A reflection for the Season of Creation

Note: The following reflection was delivered by Sisters of Providence Vicar General Sister Jeanne Hagelskamp during Mass on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024.

I must confess that when I began to look at the readings of the day in preparation for these reflections and came across the first reading from Isaiah, I thought Sister Lisa had sent me the wrong readings. Is that not a passage that we equate with Lent? “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord God is my help …” But alas, I was wrong and Lisa was right!

Why now?

Hmmm, I thought. Why now? And then I had a moment of insight! Maybe this is a PERFECT reading for this Season of Creation! After all, when we consider the climate crisis, is it not fair to say that planet Earth is suffering its own Lent? Can’t you almost hear Earth saying those lines from Isaiah?

“I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.”

Yes, God gave us the gift of living on this planet we call Earth. And Earth has graciously given us its resources to use. Yet over time we humans have looked upon it as “ours” to subdue and to use to our own advantage. And in doing so, we have caused Earth to endure “beatings and buffets and spitting.” This has been particularly so since the Industrial Revolution, and even more intensely over the past 50 years. Indeed, Earth has suffered its own kind of Lent, and it cries out to God for help!

Earth speaking

And yet the psalmist gives me hope. Just for a few seconds, I invite you to pray with me part of today’s psalm, imagining Earth herself speaking the words:

“I love God because God has heard my voice in supplication, because God inclined an ear to me the day I called.

The cords of death encompassed me; the snares of the netherworld seized upon me; I fell into distress and sorrow, and I called upon the name of God, ‘O  God, save my life!’  I was brought low, and God saved me.”
 
Yes, indeed, God can save planet Earth. But here’s the rub: God is depending on us, the very humans who are largely responsible for the devastation and nearly irreversible destruction of the planet, to be God’s hands to save Earth.

The reading from James is nothing less than a call to action to do just that during this Season of Creation:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he or she has faith but does not have works?… So also of faith itself, if it does not have works, it is dead.”

Putting faith into action

I would submit that every one of us in this church has faith … else we would not be here. As we face the climate crisis, we are being called to put our faith into action, but we are running out of time. Pope Francis said it well in his apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, written nearly a year ago.  I quote:

“Eight years have passed since I published the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, when I wanted to share with all of you … my heartfelt concerns about the care of our common home. Yet, with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”

Moreover, the U.S. Catholic Bishops have reminded us that this issue is larger than an ecological one. It is also a social one. Because “our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together.

Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community. The effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world.”

Biggest health threat

And so it is. According to the World Health Organization (or WHO for short, which, by the way, is not an environmental organization), climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The impacts are already harming health through air pollution, disease, extreme weather events, forced displacement, food insecurity and pressures on mental health.

Every year, environmental factors take the lives of nearly 13 million people. The WHO believes that meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement could save about a million lives a year worldwide by 2050 through reductions in air pollution alone.  Moreover, avoiding the worst climate impacts could help prevent another quarter of a million additional climate-related deaths yearly by 2050, deaths mainly from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.

As much as I would like to believe otherwise, our first-world way of life and our nearly unbridled use of fossil fuels are denying people less fortunate the opportunity to live. My sisters and brothers, NOW is the time for us to take the letter of James to heart and put our faith into action.  As James admonished us: “Faith without works is dead.” 

Our focus

Of course, as many of you may realize, the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods have been focused on ecological responsibility for years. Nearly 30 years ago, we opened our White Violet Center for Eco-Justice to be good stewards of our land and to educate others in those practices.

We developed our Land Ethic to guide our use of land. And we did a land swap to protect the trees along the river. We were also among the early congregations to make a commitment to participate in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. 

And through the years I believe we have come to understand that all of this is inextricably intertwined in our spiritual journey. As Elizabeth Johnson noted: “Once we see that the evolving community of life on Earth continues to be the dwelling place of the Spirit and its ruination an unspeakable sin; once we understand that this community is blessedly included in the redeemed future promised in Jesus Christ; then deep affection shown in action on behalf of eco-justice becomes an indivisible part of spirituality.”

Yet even with all the efforts I have mentioned, I think many of us would agree with Pope Francis: Our current efforts are not enough, if we are really serious about Earth not reaching the tipping point of no return.

Educate ourselves

So what can we do? Many of us have already made personal commitments to reduce carbon emissions and save Earth’s precious resources, by substantially reducing our use of plastics, especially single use plastics; being more intentional about reducing our fuel consumption; eating less meat, and so on.

But, in

‘Laudate Deum,” Pope Francis clearly says that each of us and all of us need to up our ante, so to speak. We need to begin to think about how we might make systemic changes toward action. One concrete way we can do so in the next few weeks is to educate ourselves and others about all of the various candidates’ views about climate change.

Making sure that candidates who are passionate about climate justice are elected is one MAJOR way that we can keep alive any hope for systemic changes toward action in the coming years. But we also need to consider significant long-term changes in our own lives.

In today’s Gospel, Mark reminds us that often, changing our habits in a significant way will not be easy: “Those who wish to come after me must DENY themselves, take up their crosses, and follow me.” Those are challenging words, I think, at least they are for me. Am I/are we really willing to DENY ourselves? Am I/are we really willing to change our patterns of living until it becomes a CROSS for us — until IT HURTS?

The time is now

Over and over again, Mother Theodore reminded us that the cross awaits us at every turn and called us to embrace it. Are we willing to do that, so that others and so that Earth might have life? My sisters and brothers, this Season of Creation and the readings of the day call us to action. 

I close with the words of Martin Luther King Jr, spoken in his 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” They seem applicable to the climate crisis today:

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late … Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘too late.’ … Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter — but beautiful — struggle for a new world.”