The Catholic Church honors a great saint, St Francis of Assisi, on Oct 4. Perhaps he is one of the most celebrated saints in the Catholic Church.
St Francis of Assist is known as the patron saint of the animals birds an
environment. He saw the external world as sign of God’s revelation, providence and goodness. He lived in close association with nature, gave up all comforts and embraced a life of poverty.
Looking into today's situation the reality is not the same. If we compare the Creation scenario with today's situation we feel threatened by environmental degradation. In the beginning when God created the world everything was good. On the first day He separated light from darkness and named the light day and the darkness night. He saw all that He created was good. But the greed of man tarnished the beauty of nature with concrete jungles, unplanned towns and cities, ushering in an increasing consumer culture.
On the third day God separated the water from the land and created the seas and the land together with plants of all kinds and fruit bearing trees. Today driven by greed sod love for profit, trees are cut down There is soil erosion and flood. Hundreds of species of plants have disappeared from the face of the earth.
On the fourth day God said, "Let there be light in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let there be signs and season for days and years, and let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." Today, there is so much of corruption and fraudulence around that one finds it difficult to see any ray of hope.
On the sixth day God created all kinds of animals wild and tame, large and small. Then God created human beings in His own image and likeness and put them as stewards of all that He had made.
Today there is disregard for human dignity. Infants are killed in the womb of the mother who is supposed to 1 the protector. Today there is discrimination based on race, caste, color and sex. Human beings fear a hate each other and produce bombs and weapons of mass destruction to dominate, achieve power and position.
On the seventh day God rested. But today weekends are full of activities, chasing fleeting pleasure and comforts.
We like to live in comfortable conditions with good food to eat, a comfortable house to live in and nice clothes to wear, With technological advancement and increase in population, the interdependence between human beings and the environment has taken a reverse turn for the worse. We now feel that environment should adjust to suit our needs.
If one returns to one's own place after a period of absence specially places with high density of population, one might even lose the sense location. Such is the change that takes place day after day. Modern technology could be used intelligently to modify the environment and reverse the environmental degradation too.
Human beings cannot live without environment and a balanced ecosystem is needed for good health and well being. Modern science and technology seem to popularize the ideology of use and throw culture. Those who do not fit into this category are considered traditional or old-fashioned.
There can be a world without human beings but Human being cannot exist without World. God created the world and made us co- creators in charge of the universe with responsibility of taking care of it.
Jessy Jacob
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