And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor 13:13
IMAGE: Andreas Poznanski
Five years on since Pope Francis wrote his most influential encyclical, Laudato Si’, on the care for our common home, its teachings have come a full circle during the ongoing pandemic. As much as we might be overwhelmed by the present coronavirus crisis that has been set in motion by an infinitesimally miniscule viral agent; we have come to realise how interconnected we are not only as humanity but also with our ecosystem and with God.
Laudato Si’ critiques our technocratic paradigm that seeks to exploit our natural resources only for economic and political gain without considering the wellbeing of our humanity and our environment. What the encyclical then proposes is an approach of “integral ecology” — that employs justice and the principle of the common good — in defining our tripartite relationship with our humanity, our ecosystem and our God. This approach invites us to privilege the needs of the poor and the vulnerable before we consider our economic and political interests.
Nevertheless, the pandemic also presents us hope. “Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.” (LS #13) While the past several weeks have presented us with some positive outcomes like a drop in air pollution and the return of some species to their natural habitats, we also know that we will have to return to our economic activity and our social life. For our post-pandemic times, Fred Pearce’s analysis presents us two divergent paths on climate change. How and what will we choose? Will we still privilege the poor and the vulnerable, like the lives of indigenous peoples in the Amazon? (Please sign the petition.) If not, what form of privileging makes us deny the care for our common home?
Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. … No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts.
Laudato Si’#205
FAITH
Laudato si’ and Covid-19: Can praises still be sung in a strange land?
The coronavirus pandemic is highlighting in a new and acute way the vulnerability of the human race, and our interconnection with one another and with other creatures, something of which the poorest communities in the world are already well aware. Celia Deane-Drummond of the Laudato Si’ Research Institute alerts us to the wake-up call that we are hearing to preserve and celebrate every part of our common home.
Celia Deane-Drummond | Thinking Faith | 30 April 2020
Covid-19 is teaching the human race important lessons that it first learnt in the crucible of its early emergence in deep time. Our lives are entangled with each other and with other species and this is the source of both our unique strength but also our vulnerability. We will best honour those who have suffered and died by learning to take our interconnectedness with God, each other, and other creatures much more seriously. Further, even the deepest and darkest suffering is not beyond the reach of God’s mercy and grace, thus providing an occasion for change and renewal.
HOPE
After the Coronavirus, Two Sharply Divergent Paths on Climate
Some policy experts are optimistic that victory over the coronavirus will instill greater appreciation for what government, science, and business can do to tackle climate change. But others believe the economic damage caused by the virus will set back climate efforts for years to come.
Fred Pearce | Yale Environment 360 | 7 April 2020
A year from now, how will the battle to slow global warming look in a post-coronavirus world? That’s a question being asked a lot these days by policy experts and activists, and it’s one with huge implications. Some hope it will bring out the best in us and our leaders, and that the resurgence of government action during the pandemic offers a way forward for fighting climate change. Others fear the worst, that the rush to resuscitate a badly battered global economy will push climate back down the international agenda.
LOVE
“The Time To Act Is Now.” | Sebastião Salgado’s urgent appeal
Photographer Sebastião Salgado about his appeal to the Brazilian government to save indigenous people of the Amazon from exploitation and COVID-19.
Sebastião Salgado | Taschen | 5 May 2020
HELP PROTECT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FROM COVID-19
Having suffered from burning forests, poisoned rivers and invasion of their reserved lands, Brazil’s indigenous population now risks decimation from Covid-19 unless urgent measures are taken to protect them.
The Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has worked among Amazon tribes for the past decade, and Lélia Wanick Salgado, who designs his books and exhibitions, are appealing to Brazil’s governmental, congressional and judicial authorities to act quickly to avert contagion of these remote communities by infected outsiders.
Please support this appeal by signing below.
Postscript
Why We Deny Science in the Age of Coronavirus and Climate Change
In a time of coronavirus and with the climate crisis, understanding and accepting science and facts is critical to making the massive changes we need to survive as a species.
Adrian Bardon | The Sustainable Century | 4 April 2020
Adrian Bardon, PhD is a philosopher at Wake Forest University and is a foremost expert in the field of personal and political truth and denial. In this edition of The Sustainable Century Solutions Podcast, Adrian addresses the dilemma of why you might accept some ‘facts’ while rejecting others, when someone with an opposite worldview, might reject those very same ‘facts’, while accepting those you don’t.
Wishing you faith, hope and love,
Rinald D’Souza SJ
HISTORIA DOMUS
For it is not so much knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul,
but the intimate understanding and relish of the truth.
The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, #2
What is Faith, Hope and Love in the Time of Corona all about?
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