One World

21) Pope Francis' call to prayer

Posted 24th May 2016

I have begun to study Laudato si', the encyclical letter of Pope Francis, "On Care for our Common Home", as I intend to write a blog post relating to it on 18th June 2016, the first anniversary of it's public release. The encyclical is addressed to EVERYONE on Earth.

There are two prayers at the end of the encyclical. The second is a Christian prayer, but the first, relayed below, is to be shared "with all who believe in a God who is the all-powerful Creator". Of course, there are many who emphatically do not believe in a God, and many who are simply not sure.

Personally, I do not know which religion, if any, is the one true religion. However, I am open-minded to the possibility that all religions contain some, at least, elements of truth. In my pursuit of truth I do not dismiss any ideas out of hand, nor accept any without question.

What seems illogical to me is the notion of an absolute beginning. Far more likely, it seems to me, is that the cosmos is infinite in scale and age and in a state of cyclical dynamic equilibrium (that state having first been established from chaos infinitely long ago, that is, the established pattern has existed forever). That being the case, it is highly probable that intelligence has existed forever (given that we know it has a finite probability of occurrence, and that that probability, however small, has played out over eternity). That being the case, and given my expectation that desires + sufficient time leads to the realisation of those desires (e.g. the moon landings), then I strongly suspect that a perfect plan has always been in place (that is, even if it took billions of years to devise, that completion date was infinitely long ago). I do not know what that perfect plan is, whether, at one end, it is to leave man to their own devices (or, more extremely, actively place barriers in man's way), or at the other end, to help man along the way (or, more extremely, to have complete control over the path of every molecule so that reality, at least in the developing stages of a new society, is essentially a fully immersive recording). Whatever the case, it seems very likely to me that there is a plan borne out of perfect wisdom (that wisdom, in turn, is the result of an infinite history of intelligence throughout the infinite cosmos). That being the case, if the plan calls for an omnipotent, all-powerful intelligence, present in all things and in all places, then I suspect that was made so, also infinitely long ago.

Further, I have a suspicion that humans are earth bodies inhabited by spiritual beings, and that those spirits are eventually taken to the stars. In the meantime, it is my hope that the people of the World unite as one happy family in the globally unifying goal: to care for our common home.

Whatever your own beliefs, or suspicions, I hope you can absorb the universal wisdom of the message in the following prayer given to us by Pope Francis: that we must care for one another as a global family - which entails caring for our family home, the Earth.

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A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God,

you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned

and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty,

not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

- From: "Encyclical Letter Laudato Si' of the Holy Father Francis - On Care for our Common Home"

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"I know love will find a way"