From the Holy Father’s letter of 6 August 2015 to Cardinals Koch and Turkson:
As Christians we wish to contribute to resolving the ecological cris
is which
humanity is presently experiencing. In doing so, we must first rediscover in our
own rich spiritual patrimony the deepest motivations for our concern for the care
of creation. We need always to keep in mind that, for believers in Jesus Christ,
the
Word of God who became man for our sake, “the life of the spirit is not
dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in
and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us” (
Laudato Si’
, 216). The
ecological crisis thus
summons us to a profound spiritual conversion: Christians
are called to “an ecological conversion whereby the effects of their encounter with
Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them”
(ibid., 217). For “living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is
essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our
Christian experience” (ibid.).
1st September is the day of prayer for the care of creation
