“The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” —Pope Francis, Laudate Deum
Pope Francis’ recent apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, is a short but urgent follow-up to his historic encyclical of 2015, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. In that earlier document he firmly established ecological concerns as central to the agenda of Catholic Social Teaching. Along with a spiritual framework for “ecological conversion,” he outlined issues of climate change, biodiversity, the peril facing our oceans and access to fresh water. His new document reflects his disappointment in the intervening years with the limited response to the climate crisis of our time.
Addressing the irreversible effects of rising global temperatures, decrease in ice sheets and other signs of the times, he critiques the “technocratic paradigm,” addiction to a fossil-fuel economy and the “weaknesses of international politics,” while leveling particular criticism at those who sow resistance and confusion. As Erin Lothes Biviano writes in her introduction, Pope Francis here writes as a prophet, priest, poet, and most of all “a pastor, deeply concerned for people throughout the world, and above all for the poor.”
With selections from Laudato Si’, this Orbis edition makes for an essential resource for all Catholic readers and all people of good will. It is a call to face the preeminent crisis of our times and to draw on all our spiritual wisdom, scientific knowledge and political will to meet the challenge.
In what serves as a Scriptural and theological complement to the pope’s message, prize-winning theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson has written Come, Have Breakfast: Meditations on God and the Earth. The title comes from the seldom-quoted words of Jesus, following his resurrection, when he invited his disciples to join him for breakfast at the Sea of Galilee (Jn 21:12). As Johnson notes, “These three simple words, followed by generous action, open a portal into an ecological image of the living God who is active with cordial hospitality toward all creatures, nurturing their lives, desiring that all should be fed.”
Viewing planet Earth through the lens of Scripture, Johnson offers a series of stunning meditations, each one offering a snapshot of one aspect of the holy mystery who creates, indwells, redeems, vivifies and sanctifies the whole world. Together, they offer a panoramic view of the living God who loves the earth, accompanies all its creatures in their living and their dying, and moves us to care for our uncommon common home.
In his endorsement, James Martin, SJ, calls Elizabeth Johnson “one of the world’s greatest and most gifted theologians.” Along with Laudate Deum, as Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP, says in her endorsement, this book “holds the power to expand our minds, inspire our hearts, and move us to action on behalf of our created kin and common home.”
May both books plant seeds in fertile ground.
To purchase Laudate Deum, click here; To purchase Come, Have Breakfast, click here.
