Sister Earth

Almsgiving: Imitate the Earth

Here is a thought as we enter Lent, the season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving:

Imitate the earth: bear fruit as it does, and do not be inferior to what is less than human. The earth bears fruit not for itself but for you. But when you do good, you gather for yourselves, since good works reward their doers. Give to the hungry; what you give becomes yours and returns to you with interest. As wheat thrown to the ground profits the sower, so bread given to the poor yields you a reward. "Sow uprightness for yourselves."

Like it or not, you must leave your wealth behind you, but the glory dervied from good works you take with you to the Lord. Before our common Judge, the multitude you have fed will call you their benefactor and praise you for humaneness and kindness. Just look at how people throw fortunes away on sports and on the theater in order to win the ephemeral praise and applause of the mob! Are you going to stingy, then, when such genuine glory is your reward?

—St. Basil the Great, Sermon on Charity (as printed in Benedictine Daily Prayer)

If a Tree Falls in the Blogosphere...

Or, more specifically, it shows up at the Festival of the Trees!

A Catholic Response to Global Warming

A Priority for the Poor: We are deeply concerned that the poor and vulnerable in our country and around the world will have little or no voice in this vital discussion. Their needs and burdens are likely to be ignored or overwhelmed by more powerful forces. Poor families and children, vulnerable workers, and farmers will likely be most impacted by climate change and bear the greatest burdens as we address its causes and consequences. The poor have the fewest resources and capacity to escape the costs of climate change. We all know too well who is left behind and who pays the greatest price when disaster, floods or droughts occur. The impact on poor communities and nations require priority attention as proposals for action are shaped and assessed.

The Pursuit of the Common Good: The challenge of global climate change is a pre-eminent example of how our debate and decisions should reflect the pursuit of the common good, rather than the search for economic, political or other narrow advantage. Our obligation to pass on the gift of God’s creation to future generations without doing irreversible harm is but one aspect of the demands of the common good. We urge you to resist and restrain predictable interest group pressures and narrow appeals. Instead, we urge to you to help build up common ground for common action to advance the common good.

The Practice of Prudence: The IPCC report makes clear that “the warming of the climate is unequivocal” and that “continued greenhouse gas emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system during the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century.” (Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, IPCC WGI Fourth Assessment Report, pp. 3 and 10, available at http://www.ipcc.ch). The traditional virtue of prudence suggests that we do not have to know with absolute certainty everything that is happening with climate change to know that something seriously harmful is occurring. Therefore, it is better to act now than wait until the problem gets worse and the remedies more costly. This precautionary principle leads us to act now to avoid the worst consequences of waiting. Prudence sometimes keeps us from acting precipitously. In this case, it requires us to act with urgency and seriousness.

—Bishop Thomas G. Wenski, Chairman, Committee on International Policy, Letter to Congress, Feb. 7, 2007

via Treehugger via CBC Radio: BC Almanac