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Lesson 1 Understanding and Taking Personal Action On The Environmental Situation

The document discusses the relationship between humans and the environment from a religious perspective. It talks about how we are called to develop a moral relationship with nature as we depend on it for survival. It also mentions how much destruction is currently happening that is causing suffering. The document provides a Bible passage on how all of creation is waiting to be freed from decay and how we too await redemption. It emphasizes that we are part of creation and our fate is tied to how we treat the natural world.

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72 views3 pages

Lesson 1 Understanding and Taking Personal Action On The Environmental Situation

The document discusses the relationship between humans and the environment from a religious perspective. It talks about how we are called to develop a moral relationship with nature as we depend on it for survival. It also mentions how much destruction is currently happening that is causing suffering. The document provides a Bible passage on how all of creation is waiting to be freed from decay and how we too await redemption. It emphasizes that we are part of creation and our fate is tied to how we treat the natural world.

Uploaded by

Raca Desu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 1

UNDERSTANDING AND TAKING PERSONAL


ACTION ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL SITUATION

Processing
- What is/are the message/s of the song?
- What do you think is the intention why the song was written? - Which
lines of the song struck you the most? Why?

Deepening
Relationship is not limited to human relationship. God calls us also to develop a moral
relationship with the environment and the rest of God’s creation. We cannot live
without nature. The beauty of nature can only be admired if we realize that animals and
plants have indispensable significance for our human living.
You might have realized how fragile the world is. So much destruction is happening
bringing sufferings to many people all over the world.

INSPIRED WORD: Suffering, and Hope in God’s Promise (Romans 8:18-25) 18 I


consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory about to be revealed to us.
19
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of
God;
20
for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of
the one who subjected it, in hope
21
that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will
obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;
23
and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our
bodies.
24
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes
for what is seen?
25
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. It may be
out of date to say that the Bible addresses environmental issues because there were
none during the ancient times. But it is valid to draw from this text by Saint Paul an
insight that can be the pattern for today’s relationship with nature. This insight is the
realization that human beings are not separate from the rest of creation. In fact, we are,
in a very real sense, part of the created order. We are dependent on other creatures for
survival such that their destruction spells ours. This solidarity means our salvation
entails the salvation of the material world and vice versa.

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Notes in CFE 5B – CICM Mission in Action: Environment Protection and Management

CHURCH TEACHING
“An incredible variety of insects lived in the forest and were busy with all
kinds of tasks… Birds flew through the air, their bright plumes and
varying calls adding color and song to the green of the forests… God
intended this land for us, his special creatures, but not so that we might
destroy it and turn it into a wasteland… After a single night’s rain, look at
the chocolate brown rivers in your locality and remember that they are
carrying the life blood of the land into the sea… How can fish swim in
sewers like the Pasig and so many more rivers which we have polluted?
Who has turned the wonderworld of the seas into underwater cemeteries
bereft of color and life?” (Pope Francis quoting CBCP’s Pastoral Letter on
Ecology What is Happening to our Beautiful Land, 1988)
Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si (“Praise be to you”) is a worldwide wake up call to
help humanity understand the destruction that man is rendering to the environment and
his fellow man. While addressing the environment directly, the document’s scope is
broader in many ways as it looks at not only man’s effect on the environment, but also
the many philosophical, theological, and cultural causes that threaten the relationships
of man to nature and man to each other in various circumstances. The document is in
many ways the epitome of Pope Francis. It is an unexpected topic. It presents Gospel
truths. And, it provides a challenge for every believer (and non-believer too).
From the outset, Pope Francis states the goal of the document: “In this Encyclical, I
would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” (#3).
Normally, papal documents are addressed to the bishops of the Church or the lay
faithful. But, similar to Pope Saint John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris, Pope Francis addresses
his message to all people. The goal of the dialogue is: “I urgently appeal, then, for a new
dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation
that includes everyone, since the environment challenge we are undergoing, and its
human roots, concern and affect us all” (#14).
The above is at the heart of the document, but Pope Francis also has a very striking call
to conversion for those in the Church as well. “The ecological crisis is also a summon to
profound interior conversion. It must be said that some committed and prayerful
Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of
concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits
and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an ‘ecological conversion’,
whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their
relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s
handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; It is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our
Christian experience” (#217).
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis writes:
In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us
that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a
beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my
Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and
who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.”
This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on
her by our own irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God
has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and
masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts,
wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in
the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the
Earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and
maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have
forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the Earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very
bodies are made up

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Notes in CFE 5B – CICM Mission in Action: Environment Protection and Management
of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment
from her waters.

MISSIONARY RESPONSE
Read and understand What is Happening to our Beautiful Land, a Pastoral Letter of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Ecology
(https://cbcponline.net/what-is-happening-to-our-beautiful-land/). Ponder/reflect on:
- the different environmental issues and problems in our country today; - how you
are causing and affecting environmental issues and problems; - how the economic,
political, and socio-economic structures are affecting the environment; and
- most importantly, what you are being called to do in protecting the environment.
Think of at least one CONCRETE, DOABLE, PRACTICAL and REALISTIC
action.

Page 3 of 3

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