By Jennifer Kryszak, Director of Strategic Planning for the Franciscan Peace Center
“Human beings must be recognized as a part of nature. Human life, intelligence and freedom are elements of the nature that enriches our planet, part of its internal workings and its equilibrium.” Francis, Laudate Deum, 26
As a college student, I experienced the joy of retreats near the end of each term. With the pressure of finishing papers and preparing for exams, I and my fellow students at Augustana College packed up some of that work and piled into vans to drive up to the Sinsinawa Mound, the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. Our campus ministers encouraged us to reflect on who we were, our relationship with God, and to spend deep, reflective time with nature. One powerful experience we enjoyed was a silent night walk around the Mound gazing at stars and a world that looked and sounded so different in the night and silence of a world away from our daily cares. To some extent, our academic work took on a different meaning as it was repositioned in relation to the rest of our goals, values, and commitments and in relation to the rest of the vast universe. As I look back on my life, I know that these retreats helped to shape my understanding of myself, including how I see myself in relationship to the natural world.
Central to Pope Francis’ call to respond to the ecological and social crises is his understanding of and commitment to ecospirituality, an understanding of the interconnection and interdependence of all of creation, including humanity. A modern, Western understanding of the human person often envisions humanity as separate from and superior to the created world. Readings of the creation story in the Book of Genesis, emphasize the placement of the human being in the order of creation and describe the human being in a relationship of “dominance” or being a “steward” to creation. Overlooked is the fact that human beings are in fact created beings and part of creation.
In Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum, Francis calls us to recognize our interconnection with the world and our interdependence with it. Laudato Si’ lays out the ways that humanity affects the created world and challenges humanity to commit to altering relationships with creation. In Laudate Deum, Francis again calls us to assess these relationships and how we understand our role within the world. As Franics notes, these attitudes to creation impact the way humanity then interacts with the created world with increasingly devastating effects. For example, Francis notes the impact humanity has had on oceans and ocean life: “Some effects of the climate crisis are already irreversible, at least for several hundred years, such as the increase in the global temperature of the oceans, their acidification and the decrease of oxygen. Ocean waters have a thermal inertia and centuries are needed to normalize their temperature and salinity, which affects the survival of many species. This is one of the many signs that the other creatures of this world have stopped being our companions along the way and have become instead our victims” (Francis, Laudate Deum, 15). If we recognize ourselves as part of creation and are “companions” to other creators, then this harsh language of “survival” and “victims” should force us to assess how we as individuals and societies enable or prevent the flourishing of others. Do we acknowledge our interdependence with other creatures?
Questions like this call us again to ongoing conversion – a particularly Franciscan concept that urges us to continually reflect on our relationship with God, others, self, and indeed the whole of creation. In relation to creation, this ecological conversion too is one that is ongoing, one that continues to call us to rethink our relationships to the earth and to God. Elizabeth Johnson, distinguished professor of theology emerita at Fordham University, calls people to rethink their images of God in her new book Come, Have Breakfast: Meditations on God and the Earth. Drawing on the narrative of the resurrected Christ feeding the disciples breakfast, Johnson emphasizes the image of God intimately involved in the world, a lover of the Earth. Considering the historical emphasis on humans as superior to the Earth, this image challenges us to reconsider our own relationship to God, the Earth, and all creatures. In “Saving the Earth requires new images of God, says feminist theologian Elizabeth Johnson” Heidi Schlumpf notes, “Instead of a pyramid with humans near the top, Johnson sees a circle of kinship among the community of creation. ‘It's not leveling out differences [or] saying we're all the same. Clearly we're not,’ she said. ‘But we're fundamentally interrelated with each other. So when we care for the earth, we're not 'up here' caring for creation 'down there.' … We care for one another as members of the same community.’”
This image of community can help us reimage our relationships with God, others, and creation. The word “community” conjures up images of people helping others, supporting those in need, living in peace. In Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum, Francis addresses all of humanity, calling everyone to care for our common home. As a community living within one home, we share a common responsibility for the whole and are called to assess how our choices affect our community. Francis encourages us to attend to our global community and to delve deeply into our local relationships, including the natural world.
As we reflect today, let us consider these communities and our interdependence with them. What communities are you a part of? How do your daily choices affect those around you? How can you assist your community in recognizing and valuing our interdependence and interconnection with all of creation?
Read how a sense of community and grounding in ecospirituality can assist youth struggling with climate anxiety in “’You are not alone’: In community, young people find antidotes to climate anxiety.”
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Dr. Rachel Wheeler, author of Ecospirituality: An Introduction and Radical Kinship: A Christian Ecospirituality, will join the Franciscan Peace Center for a presentation on October 8, 2024. Sign up for our Upcoming Events to receive promotions for this event.