by Father Mark Goldasich
There are times when I want to say to Pope Francis, “Please, stop!” Stop challenging me to live my faith. Stop having me examine my lifestyle. Stop encouraging me to listen to the cries of the poor.
And since we’ve embarked on another Season of Creation on Sept. 1, I’m haunted by the pope’s insistent and heartfelt reminders of the critical need to address the hurts, the abuses, the cries of our planet.
I’ve been rereading “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home.” I’m saddened at how little I’ve done to take the pope’s words to heart and change my behavior. Apparently, I’m not alone, as Pope Francis issued a sequel of sorts to his encyclical with an apostolic exhortation, “Laudate Deum,” in 2023 — an update on where the world is on taking care of the Earth. It’s not good news, but the pope remains hopeful.
I’ve certainly bought into the customary American belief, described so eloquently by Father Paul Boudreau: “If a little is good, more is better and too much is just right.” It’s what the pope describes as the “harmful habits of consumption,” which lead to a hardening of hearts and a “globalization of indifference” toward the rights and needs of the poor.
I’m embarrassed at how many times the Amazon van stops at my house, delivering yet another thing that I wanted but didn’t really need. Heck, there’s times when I see an Amazon box and can’t remember what I ordered.
Change is hard for me. A big motivator, though, comes when I look out on the congregation each weekend and see all the kids there. I ask myself: What am I doing to make sure that they will have a healthier and better world to live in?
It reminds me of the story of an 80-year-old man who was planting a small peach tree. His neighbor said, “You don’t really expect to eat peaches from that tree, do you?”
The elderly man replied, “No, at my age I know I won’t. But all my life I’ve enjoyed peaches — never from a tree I planted myself. I’m just trying to pay the other fellows who planted the trees for me.” (Story adapted from “Building for the Future,” found in Paul J. Wharton’s “Stories and Parables for Preachers and Teachers.”)
Here are some small practices that I’ve been adopting for this Season of Creation and beyond:
• Not wasting food
• Walking more, instead of driving
• Spending time in nature, savoring fresh air and sunlight
• Conserving paper by not printing what isn’t necessary, using its reverse side, and recycling magazines and junk mail
• Not letting the water run while I brush my teeth or shave
• Trying to shower only for the length of time that it takes my favorite song to play (I’m still working on this!)
• Not buying plastic bottles of water
• Turning lights and electronics off when not in use
• Using rechargeable batteries
• Washing hands with a bar of soap rather than liquid soap
I invite you to read our center spread on pages 8 and 9 for more inspiration in this Season of Creation.
May we all take to heart these words of Patriarch Bartholomew — to “replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which ‘entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs.’”
It’s a tough and often thankless job, but if we Christians don’t start doing it, who will?
