Healing The World Series: Pope Francis' General Audience (September 16, 2020)

 

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he Vatican announced recently that Pope Francis will sign his new encyclical in Assisi on October 3, before the feast day on the following day of St Francis, after whom the Pope took his name. The new document is called “Fratelli Tutti,” meaning, “Brothers and sisters, all.”

Since last August 5, 2020, Pope Francis has been giving catechesis series on healing the world. This series gives an early glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming encyclical. On the 7th part on care for the common home and the contemplative dimension given last September 16, he mentioned about the importance of cultivating a fraternal relationship with God's creation.

Catechesis 7 (September 16, 2020)

 

 

Notable quotes: Care of the common home and contemplative dimension

"What is the antidote against the sickness of not taking care of our common home? It is contemplation. 'If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple' (Laudato Si' 215). Also in terms of using things and discarding them. However, our common home, creation, is not a mere 'resource'. Creatures have a value in and of themselves and each one 'reflects in its own way a ray of God's infinite wisdom and goodness' (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 339). This value and this ray of divine light must be discovered and, in order to discover it, we need to be silent, we need to listen, and we need to contemplate. Contemplation also heals the soul."

"Therefore, it is important to recover the contemplative dimension, that is, looking at the earth, creation as a gift, not as something to exploit for profit: no. When we contemplate, we discover in others and in nature something much greater than their usefulness. Here is the heart of the issue: contemplating is going beyond the usefulness of something. Contemplating the beautiful does not mean exploiting it... It is free. We discover the intrinsic value of things given to them by God. As many spiritual masters have taught us, heaven, earth, sea, and every creature have this iconic capacity, or this mystical capacity to bring us back to the Creator and to communion with creation. For example, St. Ignatius of Loyola, at the end of his Spiritual Exercises, invites us to carry out 'Contemplation to come to love', that is, to consider how God looks at His creatures and to rejoice with them; to discover God's presence in His creatures and, with freedom and grace, to love and care for them."

"Those who contemplate in this way experience wonder not only at what they see, but also because they feel they are an integral part of this beauty; and they also feel called to guard it and to protect it. And there is one thing we must not forget: those who cannot contemplate nature and creation, cannot contemplate people in their true wealth. And those who live to exploit nature end up exploiting people and treating them like slaves. This is a universal law. If you cannot contemplate nature, it will be very difficult for you to contemplate people, the beauty of people, your brother, your sister. All of us."

"[W]hen we have this relationship - let me say the word - 'fraternal': it is a figure of speech; a 'fraternal' relationship with creation, we will become guardians of the common home, guardians of life and guardians of hope. We will guard the heritage that God has entrusted to us so that future generations may enjoy it. And some may say: 'But, I can get by like this'. But the problem is not how you are going to manage today - this was said by a German theologian, a Protestant, a good man: Bonhoeffer - the problem is not how you are managing today; the problem is: what will be the legacy, life for future generations? Let us think of our children, our grandchildren: what will we leave if we exploit creation? Let us protect this path of the 'guardians' of our common home, guardians of life and also guardians of hope. They safeguard the heritage that God has entrusted to us (people, all people) so that future generations may enjoy it. I think especially of the indigenous peoples, to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude - also of penance, to repair the evil we have done to them."