Compassion for the earth

Lay missioner in Brazil works to defend God's creation

by Flávio Rocha

Many of us grew up thinking that sacredness is present only in churches and temples. For some of our ancestors, however, everything was sacred. It didn’t imply that they didn’t kill animals to sustain themselves or cut trees to build their houses. But they did understand that they needed to respect the balance of nature.

In Brazil’s northeastern state of Paraiba, where my wife Kathleen and I are Maryknoll Lay Missioners, I am developing a ministry to raise consciousness about ecology. Under the motto “Everything has life and sanctity” by the late Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, our work opens up a space for participants to reflect on compassion for God’s creation.

In one of the workshops, a young man said how sad he was that they had cut down all the trees in his father’s lot in order to plant pineapple for exports. A young woman said she was worried about all the toxins being dumped in the only lake in her hometown.

In these workshops I like to emphasize that compassion for nature is not possible without also addressing social issues such as the unequal distribution of natural resources, unemployment, lack of access to quality education, and all the factors that keep people in poverty. Those who are struggling to survive frequently are forced to make ecologically wrong decisions.

Migration to urban centers has created great changes in the way we relate to God’s creation.
Sometimes we may feel there is nothing we can do. But we all can do little things, such as buying organic foods, traveling together, or giving money to an organization that advocates for the good use of nature.

As people of faith, we are called to reflect on our role in the building of a better world. I always think of Jesus and the habit he had of withdrawing to the desert to reflect when things were really hectic. We can do likewise.

Your turn
What role do you think you play in the defense of natural resources and of God’s creation?