Vatican City: Pope Francis’ Earth Day message calls for an endeavor to find the meaning of the sacred honor that must be felt on earth. He was delivering a message at the weekly public meeting on Wednesday. The pope began his private study in the Papal House with a Trinitarian hymn and reminded the pope to remember that the earth is not only ours but Gods’.
Today we celebrate the 50th World Earth Day. This is an opportunity to renew our commitment to love our common home and care for it and the most vulnerable members of our family. As the catastrophic coronavirus catastrophe shows, we need a collective effort and the responsibility of the most vulnerable if we are to overcome global challenges. The subtitle of Laudato si, the encyclopedia “Laudato si”, means “over the maintenance of the public house.”
Let us consider today this responsibility, which is the characteristic of “our journey into the world.” We need to grow in awareness of taking care of public housing. We are made of earthly matter. It is the fruits of the earth that sustain our lives. But we, as the book of Genesis reminds us, are not just earthly. We have the curse of life from God. (Genesis 2: 4-7). So we live in a common home with a single human family and biodiversity with other creatures of God. As the Imago Dei, we are called to care for and honor all creation, to love our brothers and sisters, especially those who are most vulnerable and to have compassion for them.
All this we need to do is to imitate the love God has revealed to us in His Son Jesus. He became man to share this situation with us and save us. But we have fallen short of our selfishness in the mission of taking care of the earth and being its stewards. It is only a sincere look at the reality to understand that our public house has been severely damaged.
We have polluted and plundered our common homes. It has put our own lives in danger. That is why many international and regional movements have been formed to awaken consciences. I sincerely appreciate these initiatives. The pope reminds us that we have to understand the obvious fact that we have no future if we destroy the environment that sustains us.
