Faith for Planet Earth

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“More than a quarter of the UK’s puffins are struggling to survive. They’re one of Britain’s best-loved birds, but across Europe they have been classified as at risk of extinction

because of climate change and lack of food.”

“How could a people who appear to love nature more almost than any other nationality have still destroyed so much of their richest countryside in so short a time? .... and we are still

losing it day after day.....We [Britain] are among the world’s most nature-depleted countries”.  

“What are the most important wild places in the world? The Serengeti? The Amazon rainforest? Antarctica? Or perhaps it’s the tree on the corner of the street you live on, the patch of nettles on the roadside and the little park by the railway line… Little things: who notices, who cares, who will do anything? The answer to all three questions is you. Sorry about that – but who else is there? … We [need to] value the small steps we can all take… We need to save the world, one tree at a time.”

“Do not think your single vote does not matter much. The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops.”

“Our Sister, Mother Earth… cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life”. (Pope Francis)

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Lent is a time to listen. To listen to the Holy Spirit of God. To listen to ourselves. To listen to others and especially today to listen to the earth and its peoples.

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Let us listen to a young person, Greta Thunberg.

“Adults keep saying: 'We owe it to the young people to give them hope.' But I don't want your hope.  

I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic.

I want you to feel the fear I feel every day, and then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis.

I want you to act as if our house is on fire, because it is.”