We Need to Love Earth

A reflection by Fr. John Surette, SJ

Certainly we can respect nature, care for our planet, feel deeply regarding its diminishment, but as the song has it, can we “sing a gentle love song to the Earth”? Can we become more responsible lovers and life-givers within our planet? Is there enough love within our human community to maintain Earth’s vitality? Is there enough love within Earth’s human community to deal adequately with the twenty-first century biocide?

When the future of life is at stake, there is nothing we humans cannot achieve!

We must be clear about the issue we are dealing with. Renewal of our human intimacy with planet Earth is the deepest imperative of our time. The Earth we see is the only Earth we have. We will love it, believe in it, advance it, make it beautiful, or we will neglect it, deny it, withdraw from it, and watch both ourselves and Earth shrivel into unnatural forms.

It seems that any Christian response to the ever growing ecological crisis must be centered upon love. And in our Christian tradition love means authentic relationship with, communion with, intimacy with. It means communion with the evolving Universe and Earth that God loves. It means being in relationship with our human species and with all of the other life-forms and their environments … interbeing … that is, loving them!