Recently I learned the genesis of Pope Francis’s
encyclical Laudato Si -Praise Be, Care Our Common Home. It began with this
incident- Two years ago typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) which took place in the
Philippines on November 2013, brought huge damage to the city of Tacloban. Many
lives were lost, people went missing and properties were destroyed. This global
climate catastrophe, became the inspiration for Pope Francis to do something
seriously and address climate change.
In the Encyclical, Pope Francis says simply that if
we destroy creation, it will destroy us. This line sounds so similar to what Fr
Thomas Berry often said when speaking to groups of people - “We will go into
the future as single sacred community, or we will perish in the desert.” I
guess Pope Francis was inspired by the writings of Father Thomas Berry, perhaps
Thomas Berry was a ghost writer for the encyclical! With these insightful words we are aware of our
mission, expressed through our lives of service and dedication for the healing
of our planet Earth.
In our daily living we engage in work with care and
consciously work the land with our hands, daily praying for the earth. We live
our lives simply with the seasons. We know very well what is happening to our planet
today. Coming from Indonesia, a third world country, I know my country has the
third largest area of rainforest in the world but now more than 70% our forest
in Indonesia is being destroyed by logging companies. It is very sad, even then
the poor become poorer. Our children have no place to play. Most of them don’t know
anymore the big trees in the forest which has become bald, the rivers are
polluted, and the meadowlands have become sub divisions, condominiums and
malls. Humanity consciously and unconsciously wants to be superior and dominate
everything in life. Yet nature is stronger than us humans. Its remind me of
Thomas Berry and the story of when he was a child experiencing the meadow
across the creek. This experience became the guiding force for his consciousness.
“Whatever preserves and enhances this meadow in the natural cycles of its
transformation is good; whatever is opposed to this meadow or negates it is not
good”.
We in many different cultures, with different ways
are all part of the meadow. We have the same responsibility in caring for our
common home as we move toward the future as a single community. Just like the
meadowland not only lilies but also the insects, the water, the sky, everything
and everyone, every group of people and community in the community of life
participates in the dance of differentiation. We are not alien to each other.
We are part of the differentiation, part of the community of life and part of
the cosmic universe.
