Make this Lent an ecological one.

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‘As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth…’

Is 55:10

The environment may not be an obvious object for concern during Lent, but it is.

The opening sentence of today’s first reading from Isaiah reminds us that the rain and the snow are God’s gift to the earth to enable things to grow. The prophet also uses it as an image for God’s word that gives growth to the soul. How does the three-fold Lenten injunction to pray, fast and give alms fit in here?

Echoing St Francis, the Pope offers this prayer at the end of his passionate encyclical Laudato Si’: ‘Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you. Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made. Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined to everything that is…’ What a wonderful Lenten prayer!

Also, why not trying fasting in a way that cares for ‘our common home’, as Pope Francis calls our world. Fast from using plastics. For instance, did you know that using a bar of soap in the shower is not only cheaper than shower gel, but it also avoids using its plastic container and, more importantly, avoids the use of those nasty particles of microplastic that give the gel its gel-like consistency, which ends up in our oceans and the fish and onto our dinner plate? Also, try fasting from using the car for short journeys and use the bus instead, or walk. As for almsgiving, many of the Catholic funding agencies now support environmental initiatives, especially as Pope Francis has emphasised the link between our over-consumption and the effect it has on the poor. Or, you could help your parish to pay a subscription to become an eco-congregation. Look it up under www.ecocongregation.org. It is a growing movement in the UK and beyond. For our pope, care for the earth is not a ‘pontifical fad’ for, as he says, ‘a true ecological approach always (italics his) becomes a social approach… so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’.

Make this Lent an ecological one.

A reflection written by Paul Graham O.S.A., St Joseph's Broomhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland


Follow the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.), Province of England and Scotland  

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