“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us.”
Pope Francis’ newly-released encyclical “Praised Be” is a message on how we should all relate to our earth and to each other.
Reading and understanding this important document on ecology is essential for living our faith today. Helping us comprehend it more deeply are four words that begin with the letter E: Environment, Ecology, Economy and Ecumenism. Each of these words suggests a virtue required to embrace God’s gift of nature.
We continue our Talk Story columns about this profound encyclical with thoughts shared with the Office for Social Ministry by Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, a member of the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace, which helped organize the papal letter.
Environment calls for awareness. Environment comes from the French word “virer,” “to turn” or “to veer,” and “environ,” “around,” from which we get “to turn round” and finally “surroundings.” Environment not only refers to the natural world as affected by human activity, but also the surrounding conditions that influence botanical, biological and human life — and also suggests that we pay ever more careful attention to how pollution might damage them.
Ecology enjoins responsibility. Ecology starts with three letters “eco” from the Greek “oikos,” which means “home or household”; and then adds “logos,” which is “discourse, meaning, sense.” So ecology is meaningful talk about our home the earth. Pope Francis, like Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, relates ecology to two other words beginning with more or less the same letters.
Economy requires justice. Economy starts with “oikos” and adds “nomos,” “rule” or “law.” Ecumenical builds on “oikos” to become “oikoumene ge,” “the whole inhabited world” and all its inhabitants including our descendants. The three words beginning with oikos imply how we should dwell and behave here on our planet — we are members of one household common to all.
Ecumenism is all about unity. Ecumenism is not only global, but also intergenerational.
These four key words also contain clues for appreciating Catholic social teaching on the environment and ecology. Our “eco-logos” is profoundly human, it is abundantly environmental, it is realistically economic, and it is strategically ecumenical!
“We are called to protect and care for both creation and the human person,” said Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace. “These concepts are reciprocal and, together, they make for authentic and sustainable human development.”
Which brings us to one more word that begins with the letter E: Eucharist, the Greek word meaning “Thanksgiving.”
As stated in the Eucharistic prayer, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all Creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you, fruit of the earth and work of human hands. It will become for us the bread of life.”
What does this familiar prayer mean to us?
In the encyclical “Praised Be,” Pope Francis invites us to glorify our God by giving thanks for his creation, then examining how to become better stewards of our environment. He calls us to build a better relationship with our earth and with each other, and he asks us to respond to the one great commandment of our faith: to love God our Creator with all our heart, soul and body, and love our neighbor as a part of God’s creation.
We are reminded of this by sharing and living the Eucharist. And that’s a Capital E. “PRAISED BE!”
P.S. For videos illustrating the “One Ohana: Food for All” ministry, go to www.officeforsocialministry.org
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
