Dear Brothers and Sisters,
22/04 is Earth Day, on which numerous actions in 175 countries draw attention to the preservation of our Earth's ecological values. On this occasion, the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference, in a circular letter, calls the faithful's attention to the Christian's responsibility for our Earth and our immediate environment.
The protection of creation is one of the important tenets of the teaching of the Catholic Church, which is more relevant in our time than ever before. Pope Francis – who, as Bishop of Rome, took the name of Saint Francis of Assisi, revered as the patron saint of nature, out of a commitment to the protection of the poor and nature – places particularly strong emphasis on this topic.
In 2015, the Holy Father issued his encyclical Laudato Si’ ‘on the care for our common home’, the first paragraph of which reads as follows:
‘“Praise be to you, my Lord,” sang Saint Francis of Assisi. With this beautiful canticle, he reminded us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life, and like a beautiful mother who embraces us: “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colourful flowers and herbs.”’
The first lines of the Holy Father's encyclical worthily and clearly express the original relationship between the Christian person and nature. This relationship, however, has changed over the past centuries, in the period since the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, and our ‘Sister, Mother Earth’ has suffered for it. It is time for us to change and to change the world – to use the Holy Father's words: an ecological conversion is needed.
‘If “the external deserts are growing in the world, because the internal deserts have become so vast,” the environmental crisis is a summons to a profound interior conversion. But we must also acknowledge that there are committed and prayerful Christians who – under the guise of realism and pragmatism – sometimes laugh at environmental concerns. Others are passive, fail to commit to changing their habits, and thus become incoherent. They therefore need an ecological conversion, which means: allowing all the consequences of their encounter with Jesus to become evident in their relationships with the world around them. Living out the vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is an essential part of a virtuous life; it is not an optional task, nor a secondary aspect of the Christian experience.’
On the occasion of Earth Day, recalling the Holy Father's thoughts on protecting God's handiwork, it is worth looking around Hungary: in what entrusted landscapes, natural values, and resources in our immediate environment, in our homeland, can we see the miracle of Creation. Our waters, farmlands, orchards, and forests surround us, proclaiming God's glory and nourishing us all in an inseparable unity. In this unity, forests play a prominent role, being not only an invaluable ecosystem in material terms but also the protector of all others, namely waters, farmlands, and people. Where the forest flourishes, the desert does not spread. The forest protects the purity of waters, prevents farmlands from becoming barren, provides renewable raw materials and energy sources, and ensures our physical and spiritual renewal in the closeness of nature. The forest protects God's handiwork, while itself being His creation. Therefore, if we follow the Holy Father's guidance and believe that protecting natural values as God's handiwork is part of our duty and Christian vocation, then we can accomplish this most readily in our immediate environment.
But how do we begin to implement this? The most important guidance given by Pope Francis is: together.
‘To resolve such a complex situation as the present world faces, it is not enough for each of us to improve individually. Isolated individuals can lose their ability and freedom to overcome the logic of instrumental reason and remain at the mercy of a consumerist mindset devoid of morality, social, and environmental value. Social problems must be responded to with a community network, not merely by the summation of individual good deeds: “The demands of this task have grown to such an extent that they cannot be satisfied by individual initiatives or by the sum of the initiatives of individuals formed in an individualistic spirit. They necessitate the pooling of efforts and unity of implementation.” The ecological conversion necessary to initiate the dynamism of lasting change is also a communal conversion.’
The Holy Father calls us to unity, connection, and joint action. Just as the trees of a forest together, jointly form the forest, so too must we work together in protecting God's handiwork.
The Hungarian language is beautiful. Just as in the Church we speak of a communion of love realised among people, so too does the Hungarian scientific language refer to a group of living beings living in one place and in an interdependent relationship as an ‘ecosystem’ (életközösség). In this regard, we can also think of the forest as an example, the most complex ecosystem, which is part and symbol of God's handiwork: if we care for them, we can all experience the Holy Father's call for ecological conversion.
Each of our life paths leads through different spiritual landscapes, our work and vocation give us different tasks. However, commitment to the preservation of natural values, of forests, can connect us. On the occasion of Earth Day, we encourage the faithful to collectively live out and realise this great, common mission in parish communities, catechism groups, prayer groups, and spiritual movements: the protection of God's handiwork, of the created world.
For this, we ask for God's help with the words of Pope Francis:
‘All-powerful God,
you are present in the whole universe,
and in the smallest of your creatures,
and you embrace with your tenderness
all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace,
that we may live as brothers and sisters,
and harm no one!
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue those
who live abandoned and forgotten on this earth,
yet who are so precious in your eyes!
Heal our lives,
that we may protect the world,
not plunder it,
that we may sow beauty,
not pollution and destruction!
Touch the hearts of those
who look only for gain,
at the expense of the poor and the earth!
Teach us to discover the value of each thing,
to look at them with awe,
to recognise that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light!
We thank you for being with us each day!
Encourage us, we pray,
in our struggle
for justice, love and peace!’
Budapest, 17/04/2024.
Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference
Good News Press Office/Diocese of Debrecen-Nyíregyháza