Catholic Social Teaching
and the Care for Creation
Catholic Social teaching considers climate change a “moral challenge” as individuals and as a human family.
Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 World Day of Peace Message, “If you Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation” he articulates similar themes as did the statements, “Renewing the Earth:An Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environment” (1991) and “Global Climate Change:A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and Common Good.” (2001).
THEMES:
Prudence calls the Church to engage in the issue of global climate for the common good. Prudence is the virtue that “tells us what needs to be done today in view of what might happen tomorrow.”
God’s creation is a gift and humans are stewards of this gift. We believe that the earth and the entire web of life is gift, created and found “very good” by God. The web of life is one, and our mistreatment of it diminishes our own dignity and sacredness.
The universe is God’s dwelling place. Dwelling in God’s presence in nature, we experience ourselves as part of creation, not separate from it, although people have a distinct dignity and responsibility.
The environment is a social good belonging to the whole human family. In a spirit of “solidarity” we must act as a “family of nations” to exercise stewardship in a way that protects the integrity of God’s creation and provides for the common good.
We are responsible for the unborn of future generations. As stewards of the heritage of future generations, we have an obligation to respect their dignity and to pass on their natural inheritance, so that their lives are protected, and made better than our own.
With power comes responsibility. The
Individual rights are matched by corresponding responsibilities. Freedom and the capacity for moral decision-making are central to what it means to be human. Rights and freedoms are not absolute; they are matched by corresponding responsibilities to serve the common good.
We must evaluate our lifestyles and reject consumerism. Curbing the voracious consumerism of the developed world and a more just distribution of resources are needed to lessen humanity’s burden on the environment.
The needs of the poor, weak, and vulnerable must be respected. The poor most directly bear the burden of our current environmental carelessness.
(USCCB, Dept of Justice, Peace and Human Development)
Prayer for Peace to Mary, the Light of Hope
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Help us to conquer the menace of evil,
Which so easily takes root in the hearts of people of today,
And whose immeasurable effects
Already weigh down upon our modern world
And seem to block the paths toward the future.
From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in the human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From the sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ,
This cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings,
Laden with the sufferings of whole societies.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin:
Individual sin and the “sin of the world,”
Sin in all its manifestations.
Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world
The infinite saving power of the redemption:
The power of the merciful love.
May it put a stop to evil.
May it transform consciences.
May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope.
Amen
Pope John Paul II
Living God’s Justice Reflections and Prayers
Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of
“ Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The Work of Christmas
When the song of the angel is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone.
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins.
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner.
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others
To make music in the heart.
Howard Thurman
Living God’s Justice, Reflections and Prayers
Let us remember our community family in need through donations to the SJV Pantry of laundry detergent, liquid cleaning products, bar soap, baby wash, baby shampoo, dish detergent.
We are also experiencing more calls needing food items. Let us keep our barrels full each week for these
least family members among us.
A Story of Thanksgiving for the PSM Pantry
Thank you for your assistance with the pantry items. My family has been using your services due to my husband’s various illnesses. He has diabetes, a herniated disc, heart disease and knees that need replacement surgery. I had a job but lost that when I had to take care of my husband as we could not afford home health care and since he was self employed we did not have health insurance.
For 20 years of our marriage we never had to ask for help, we paid all our bills on time, never were behind on our mortgage and had 2 reliable cars.
This is not our situation anymore. My husband finally got his disability benefits after 2 1/2 years of waiting after applying.
Now he is legally blind from his diabetes and can not work at all. I am now working as a school bus driver so money is very tight.
Many people take for granted the little things like cleaning supplies and toiletries and they do add up at the grocery store. Sometimes you have to decide groceries or soap for laundry.
It has been such a blessing to receive help from the generous community of St. John Vianney. We never knew that or expected to be in this position. We have always been self—sufficient and it has not been easy asking for financial assistance, but no one at St. John Vianney has been anything but generous, listening and encouraging about our situation. Even when I don’t need anything I know there is someone in PSM who will just listen and give me the encouragement I need that day.
Thank you for being there for those of us who need help. No one else in the community provides these kinds of items.
God Bless you all,
Rebecca P.
Third Sunday of Advent Reflection
PEACE
“Praise God, Aaaayeee Babo” by Sonia Sanchez
(The African American poet, Sonia Sanchez, remembers in this poem, the violence of racism and all forms of discrimination in the
I came observing the terrorist eyes moving in and out of Southern corners…
But we have become nightingales singing us out of fear
Splashing the failed places with light.
We are here.
On the green leaves
On the shifting waves of blue,
Knowing once that our places divided us
Knowing once that our color divided us
Knowing once that our class divided us
Knowing once that our sex divided us
Knowing once that our country divided us,
Now we build our reconciliation canes in morning fields…
Little by little we shall interpret the decorum of peace,
Little by little we shall make circles of these triangular stars…
Come celebrate this prayer
I bring to common ground
Make us become healers…
Come tongued by fire and water and bone
Come praise God…
Come praise our innocence
Our decision to be human.
Reenter the spirit of morning doves
And Our God is near.
What groups, cultures, communities, etc. have touched your life in a negative way?
What work of forgiveness challenges you when you consider your past as well as your present life?
Are there rituals in your life that help you to be open to celebrate reconciliation?
Transform my heart, O God, and renew my soul. Let the renewal and beauty of the natural world remind me that even after darkness and destruction, new life is possible.
Give me a broader vision of the possibilities of forgiveness...and that forgiveness can take root in all human hearts. May the Prince of Peace, your son Jesus Christ, be reborn in my heart.
Education for Justice www.educationforjustice.org