Loving the Earth

Loving the Earth

St Francis of Assisi
Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation
and especially for our Brother Sun,
who brings us the day and the light;
he is strong and shines magnificently…..
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water,
who is very useful to us,
and humble and precious and pure.…
Be praised, my Lord,
for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us,
bringing forth fruits and vegetables of many kinds
and flowers of many colours.

From “Canticle of Creation” (Canticle of the Sun) (c.1224)

Pope Francis
At the beginning of creation, God created man, custodian of His work, charging him to cultivate and protect it. I see that there are dozens of farm workers here and I want to congratulate you for protecting the earth, for cultivating it and for doing it in community. I am concerned about the eradication of so many brother farm workers who suffer uprootedness, and not because of wars or natural disasters. The monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. This painful separation, which is not only physical, but existential and spiritual, because there is a relation with the land that is putting the rural community and its peculiar way of life in notorious decline and even in risk of extinction….
Please, continue the struggle for the dignity of the rural family, for water, for life and for all to be able to benefit from the fruits of the earth….
We live in cities that build towers, commercial centers, engage in real estate business, but they abandon a part of themselves in the margins, in the fringes.  How painful it is to hear that poor settlements are marginalized, or, worse still, they want to eradicate them! Cruel are the images of forced displacements, of bulldozers pulling down small houses, images so like those of war. And we witness this today.…
It is logical: there cannot be land, there cannot be a roof, there cannot be work if we do not have peace and if we destroy the planet. These are such important topics that the nations and their grass-roots organizations cannot fail to debate. They cannot stay only in the hands of political leaders. All the peoples of the earth, all men and women of good will, we must raise our voice in defense of these two precious gifts: peace and nature – Sister Mother Earth, as Saint Francis of Assisi called her.

From “Address to Popular Movements” (2014)