Papal encyclical evokes spirit of St. Francis

By Orlando R. Barone

One thing can be said for sure about Pope Francis' encyclical "Praise Be," which is scheduled for release Thursday. It will be read and pondered, reread and pondered anew. It will be much to take in, but a few previews provide a starting point for reflection on this remarkable document.

First, there is the pope's refreshing take on the Bible's familiar words of creation:

"Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" (Gen 1:26).

Francis makes clear that this verse does not give us permission to treat creation as we wish or to dominate other living beings solely for our own benefit. In fact, humans have dominion only in the way God has dominion; we are stand-ins for God, who made us in his image so we could care for his beloved creation just as God cares.

Look for the encyclical to expand on our obligations to be godlike in our treatment of the bounty of living beings that surround, support, and nourish us as we do them. This is creative love that always stretches its strong and merciful hand to the lowliest of creatures. This is the second theme.

The pope never loses sight of the lowliest, especially among us humans. He connects our stewardship of the Earth to the law of love that demands we give the poor first dibs on the kingdom of God. Care for the environment is meaningless if it does not encompass, centrally, care for the people most harmed by the violence we do to our environment: those who are sickened and starved by that violence, those set adrift as refugees, those whose children lose all hope.

Violence is the third theme. The quest to preserve our planet cannot be divorced from the quest for peace. When the first readers of Genesis noted our godlike dominion over the creatures of Earth, none of them contemplated that we would acquire the godlike capacity to destroy all of creation with our gruesome weapons of mass destruction.

The horrendous prospect of large-scale disaster propels a fourth theme, the need to understand and respond to climate change, a challenge that calls for our species to act with a unity we've never managed before.

The themes of peacemaking, love of the poor, godlike care for our fellow creatures, and responding to climate change are central to the man Pope Francis frequently turns to for guidance and inspiration: St. Francis of Assisi, whose life truly encompasses the extraordinary breadth of this encyclical.

Its first words, Praise Be, begin not only this pope's letter to us but each verse of his namesake's hymn to everything that lives and gives life. The Lord is praised through all his creation, from Brother Sun and Sister Moon to Brother Fire and our brothers and sisters who bear tribulation in peace.

This beautiful Canticle of the Creatures praises God through our Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us. This sums up the complete dependence of which we must be keenly aware if we are to read Francis' encyclical and ponder its meaning with open eyes and a receptive heart.

We should not read one line of it before reciting, head bowed, the final words of the magnificent Canticle:

"Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks, and serve him with great humility."

Orlando R. Barone is a writer in Doylestown.  orby114@aol.com