Reflection: Step off the sidelines and choose life

By Br. Jacek Orzechowski, OFM

Lately, I find myself dwelling on a particular memory from my early childhood. I was born and grew up in the city of Bialystok, Poland. A large crucifix hung in the foyer of an old Catholic church that my family and I used to attend every Sunday. As people entered the church, many of them would kiss the dark red feet of Jesus. One of my parents would pick me up, then a child of four years old, and help me to reverently kiss the crucifix.  

Over the past few months, that memory has visited me, quite often in the middle of the night.  Unsettled by what is going on in our country today, I agonize over what is unfolding before my eyes. In place of mercy, I see a wrecking ball being applied as a cynical response to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth at home and abroad. Our country appears to blithely be sleepwalking into autocracy. Gaza Strip, along with its two million inhabitants, is being turned into a killing field with the help of American weapons and diplomatic cover. The US president is driving a stake into the heart of all efforts of sustainability, ridiculing and menacing those who seek climate justice. When I bring this into prayer, sometimes it causes me to tremble… 

Ten years ago, writing his encyclical Laudato Si’ , Pope Francis made an urgent appeal to safeguard our common home. It was not coincidence that its promulgation happened in the run-up to the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. He was bringing the Church’s moral voice to bear on one of the most urgent and consequential issues facing humanity.  

Drawing on overwhelming scientific consensus and the teachings of his predecessors, Pope Francis warned that unless humanity makes radical changes in its conduct, it will bring upon itself an ecological catastrophe, destroying its common home and itself in the process. In that context, the recent changes to environmental policies made by the current U.S. administration – in particular President Trump’s executive order to withdraw our country from the Paris Agreement – represent a colossal moral failure. Dan Misleh from Catholic Climate Covenant and I have elaborated on that claim in this recent article from Our Sunday Visitor.  

It is critical that nations of the world heed the voice of science and respond to the moral summons of religions across the globe calling for climate justice.  I consider myself to be pro-life. I always have been against the taking of the life of the unborn. However, for me, being pro-life includes choosing truth over falsehood.  

In Pope Francis’ encyclical, the protections offered to the unborn extend to all of creation. Those who choose to call climate change a hoax do not speak the truth, nor can they pretend to be pro-life. Disseminating misinformation about climate change at the service of the fossil fuel industry or patronizing the media sources that collude in the conspiracy of silence around it – and this includes some of the Catholic media outlets – is incompatible with a pro-life stance.  

For me, choosing life and being a follower of Jesus in the manner of St. Francis of Assisi means listening to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth.  It means not running away from the cross on which the poor and the earth are being crucified today.  

Choosing life is also about refusing to remain on the sidelines in a peaceful struggle for justice and the common good. It is tempting to say, “I can’t take it anymore”, distract myself and simply turn my face away from a tortured Christ walking past me along the contemporary Way of the Cross. 

My childhood memory of kissing the bloodied image of Jesus on the cross at the entrance to the church snaps me out of the temptation to complacency. It reminds me that the Christian story does not end with the cross; it leads to the glory of Christ’s resurrection.  

Last month, I watched the first part of the webinar series titled Envisioning a Livable Future to mark the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical, which I found inspirational. I encourage you to watch this series prayerfully and allow it to lead you to faith-filled, responsible action. 

As we continue our Lenten journey, may we dare not to close our eyes and ears to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. May the liberating love of Christ empower us to not allow the fear of any power or principalities of this world to paralyze us. Instead, may the love inform our individual and communal prayers, teaching and preaching.  

In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis reminds us that, “the Eucharist is a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.” May our Franciscan witness – in word and in deed – be a proclamation of that hope.  

— Br. Jacek Orzechowski, OFM is the associate director of Laudato Si’ Center for Integral Ecology at Siena College