"Praise Be to You"

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The 8th day of the month of September is one dedicated to celebrating the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Christ. Like any of us she was born, yet she merits the privilege of being conceived without the stain of Original sin as celebrated exactly three month after this feast. The birth of the Blessed Virgin is a proclamation of the fulfillment of the ancient promise. It announces the birth of the new Eve, she through whom arose the Sun of Justice, the prince of peace, the son of the most high God. Christ the Lord from whom we sing the song of the redeemed.
Our institute, Queen of Apostles Philosophy Centre Jinja, is dedicated to the care of the Blessed Virgin. That through her intercessions, we may always merit the blessings of the All benevolent God. The entire PCJ family marked the feast day with a reflection on the Holy Father Pope Francis’ new Encyclical “Laudato si”. The day was animated by Fr. Dr. Sulpicius Tumushabe of the diocese of Kabale, Uganda, working as senior lecture at Kyambogo University.
On LAUDATO SI, mi signore
The Holy Father’s new encyclical Laudato Si is a reflection on the human relationship with its habitat; the planet earth.  It is an invitation to the care of the environment; what belongs to us. Pope Francis specially refers to this habitat as our common home. If it is common therefore, the ecological sustenance will entirely depend on whatever inhabits it. Common responsibility is a duty of all, for God has endowed us with the faculty of reason to know the right thing to do for our Common Home. This piece is an inspiration from Laudato si, it is an ingestion, a look from a personal dimension.
Non-human creation just as humans deserves to be treated with integrity. It demands us a gentle touch. It is so absurd that over the decades rather centuries, humans have been too cruel to the environment. Just as there is a lot of violence growing with the human family. It seems the interconnectedness that exists in creation is invariable. There seems to be neglect or loss of the intelligence to be concern, and to be in touch with our home. I don’t think it is by serendipity that God made us stewards and co-creators. God, in fact had good reasons. Neither was it accidental that those who lived before us tried in their own way to keep the environment. It would be appropriate to ask, is there need to conserve and to consider nature?
The forests, the waters, the air, etc will rarely wake up the next morning and begin complaining “You people are unkind to us”. They won’t bubble words, but rather communicate in another way; the language of action. They will speak in terms of draught (little food to eat), disease (polluted air and water), global warming, etc. then we ask ourselves what happened? The environment has spoken the unpleasant language, that none of us would love to listen to. The governmental and non- governmental organizations begin to seek measures. Wasn’t it better to prevent?
When we don’t care for our environment, we offend one another. This implies that by conserving the nature, we are being indirectly dutiful to one another as the family of mankind. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant put it this way “Destructiveness is immoral; we ought not to destroy things which can still be put to some use. No man ought to mar the beauty of nature; for what he has no use for may still be of some use someone else”[1] our inattentiveness to natures permeates to realm of morality, so to say. We ought to be present to the environment in view of creating a harmonious surrounding and concern for the generations of tomorrow.

Iwuala Nicholas

[1] Immanuel Kant, Lectures on Ethics, trans, Lewis white Beck, 1963, p.241.

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