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Earth Hour is a very good way to remember that we are all stewards of the environment and that from the message of the Holy Father Pope Francis about Laudato Si, we are all caretakers and we are [here] to care for the Earth.
I think the first point that we can reflect on is that the environment itself, the nature, is God’s creation, it is a gift from God it is given to us freely for our use in order to make our life also sustainable and productive.
The second point of reflection, is that we are all ask to be stewards of the gift of God, it is part of our responsibility to make sure that the environment is taken care of, and sustainable for future generation.
In fact that is also the third point of our reflection that the environment is meant for all generations not only for the present one and we owe it to the children of the next and further generation to make sure that the environment or God’s creation will still be there to be of benefit to them.
Also we can reflect that the church herself is also for integral human development and this is really Part of our calling now to take care of our relationship not only among our fellow men and women but also our relationship to God, creation, God’s gift for which we are all part of.
In fact we can also say that in the same way, we are all against the suicide killing of self or against homicide the killing of other people or the genocide, the killing of ethnic groups, all the more now we should be mindful that there can also be a crime such us ecocide the killing of the environment and this will have more harmful effects in a sense that it pertains to our sources of water, of clean air, of livelihood, versus land erosion, versus drought, versus earthquakes, and typhoons and this is part of our responsibility to make sure that we can reverse already the ill effects of climate change that’s taking place.
In Cagayan De Oro we have been affected by typhoon Sendong in 2011 and we also heard about the destruction of typhoon Yolanda, and so there are more severe weather conditions that we should be aware of because of climate change.
So this is all part of the urgency and also the invitation that all of us should remain as stewards of creation for the good of our community, and for the good also of the entire world so may this [earth Hour] be a reminder that we are all on one planet, home, and that we are all care takers and stewards of God’s creation a gift to us and for all generation.
Archbishop Antonio Ledesma
Archdiocese of Cagayan De Oro
