IN the NEWS - Catholic Eco- Mysticism

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,

and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator,

Romans 1:25 HCSB

"(Vatican Radio) On Friday April 22, over 1 billion people are coming together to celebrate International Mother Earth Day.
The theme for this year’s Earth Day is “Trees for the Earth.”
In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis urges us to participate in the care for our common home.

Rufino Lim, a Franciscan Friar from South Korea and an assistant at the General Office for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation

(JPIC), holds this encyclical letter close to his heart. “It is telling us to listen to the poor and to the cries of the earth, because they are the real teachers,” he says.
New to his position at JPIC, Rufino Lim has only been in Rome for about two weeks. Prior to his arrival, he went on a “climate pilgrimage” in Korea. While on this journey, he encountered many people suffering from climate change. “I cried a lot,” he says. “I didn’t know what this reality of this capitalistic society was.”

To illustrate the significance of trees in society, Lim tells a story of his friend in Korea: “The two of us made a kind of journey together where we would take three steps, bow to the earth, and then take another three steps. Whenever my friend saw a flower, he would stop for a while and bow deeply. When he encountered a tree, he would stop for a while and hug the tree. You could feel the mystery of small flowers and trees…they cannot speak in the same way we do, but they are more deeply related to the mystery of God, the mystery of life.”

On his “climate pilgrimage,” Lim also brought copies of the Laudato Si to give to everyone he encountered. “We would all say one of the two prayers at the end of the encyclical together, and we all cried. We were all very deeply touched by the words of the Pope. No matter what beliefs the people had, they are very interested in the contents of the book.” VaticanRadio

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