Category:
Audience:
In the month of November, we invite you to reflect on the Sunday scripture readings through the lens of chapter 6 of Laudato Si’: Ecological Education and Spirituality.” To hear God’s voice in the contemporary world threatened by climate change, we all need some remedial ecological education. It is to be viewed as part of our individual and collective evangelization as the Church. However, it is essential that we do not compartmentalize that education or confine it to a scientific sphere. Christian spirituality, its vision and deepest hope are as important as our knowledge of scientific facts or our reading of the signs of the times. A biblically-informed reflection on worldviews of scarcity and of abundance can also be a form of listening and discerning the voice of God amidst the socio-political and economic realities. We will be invited to deepen our understanding of the Eucharist, how it is related to the issues around environmental justice, and to our call to share in Christ’s dominion.
We begin the month of October celebrating the feast of Francis of Assisi, the saint from whom Pope Francis draws so much inspiration. Francis of Assisi spent his life in service of the poor, of peace and of the planet. Francis of Rome defends these same issues passionately in Laudato Si’. During this month of October we hear the Pope’s call for dialogue at all levels in the service of the poor and of the embattled earth, our common home. Again and again he challenges individuals and nations to move beyond greed and overconsumption, and to seek in their place self-sacrifice, generosity and solidarity. He insists that progress must bring about a better world and a higher quality of life for all. Believers must help to build this kind of world by living in a way consonant with their faith.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
September is the time in the northern hemisphere’s temperate zones that the earth’s abundant gifts are everywhere: in the fields, in the farmers’ markets, in the supermarket, in our gardens and orchards. The weather is still warm, but shorter days turn our minds and hearts to the darker days to come. The church offers us reminders that closeness to God entails more than keeping a set of rules. Throughout September the scriptures stress that solidarity with the poor is essential in the life of Christians. The figure of the Suffering Servant, a foreshadowing of Jesus, and Jesus himself are models of a life marked not by ambition and egoism but by listening to God and others. Jesus healing miracles tell us that we need to see and to hear the voice of God speaking through the people and events in our lives. Pope Francis is the first pope to teach that we are all part of the web of life and that we are a part of nature and in constant interaction with it. We are responsible for healing nature and for the flourishing of the web of life for the good of all.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
The August readings for Cycle B provide us a first-rate opportunity to reflect on and implement the teaching of Pope Francis in Chapter 3 of Laudato Si’. His underlying contention is evident in the title of the chapter: “The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis.” Many have disagreed with this teaching of the Pope, in large part because the recognition that we are responsible for our environmental problems places responsibilities on those who are culpable. Like the Israelites of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New, we are challenged to dig deep and discern the values that are most important for us, and to define the changes necessary to live out these values. For the Pope, holiness is a very practical thing; we are called to live out our faith in word and in deed. The Word of God and the Bread of Heaven sustain us on our journey. They help us to hear the cry of our sisters and brothers, especially those who are most in need, and the cry of the earth, our common home.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
Science and politics tend to dominate our thoughts, concerns and conversations about climate change and its impact on the environment in which we all live here on our common home. The Bible offers to people of faith, who believe in God as Creator, a beautiful Gospel of Creation. It can greatly enrich our conversations and our shared struggle to appreciate what we’ve got and our search for ways to protect it. The Sunday Scriptures of this month will find fresh meaning when read together with Laudato Si's second chapter on that Gospel of Creation.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
Spiritually, the Easter Season is the most meaningful time of our Liturgical year. During these fifty days we are called to absorb the impact and spiritual meaning of the Resurrection. Then we need to apply it to our lives and our world. That includes the ecological dimension of our lives. The last two chapters of Laudato Si' invite us to understand that Care for our Common Home is a consequence of our belief in Jesus’ resurrection. Chapter 5 focuses on what we need to do, accenting especially the importance of dialoging about our ecological situation, on many fronts. Chapter 6 challenges us to keep growing in our understanding of the situation and undertaking the changes such understanding should prompt in our behaviors. Caring for our Common Home has to be part of both our lifestyle and our spirituality.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
Lent is our annual opportunity to refresh the spiritual dimension of our existence and to renew our identity as persons baptized in Christ. It starts each year sometime in the dark midst of Winter but ends in Spring, when our seemingly dormant world brightens and again comes to life. During this time we experience the core cycle of our faith in all of our senses – the cycle thru Death to Resurrection. What we see and hear, touch, smell and taste enables us to know that something new is happening. Earth will continue to warm us and feed us, but we ourselves must tend with care to bring forth that boon.
Lent is an extended time when we are challenged to do the same with the spirit God has breathed into our bodies. We are to 'repent' over a period of 40 days. We are summoned to once again align our values, attitudes, and behaviors with those of Christ. During this time of conversion we pay special attention to the "sensual dimensions" of Scripture – the dimension that appeals to entire incarnate being – and we can see God's summons to new life reflected in creation itself. Of course, that means seeing with the eyes of faith, and in its call to ecological and social repentance, Laudato Si' itself also calls us to a change of our way of seeing our world and appreciating it, a change in mind and in heart.
Chapter 3 of Pope Francis' call to Care for our Common Home lifts up a particular dimension of this opportunity that lent affords to amend our mindset: Are we helping or hurting the environment – and so ourselves – by the way we think and live?
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
During Advent, we look forward to an event that transforms that very meaning of human existence. Through the "yes" of a humble young woman, the Logos of God came to dwell among us, becoming intimately and irrevocably united with our humanity and with all creation. As we look forward to the birth of the Christ once again, we are aware that we, our communities, and the Earth itself all look forward to the possibility of new life.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below:
Humanity and all creation are products of God's love; we are invited to be co-responisble with God in caring for our own generation and future generations, and for the planet and the universe which are our home.
To view the homily helps and other resources for a given Sunday or feast day, click the link for the appropriate date below: