Abingdon 2: Laudato Si' provides 'a roadmap out of the current crisis'

Members of the Livesimply team at the Parish of Our Lady and St Edmund of Abingdon in Abingdon, Portsmouth Diocese, have written a series of short articles leading up to the Season of Creation for the diocesan e-newsletter. This is the second.

Whilst it has been a hard last few months, one benefit of lockdown for me was the chance to read more. I read Laudate Si' for the first time and was blown away by what seems like God speaking directly to me.

I keep re-reading and contemplating various paragraphs and I feel they will inform all my actions and conversations for the rest of my life. Laudate Si' shows us how to build the future world and Church - not just theory and analysis, but practical actions. The document doesn't look just at the environment but at economics, community living and what each of us can do in the area we live. The document, written five years ago, actually gives us a roadmap out of the current crisis, as we can now see more clearly what is normally hidden.

I also came across Jesuit-run webinars with speakers who are on Pope Francis's post-Covid Commission. Fr Augusto Zampini - who, I gather, spoke at the diocese Laudate Si' workshop a few years ago - talked about the Commission as not being about "restart" or a "new normal" but regenerating and rebuilding the world's society and economy to be more aligned to Gospel values. "The Pope asks us to prepare the future, which is different from preparing for the future". He urges us to ask questions. For example, if your country rescues large companies, not small ones or sole traders, we must talk about it and ask why this is. My career was in business and during my MBA (Masters in Business Administration) I was taught that the model of growth was making profit and growing GDP, but not about a preferential option for the poor or the effects on human dignity and the natural environment.

I love Laudato Si' because it is so encouraging and talks about new beginnings. For example:

#205 'Human beings, while capable of the worse, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom.'

#208 'We are always capable of going out of ourselves towards the other …. the moral imperative of assessing the impact of our every action and personal decision on the world around us. If we can overcome individualism, we will truly be able to develop a different lifestyle and bring about significant changes in society.'

#225 'Inner peace is closely related to care for ecology and for the common good because it is reflected in a balanced lifestyle together with a capacity for wonder which takes us to a deeper understanding of life.'

The document describes all sorts of small everyday actions that affect each person in the world and new ways to be with the poor. #212 says: 'We must not think that these efforts are not going to change the world. They benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread. Furthermore, such actions can restore our sense of self-esteem; they can enable us to live more fully.'

I encourage you to read it - free to download!

LINK

Laudato Si' - www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html