In All Seasons, For All Reasons by James Martin

Author:James Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Published: 2017-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

Praying for Our Common Home

My favorite part of Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’: On the Care of Our Common Home, is a brief section called “The Gaze of Jesus.” It changed the way I look at creation.

Most of us already know, in a deep way, that God lived among creation in the person of Jesus. We also know that Jesus often used images from nature—seeds, birds, clouds, wheat, fish—in his parables to help people understand the reign of God. But Pope Francis offers us a fresh insight in Laudato Si’, which is that Jesus enjoyed creation:

“The Lord was able to invite others to be attentive to the beauty that there is in the world because he himself was in constant touch with nature, lending it an attention full of fondness and wonder. As he made his way throughout the land, he often stopped to contemplate the beauty sown by his Father, and invited his disciples to perceive a divine message in things” (97).

What a wonderful invitation to pray with creation! The next time you find yourself in the midst of nature, can you “stop to contemplate the beauty sown” by God? Allow nature—whether you are standing at the ocean, in a forest, or before a sunset—to lead you to an appreciation of God as the creator of all things.

That appreciation will naturally lead you to pray for creation, “our common home.” And then to work and advocate for this beautiful world, into which God has placed you.

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