Doa pembuka

Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day and through whom you give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; and bears a likeness of you, Most High. Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful. Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through whom you give sustenance to your creatures. Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water, who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste. Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you light the night, and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong

Mari kita buka CG kita hari ini dengan kata-kata dari Pope Francis dari salah satu surat ensikliknya (diambil dari https://catholicvote.org/pope-francis-on-the-biblical-basis-ofrespect-for-nature/)

We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us. This allows us to respond to the charge that Judeo-Christian thinking, on the basis of the Genesis account which grants man ‘dominion’ over the earth, has encouraged the unbridled exploitation of nature by painting him as domineering and destructive by nature. This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church. Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justified absolute dominion over other creatures.

The biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell us to ’till and keep’ the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15). ‘Tilling’ refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while ‘keeping’ means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. ‘The earth is the Lord’s’ (Ps. 24:1); to him belongs ‘the earth with all that is within it’ (Dt 10:14).

Bacaan

Kita hidup di waktu dimana segala sesuatu sudah cukup mudah didapat, lewat computer kecil kita (mobile phone), kita bisa dapatkan dari bahan makanan kaya brokoli yang harganya 2-3 dollar sampe alat medis yang harganya sampai jutaan dollar, dan sering kali kita lebih konsentrasi ke computer kecil kita daripada ke ruangan di sekitar kita, bahkan sewaktu di bus atau di MRT, kita konsentrasi ke computer dari pada melihat lingkungan yang setiap hari berubah seperti apa yang dibawa oleh fasil hari ini, apakah kalian sendiri tau pohon atau bunga apa itu sebelum dibawa oleh fasil?

Semua yang ada di sekitar kita ini sebetulnya terhubung satu sama lain dan kalau kalian mau, kalian bisa lihat banyak sekali hal di luar dari computer kecil, seperti apa Pope Francis bilang dari bacaan Laudato Si

A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. . . . Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society. (Pope Francis, On Care for Our Common Home [Laudato Si’. . . ],nos. 49, 91)

The notion of the common good also extends to future generations. The global economic crises have made painfully obvious the detrimental effects of disregarding our common destiny, which cannot exclude those who come after us. We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others.

Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. (Pope Francis, On Care for Our Common Home [Laudato Si’. . . ], no. 159)

Pernahkah dari kalian pernah berpikir tujuan dari kita melakukan amal seperti pergi ke panti jompo menemani orang tua atau ke willing hearts potong sayuran? Apakah karena teman teman banyak ke sana, jadi penasaran ada apaan? Atau karena ada event oleh Amoredio, jadi ikutan aja? Pernahkah kalian berpikir bahwa amal yang kalian kerjakan itu adalah sesuatu yang sudah sebaiknya dikerjakan sebagai mahluk yang memliki kemampuan untuk melayani satu sama lain? Seperti apa yang di tulis oleh Pope Francis di bawah:

We human beings are not only the beneficiaries but also the stewards of other creatures. Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. Let us not leave in our wake a swath of destruction and death which will affect our own lives and those of future generations.(Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel [Evangelii Guadium. . . ], no. 215)

The environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole. . . Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other. (Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth [Caritas in Veritate]. . . , nos. 48, 51)

Tulisan di atas juga mengingatkan bahwa peran kita sebagai umat kristiani juga memiliki peran yang besar dan kita juga perlu melatih ajaran ajaran kasih untuk lingkungan sekitar kita, baik hewan, tumbuhan, dan manusia; supaya juga generasi setelah kita, anak dan cucu masih sempat menikmati atau masih bisa hidup secara parallel dengan lingkungan sekitarnya.

Kalau dibandingkan dengan kehidupan kita sekitar 30 tahun yang lalu, pada saat itu kita belum ada wifi atau mobile mini computer (mobile smart phone), dan kalau dibandingkan dengan kehidupan kita sekarang, banyak dari kita yang “berlomba” untuk memenuhi keinginan untuk mengikuti jaman, salah satu bentuk perlombaan ini adalah dalam sifat konsumerism, seperti memperhatikan smart phone mana yang fiturnya lebih baik dari yang dimiliki saat ini dan cepat cepat untuk mengganti smart phone, atau melihat video di Instagram tentang anak orang terkenal menggunakan product tertentu yang membuat anak ini menjadi lebih pandai atau lebih maju, dan akhirnya membuat orang orang yang “mengikuti” mencoba product tersebut dengan harapan anaknya akan juga menjadi maju. Sifat yang mulai tertanam di gaya kehidupan sekarang ini juga memicu untuk melupakan lingkungan sekitar kita yang banyak perlu kita perhatikan juga, seperti bacaan dibawah ini:

Changes in lifestyle based on traditional moral virtues can ease the way to a sustainable and equitable world economy in which sacrifice will no longer be an unpopular concept. For many of us, a life less focused on material gain may remind us that we are more than what we have. Rejecting the false promises of excessive or conspicuous consumption can even allow more time for family, friends, and civic responsibilities. A renewed sense of sacrifice and restraint could make an essential contribution to addressing global climate change. (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good)

Equally worrying is the ecological question which accompanies the problem of consumerism and which is closely connected to it. In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and to grow, man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way. . . . Man, who discovers his capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through his own work, forgets that this is always based on God’s prior and original gift of the things that are.

Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray. Instead of carrying out his role as a co-operator with God in the work of creation, man sets himself up in place of God and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, which is more tyrannized than governed by him. (St. John Paul II, On the Hundredth Year [Centesimus Annus. . . ], no. 37)

Jadi kita sebagai umat kristiani yang diberikan akal budi dan pengertian, kita juga perlu mengingat bahwa kita sekarang ini berada di dunia bukan semata mata untuk “menguasai” dan “menggunakan” sepuas dan sebisa mungkin tanpa juga mengingat ajaran kasih yang bersifat universal terhadap apapun yang hidup.

The dominion granted to man by the Creator is not an absolute power, nor can one speak of a freedom to “use and misuse,” or to dispose of things as one pleases. The limitation imposed from the beginning by the Creator himself and expressed symbolically by the prohibition not to “eat of the fruit of the tree” (cf. Gen 2:16-17) shows clearly enough that, when it comes to the natural world, we are subject not only to biological laws but also to moral ones, which cannot be violated with impunity. A true concept of development cannot ignore the use of the elements of nature, the renewability of resources and the consequences of haphazard industrialization – three considerations which alert our consciences to the moral dimension of development.(St. John Paul II, On Social Concerns [Sollicitudo rei Socialis. . . ], no. 34)

Bacaan tambahan

Awal bulan ini baru saja Paus Francis berbicara tentang perawatan penciptaan, dibawah ini adalah apa yang Paus Francis katakan:

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS

POPE FRANCIS

FOR THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

1 SEPTEMBER 2019

“And God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:25). God’s gaze, at the beginning of the Bible, rests lovingly on his creation. From habitable land to life-giving waters, from fruit-bearing trees to animals that share our common home, everything is dear in the eyes of God, who offers creation to men and women as a precious gift to be preserved.

Tragically, the human response to this gift has been marked by sin, selfishness and a greedy desire to possess and exploit. Egoism and self-interest have turned creation, a place of encounter and sharing, into an arena of competition and conflict. In this way, the environment itself is endangered: something good in God’s eyes has become something to be exploited in human hands. Deterioration has increased in recent decades: constant pollution, the continued use of fossil fuels, intensive agricultural exploitation and deforestation are causing global temperatures to rise above safe levels.

The increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather phenomena and the desertification of the soil are causing immense hardship for the most vulnerable among us. Melting of glaciers, scarcity of water, neglect of water basins and the considerable presence of plastic and microplastics in the oceans are equally troubling, and testify to the urgent need for interventions that can no longer be postponed. We have caused a climate emergency that gravely threatens nature and life itself, including our own.

In effect, we have forgotten who we are: creatures made in the image of God (cf. Gen 1:27) and called to dwell as brothers and sisters in a common home. We were created not to be tyrants, but to be at the heart of a network of life made up of millions of species lovingly joined together for us by our Creator. Now is the time to rediscover our vocation as children of God, brothers and sisters, and stewards of creation. Now is the time to repent, to be converted and to return to our roots. We are beloved creatures of God, who in his goodness calls us to love life and live it in communion with the rest of creation.

For this reason, I strongly encourage the faithful to pray in these days that, as the result of a timely ecumenical initiative, are being celebrated as a Season of Creation. This season of increased prayer and effort on behalf of our common home begins today, 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on 4 October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. It is an opportunity to draw closer to our brothers and sisters of the various Christian confessions. I think in particular of the Orthodox faithful, who have celebrated this Day for thirty years. In this ecological crisis affecting everyone, we should also feel close to all other men and women of good will, called to promote stewardship of the network of life of which we are part.

This is the season for letting our prayer be inspired anew by closeness to nature, which spontaneously leads us to give thanks to God the Creator. Saint Bonaventure, that eloquent witness to Franciscan wisdom, said that creation is the first “book” that God opens before our eyes, so that, marvelling at its order, its variety and its beauty, we can come to love and praise its Creator (cf. Breviloquium, II, 5, 11). In this book, every creature becomes for us “a word of God” (cf. Commentarius in Librum Ecclesiastes, I, 2).

In the silence of prayer, we can hear the symphony of creation calling us to abandon our self-centredness in order to feel embraced by the tender love of the Father and to share with joy the gifts we have received. We can even say that creation, as a network of life, a place of encounter with the Lord and one another, is “God’s own ‘social network’” (Audience for the Guides and Scouts of Europe, 3 August 2019). Nature inspires us to raise a song of cosmic praise to the Creator in the words of Scripture: “Bless the Lord, all things that grow on the earth, sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever” (Dan 3:76 Vg).

It is also a season to reflect on our lifestyles, and how our daily decisions about food, consumption, transportation, use of water, energy and many other material goods, can often be thoughtless and harmful. Too many of us act like tyrants with regard to creation. Let us make an effort to change and to adopt more simple and respectful lifestyles! Now is the time to abandon our dependence on fossil fuels and move, quickly and decisively, towards forms of clean energy and a sustainable and circular economy. Let us also learn to listen to indigenous peoples, whose age-old wisdom can teach us how to live in a better relationship with the environment.

This too is a season for undertaking prophetic actions. Many young people all over the world are making their voices heard and calling for courageous decisions. They feel let down by too many unfulfilled promises, by commitments made and then ignored for selfish interests or out of expediency. The young remind us that the earth is not a possession to be squandered, but an inheritance to be handed down. They remind us that hope for tomorrow is not a noble sentiment, but a task calling for concrete actions here and now. We owe them real answers, not empty words, actions not illusions.

Our prayers and appeals are directed first at raising the awareness of political and civil leaders. I think in particular of those governments that will meet in coming months to renew commitments decisive for directing the planet towards life, not death. The words that Moses proclaimed to the people as a kind of spiritual testament at the threshold of the Promised Land come to mind: “Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live” (Dt 3:19). We can apply those prophetic words to ourselves and to the situation of our earth. Let us choose life! Let us say “no” to consumerist greed and to the illusion of omnipotence, for these are the ways of death. Let us inaugurate farsighted processes involving responsible sacrifices today for the sake of sure prospects for life tomorrow. Let us not give in to the perverse logic of quick profit, but look instead to our common future!

In this regard, the forthcoming United Nations Climate Action Summit is of particular importance. There, governments will have the responsibility of showing the political will to take drastic measures to achieve as quickly as possible zero net greenhouse gas emissions and to limit the average increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius with respect to pre-industrial levels, in accordance with the Paris Agreement goals. Next month, in October, the Amazon region, whose integrity is gravely threatened, will be the subject of a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Let us take up these opportunities to respond to the cry of the poor and of our earth!

Each Christian man and woman, every member of the human family, can act as a thin yet unique and indispensable thread in weaving a network of life that embraces everyone. May we feel challenged to assume, with prayer and commitment, our responsibility for the care of creation. May God, “the lover of life” (Wis 11:26), grant us the courage to do good without waiting for someone else to begin, or until it is too late.

From the Vatican, 1 September 2019

FRANCIS

Pertanyaan

1. Dari kalian semua, kapan terakhir kali kalian keluar dari kesibukan, duduk di taman atau di pantai dan menikmati pemandangan yang ada? Apa yang kalian nikmati dari pemandangan itu? Kalau tidak ingat atau belom pernah, sharingkan kenapa kalian tidak ada waktu untuk itu?
2. Adakah dari kalian yang ikut group untuk mengurus alam dan lingkungan? Kenapa ya atau tidak?
3. Setelah membaca dari bacaan diatas, apakah kalian akan merubah cara kalian memperlakukan alam dan lingkungan kalian dimana saja? Apa yang kalian coba untuk rubah? (tidak perlu berpikir sampai hal yang ekstreem, seperti keluar kerja, pergi ke hutan amazon untuk merantai diri ke pohon supaya ga di tebang; lihat dari sekitar kalian, di tempat kerja, atau sewaktu kalian di rumah)
4. Menurut kalian apakah sulit untuk tidak mengikuti sifat sifat consumerism di bacaan di atas? Why?
5. Adakah kalian yang pernah mendengar tentang product yang fantastis tetapi untuk membuat product ada effek samping yang kurang baik, seperti “makanlah sayuran lebih banyak karena akan bisa membuat hidup lebih baik”, tetapi untuk membawa sayuran dari sumber ke konsumen itu dengan keadaan tetap segar malah perlu bensin lebih dari 2 kali lipat daripada membawa daging ke konsumen? Sharingkan apa aja yang pernah kalian dengar.

Reference

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pontmessages/2019/documents/papafrancesco_20190901_messaggio-giornata-curacreato.html

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-socialteaching/care-for-creation.cfm

https://catholicvote.org/pope-francis-on-the-biblical-basis-of-respect-for-nature/