed to live as God would desire. 

Some parts of this Encyclical are challenging, maybe even a little depressing.  But we are invited to hope and to respond to hard realities by cooperating with the Holy Spirit in our day to day choices.  This reflection might be a very good time to gently watch your thoughts and attitudes around how you use the resources of the earth, what you might take for granted and what you might change so that you are indeed a good steward of all the gifts of the earth that God has blessed you with.  What action will you do?

Another invitation might be that as we have been practicing the slowing of our pace and our consumer tendencies during this Covid-19 time, we also pay attention to the “greening” of the earth as Hildegard of Bingen would call it.  Are you noticing the birds sing?  Are you watching the leaves make their way out, and the blossoms coming forth with their fragrances?  What prayer of thanksgiving for creation comes from your soul?

Note: The numbers used at the end of a quote refer to the paragraph number of the document.