Tulod, Byron Jon Reflection Paper

L-150818, 1-I Dr.

James Loreto Piscos Seminar 2
15 February 2016

Encyclical Letter Laudato Si of Pope Francis

Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs

us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs 1. (1st par.)

The above-stated is the opening paragraph of Pope Francis Encyclical Laudato Si

which basically gives the readers the main point of the lengthy document, that is, the

Mother Earth is now crying out because of what we, humans, have done to her. It also

implicitly sends a message to the humanity about the destruction that man is rendering

to the environment and his fellow man.

First of all, I find it interesting that Pope Francis, a highly educated and holy man,

focuses not only on the issues facing Catholics today but also the environmental and

societal issues. I think he came up with this well-researched encyclical because he sees

the Earth as Gods gift of creation for us to care, not to destroy. Growing up in an eco-

friendly family, I also had the same mentality towards environment. My parents have the

habit of planting trees and taking good care of animals. We have always been educated

by them about plants and animals and as result, we have become more conscious

about what we eat, how much trash we gather, and what items could be reused and

recycled. My parents, specifically my father who has always been a nature-friendly ever

1 Encyclical Letter Laudato Si of the Holy Father Francis on Care for our Common Home, par.
1, retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-
francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
since, opened our hearts to the message that all of creation must be valued and

protected. He would always tell us that we should protect the Earth by respecting the

environment as we respect human life for there could be no good life without good

environment and I think this is what the integral ecology is trying to emphasize.

Since everything is closely interrelated, and todays problems call for a vision capable of taking

into account every aspect of the global crisis, I suggest that we now consider some elements of

an integral ecology, one which clearly respects its human and social dimensions.2

Integral ecology, according to Pope Francis, points out that everything is closely related

with which I strongly agree. Basically, human beings are part of the environment and the

beauty of nature depends on what we do. What we do in our daily lives has always

connection with or impact on the environment. A simple litter, cutting of trees, pollution,

and not conserving water and electricity are notably the activities that damage the

environment. These are the things we always tend to overlook and should take action

on because, as Pope says, nature cannot be regarded as something separate from

ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. Otherwise, throwaway culture is likely to

occur.

The climate is a common good that belongs to all of us. It is one of the main

challenges that humans are facing nowadays. The Earth is warming and it is primarily

because of the greenhouse gases and deforestations both caused by humans. Thus,

there should be public policy that would promote renewable sources of energy.

2 Ibid, Chapter 4.
 Moreover, Pope Francis explains how unbalance the world is due to lack of

natural resources which affects the poor people of the world. It is always taken for

granted that there are those people who waste food and water while others are starving

to death and do not have access to clean water. If we continue to do this, we continue to

harm our impoverished brothers and sisters, as well ourselves.

To make things simpler, Pope Francis basically brings light to the world with

regard environmental degradation and how it relates to human life. He makes people

realize that there is a connection between the environment and society, that is, there

could be no good ecology if there is no good society that would take good care of

Mother Earth. By understanding such, we would be able to have a unity and solidarity

with the poor and thereby successfully fulfilling our obligations as humans to be more

concern on global crisis and to be more charitable.