Heroes of a Dying Earth

We can no longer live our lives for ourselves.   We have to begin to live for others and for this one web of Life, we call Earth. This speck in the universe, seen as a tiny mote of dust   suspended in a sunbeam. Yes, this Earth, a miniscule stage in the vast cosmic arena, uniquely teeming with life, watered by the rivers of blood spilled  by  lowly soldiers  and peasants,  by great emperors  and  kings,  and  countless heroes  known  and  unknown. This  little dot  is  our  home, home to everyone  we  know, everyone  we  have  ever  heard,  or  seen  or  loved,  cradle of  our  sufferings and  joys. Yes  this  and  nowhere  else  is  our  home,  where  we  will  all  live  or  we  will  all  die.

 Mother  Earth  is  our  common home.  We  breathe  its  air.  We  are  made  of  its  elements and nothing  happens  to  one, that  will  not  touch  another. If  someone  starves   in  our family  or  in  our  community or  any part  of  the  world, then  we  are  responsible. We can never really  say there  is  no  problem, or  it is not  our  problem,  or  there  is  nothing  we  can do  about  that problem.  Life  is  one  and  we  are  all  part  of  that  life.  Pope  Francis, in his encyclical Laudato  Si,   Praise be to God,  urges  us  to  rethink  how  we all live  our entire lives.  Because we can never  praise  God and abuse His creation. Nature  is  howling and  is  chasing  after  us, not  to  threaten  us, but to let us know that  we  have become  a  threat  to  ourselves.  We  have  been  exploiting  our  world  and  allowing  others  to  continue  their  massive exploitation. 

Cardinal Tagle  presided  over  the  funeral  of  two  little  children  who  died. Why did they die?  Because they ate  a piece of  chicken  that  their  father  had  retrieved  from garbage.  What  type  of  a  world  has this become   where  food   becomes  trash  and  becomes  somebody  else’s  food?  This  is  the  world  we  are  in.  This  is  what  we  have  made  of  our  world.   We were supposed  to  praise  God  in  His  creation  with  the  song of our  lives.  God  saw  the  best  in  us and entrusted us this Earth,  as caretakers,  not  as lifetakers. Why have we forgotten  who  we  are.   

This  earth  is  our  life.  One  air, one faith, one  people, one God. Everything  on  this  earth  is  bonded  together.  With this  earth,  we  are  all  designed  to  stand  or  all  destined to fall. Let us choose  to  save  this  Home. Let us choose to be  heroes.