REFLECT
What do we find at the intersection of environmental, racial/caste, and land justice? Whose stories need to be told to fully understand who lives at that intersection?
Certainly, we must tell the stories of indigenous peoples around the world who have been colonized, demonized, and ostracized out of fair land deals, whose land was stolen or taken by force in country after country. Colonizers turned land into a commodity, yet indigenous peoples were denied the tools needed to reclaim their own land.
We must also tell the story of those who were enslaved, taken from their homelands and brought to countries like the U.S. to work on land that was not theirs. After emancipation in the U.S., freed slaves managed to buy land of their own over time. By 1920, one-seventh of all farms were black-owned. However, over the next eighty years, nearly all of these farms were lost through Jim Crow laws, intimidation, and unjust policies by local, state, and federal governments alike. In cities, African-Americans were prevented from getting mortgages, red-lined out of certain “white only” neighborhoods, and systematically excluded from opportunities for stability and generational wealth.
And, we must tell the story of those who lived in God’s garden first: the animals, plants, insects, birds, and other creatures with whom we share this planet. Humans have not always done a good job of making room for other species to live and thrive. Through agriculture, urban development, deforestation, the industrial revolution, the invention of plastic, and myriad other ways, we have unwittingly crowded out other species and made it increasingly inhospitable for them to live in their own homes.
All of these stories deserve to be told. Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, “The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet.” (L.S. 48)
It is all connected: racial, caste, environmental, and land justice. It is another way of describing integral ecology, the idea that humanity and the environment are integrally connected. We are all created in God’s image, humans and the rest of creation, and at the center is God’s love for us all. May we love one another the way God loves us.
ACT
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31
PRAY
Spirit of Truth
Who enfolds our world in Your Love, we come to You with a heavy heart.
How does one begin to dismantle the evils of racism, sexism, classism, environmental injustice and other ism’s permeating society?
Are we complicit with the corporate sin of societal institutions by remaining silent observers?
How can we be an instrument of peace and radiate Your healing love?
People like Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King, Jr. and protestors marching on our streets denounce systemic injustices.
We read Scripture’s injunctions–love God, love my neighbor, pray for my enemies, even those who persecute me.
Are we heeding these difficult teachings?
Is it enough for us to welcome strangers into our circle of relationships, alleviate the suffering of the Lazaruses-on-my-doorstep, and celebrate the diversity of people and their creeds?
Grace us that we have love for all, promote justice for all, and have mutual respect for all creation.
Amen
[Prayer by Constance (Connie) Fahey, Franciscan Sisters of Mary]