Zeal for your house will consume me (Ps 69:9).

Jesus made a point of calling out the abuses of power in his day, including by the sellers and money changers at the temple. Today we are called to recognize and act on the abuses we see whether our own or those of others.

Some of those abuses are our failings in our care for creation. Most of us are not accustomed to thinking of environmental or ecological sin, but Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ made it clear that we also need to weigh our treatment of non-human creation.

People in the rural parish in El Salvador where I work as a Maryknoll lay missioner were stunned the first time our pastor said in a Sunday homily that those spraying chemical herbicide on their land needed to go to confession for their sin against the Earth. Those I work with, raising environmental awareness and promoting sustainable food production, were, of course, thrilled with his affirmation of our efforts.

The 10 Commandments are a good starting point for an examination of conscience, including our care of creation. “You shall have no other gods besides me.” How about the god of the market and consumerism? Are we driven by the notion that bigger is better, that production and profit must continually increase, that we need the latest model of car, technological device or even apparel?

“You shall not kill” the forests, the coral reefs, the insects that pollinate. “You shall not steal” the minerals of the Earth to stockpile as gold bars, the pure waters of springs to sell in bottles, the endangered species to claim as hunting trophies. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house”: the mangrove coastline to build resorts, the wetlands to build more factories or theme parks, the indigenous people’s land to build roads or to dump toxic waste.

Pope Francis, while pleading for structural change and multilateral cooperation among governments, also insists that “efforts by households to reduce pollution and waste, and to consume with prudence, are creating a new culture. The mere fact that personal, family and community habits are changing is contributing to greater concern about the unfulfilled responsibilities of the political sectors and indignation at the lack of interest shown by the powerful.” (Laudate Deum, 71)

Like our efforts in El Salvador to reduce, reuse and recycle, to work together as a community to manage our watersheds, and to recover sustainable production practices, individual lifestyle changes and communities working together all across the globe can confront the climate crisis.

If only we could follow Pope Francis’ example and could all earnestly say, “Zeal for our common home consumes us.”

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Scripture reflection for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, March 3, 2024 (Third Sunday of Lent).

This reflection is part of MOGC’s 2024 Lent Reflection Guide. For more scripture reflections from Maryknoll lay missioners, click here.