Season of Creation

 “Purchasing is always a moral and not simply economic act.”  

Pope Francis.  Laudato Sí.  Paragraph 206

 

We are in the last week of the Season of Creation (September 1 - October 4).  Pope Francis has issued a message for this time.  In it he writes: “The disintegration of biodiversity, spiraling climate disasters, and unjust impact of the current pandemic on the poor and vulnerable: all these are a wakeup call in the face of our rampant greed and consumption.”  

 

With the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, grocery shelves went empty of toilet paper and other basic necessities.   While some stockpiled, others were left without.  This is clearly an injustice.  

 

As religious we are not exempt from falling prey to the culture of greed and consumption.  The temptation is real, to hoard.  Becoming a religious does not take away this temptation but in the company of others who can hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, we are encouraged to change our lifestyles and choose to live more simply, so that others may simply live.  

 

We might understand the hoarding of basic items during times of natural disasters.  People panic buy.  But what about in ordinary times?  How are you growing in consciousness that ‘purchasing is always a moral and not simply economic act’?  

 

Gail Jagroop OP

Woodbrook, Trinidad