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.