Text of Prof. Rich Wood’s Presentation on Laudato Si

On May 20, University of New Mexico Prof. Richard L. Wood helped us commemorate the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment. Dr. Wood shared his thoughts online via Zoom. Here is a video. Below is an excerpt from the presentation followed by a link to the full text on the NMIPL blog.

St. Francis, like Pope Francis, deeply experienced the joy of living in God’s love. I would like to begin my reflections there, based on Pope Francis’ other great encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel. There, Francis emphasized living in daily encounter with the Spirit of Life, within the intimate flow of relationship between Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit.

One thing we can do now, every day, is to make sure we are living within that intimate flow, cultivating a spiritual practice individually and (hopefully again soon) communally that provides a bedrock of joy in our lives and relationships because we know we are loved, we know we are sinners in the arms of a forgiving God, intimately embraced by the One that theologian Elizabeth Johnson calls “She Who Is”. It is that kind of encounter, lived intimately and mystically, that I think Jesus, Francis, and Clare all lived, and into which Pope Francis is calling us today. Here is the full text