Papal Encyclical on Climate Change- Living Simply

Our house is a wreck. Boxes are everywhere and furniture is in complete disarray. Relocating to a new house should be old hat by now since this is the sixteenth move Ron and I have made since our wedding. Nevertheless, it’s easy to forget the aches and exhaustion involved in the process, as well as the myriad details of relocation. There are utilities to be switched over and new trash pick-up days to mind. The cat has been wandering around in a mild state of disorientation. I can relate to how she must be feeling.

One would think that after so many moves, we’d have pared our things down considerably. I thought so until seeing the enormous number of boxes piling up on the day of the move. Unpacking some of them brings to mind the stuff we cart around even though we no longer have much use for it. My downfall is books while Ron’s centers around photographs. The latter are not snapshots but enlargements and collages, each of which requires special handling. This move was made out of a desire to simplify our lives. Needless to say, we have a few more lessons to learn in this regard.

Our move also coincides with the devastating earthquake that left thousands of people in Nepal without homes or possessions. Contrasting the plethora of our stuff with the total lack in the lives of others is a troubling thought. It is also humbling. We have a choice about simplifying our lives through the voluntary downsizing of our possessions. Others have been completely displaced with no options from which to choose. Ours is truly a first-world problem.

Pope Francis is just about to release his papal encyclical on climate change and its contents are likely to rattle those of us with lots of options in our over-stuffed lives. He will no doubt call to task the way a few of us take up so much room on this planet with our material wants while so many others lack even the most basic means of survival. I don’t believe his intent, however, is to shame those of us with first-world problems. Since day one of his papacy, Francis has called us all to greater awareness and a conversion of heart and mind.

As I unpack each box, I am trying to do so with a conscious sense of gratitude for all that I have and all that I can choose to keep or give away. This means that, in some sense, I need to keep moving and sifting through the stuff that might be better used by others. To keep letting go of things I no longer want or need. To “live simply so that others may simply live”, as Gandhi put it. In doing so, I might be able to move away from being part of a first-world problem and into a whole-world solution.

Bright Ideas

• In anticipation of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, plan a Go Green Gather in My Name event for your parish or use the prayers and other resources in your home.

• Download my Prayer for Simple Living and use it in your home or parish to reflect upon the ways you might “live simply so others may simply live.”