St. James Roman Catholic Church

The Season of Creation: Week 2

            Pope Francis held an audience last weekend with representatives from Laudato Si’ communities in Italy. He spoke with them about his vision of “integral ecology,” which affirms the relationship between all human beings, living creatures, and elements of creation. Two essential aspects of this vision, the Pope said, are contemplation and compassion.

             Contemplation means to gift oneself with time to be silent, to pray, to restore harmony—the healthy balance between head, heart, and hands—to the soul. It means looking into the eyes of those who are next to us and appreciating the creation that has been given to us. It is to discover the tenderness of God’s gaze and understand that we are all precious and important in God’s eyes. All of us can transform a part of the world polluted by human voracity into “the good reality willed by the Creator.”

                Compassion is the fruit of contemplation, of assimilating the outlook of God. It is the “best vaccine against indifference,” whose symptoms are attitudes like “it’s not up to me,” or “it does not concern me.” Those who have compassion pass from “you do not matter to me” to “you are important to me.” Compassion leads us to actively participate in the daily struggle against rejection and waste: discarding others and discarding things. It means to help build the future for all in our common home.

            A youtube video of Pope Francis’s remarks on September 12 has been produced by Vatican News, with an English translation provided by Sr. Bernadette Reis, fsp. Here is the link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCijK2lXzDA#action=share