The human person grows more, matures moreand is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with othersand with all creatures Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity that flows from the mystery of the Trinity. Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home # 2401.
When I reflect on this passage, the Roman Catholic Church’s most authoritative pastoral letter on a trinitarian vision of relationship between care for humanity, care for all of creation, and the Divine, I am brought immediately to my childhood experience of the Trinity as an inseparable experience of the Creator God, Child of God Jesus, and Spirit of God.
Growing up, my family moved frequently throughout the United States. Creeks, mountains, seashore, lakes, farmland, deserts, and forests were all among my first companions in any new place we moved. Digging, climbing, gazing, and exploring were all ways I discovered and danced with God in nature. I remember feeling playful, curious, free, expansive, loving, and loved. More than landscapes to my human family story unfolding in each place, these ecosystems were experiences of being in relationship with God.
With each move, before we found our local parish for Sunday mass, being outside was where I experienced the touch of God in my heart, drawing forth wonder and awe in the wild temple of creation. Before my experience of sacramental preparation for Holy Communion and Reconciliation, my bones, blood, skin, and breath knew communion with God through the Word of the Wind, howling in the skies, and whistling of birds. I experienced the baptismal healing and cleansing powers of the ocean. Sitting quietly beneath a tree, I could lay down my laments and reconcile my heart with God. The sun, moon, and stars were the lights that guided my interior longings, like the Paschal candle that shines in most Christian churches around the world.
Before I learned about the Trinity or how to pray to Our Father or the Hail Mary at Sunday school, I learned about interconnectedness and how to praise and honor God the Creator through my relationships with the natural world. As I grew up and my formation and religious practice were brought indoors, my spirituality remained wild in the utopian horizon that draws us to itself.
Laudato Si’ and its companion text Laudate Deum2 should be understood as one important expression in an ongoing evolution of the Catholic Church’s teaching on how we live our faith in an interdependent and interconnected world. This evolution is better understood not in a linear sense of time but rather in a deep cyclical time in which what we are uncovering today is actually a recovering of Jesus’ life - the perfect model for a life lived in harmonious and loving relationship with all of creation.
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