In awe of creation

Tuesday, our deanery had a workshop on Pope Francis’s encyclical on the care for our common home, Laudato Si’.

During the opening prayer, we were sent out in parish groups to answer a few questions and then come up with a praise of God.

The group from my parish, Dulce Nombre de María, started out very conventionally.

The first question was: “How do we meet God in our brothers and sisters?” The initial responses were fine, but conventional – in the poor, the sick. But then I mentioned kids and couples. I think we’ve been so conditioned to see God in the poor and the needy that we find it hard to see God in the ordinary people, in their joys – and not just in their sorrows.

The second question was: “What does God speak in our situation?” I can’t remember all that they shared but I urged them to move outside, where I had them listen to the breeze.

The third question was: “Where are the footprints of human beings in creation?” The negative seemed to prevail as they began to talk about the harm done to creation. I was aghast and I asked them what were the positive elements of the human presence.

I was troubled. There are severe negative effects, but why do we emphasize them and not look for the little signs of the positive that God does through us.

Also, I felt that they were trying to get me to give them the answers.

But then we got to the final task: compose an alabanza, a praise of God. The group started to go off in conventional directions but I persisted, asking a few pointed questions.

“What happened last night?” It had rained after a very hot day and after a dry spell.

“What do you hear?” There was a man chopping the grass and you could hear him working.

And so the praise emerged. I offered a few suggestions, but it came mostly from them.

Te alabamos, Señor, por este nuevo día
— por las lluvias que riega nuestros campos
— por los cantos de los pajaritos
— por las manos de los hombres y mujeres que labran el campo
— por la brisa y el sonar de las hojas de los árboles que se acarician una a otra
Alabado seas, Señor.

Here’s my free translation:

      We praise you, Lord, for this new day,

         for the rains that water our fields,

         for the songs of the birds,

         for the hands of the men and women who work the earth,

         for the breeze and the sound of the leaves of the trees

            as they caress each other.

      Lord, may you be praised.

I was awed.

Mother Earth

Later this month Pope Francis will release his encyclical on the environment – on God’s creation. To celebrate this I'd like to offer a few photos for your contemplation. 

It is reported that he will use words from St. Francis’ Canticle of the Sun as the opening words – “Praised be…” 

Near San Damiano, Assisi

In that Canticle, Francis praises the God of creation and addresses all that is made as his sisters and brothers – 

Brother Sun, 

Sister Moon, 

Sister Water, 

Water spigot in Assisi

Brother Fire:

Easter Fire

Brother Wind, Brother Death, and even Mother Earth.

 Living in the countryside since last December, I have often been moved by the beauty of nature:

The flowering trees:

Acacia - Arbol del fuego (fire tree)

The beautiful landscapes:

The cicadas and birds that sing outside my window:

Chiquirín - cicada

The izote and coffee bushes in flower:

Flor de izote

Coffee in bloom

Even the spider web, sparkling in the dew:

And so much more.

But I also see the devastation that humans are wreaking on Mother Earth:

Trees are being cut down to enlarge coffee farms.

Hillsides are being burnt – to provide for grazing lands or more coffee fields.

 People build with little concern for the effects on nature. Trash is just thrown wherever.

I pray that we may begin to take seriously the call to respect all creation, which is, after all, a gift of God.