Laudate Deum FAQs
Our Q&A explains some of the context and key messages in Laudate Deum.
Violeta, who works for Caritas Bolivia.
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. ”
The foundations of a building may not be visible, yet having a secure base makes all the difference to our home when a storm comes. Jesus today reminds us of the sure foundation for our lives that we will build by living out his teaching.
In Bolivia, CAFOD supports Caritas Bolivia to work with indigenous rural communities who are suffering rights abuses relating to their land and territories. This work takes Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ as its guiding compass, as staff member Violeta explains:
“We understand that our common home does not just mean the environment – it’s everything: interpersonal relationships, our relationship with the common good, with the economy, with politics. We’re like guardians, like administrators of all of these gifts the Lord has given us. That’s how to understand integral ecology: respect, working as a community, working together with these gifts.”
For Violeta, her engagement with Laudato Si’ has also led to a change in her own attitudes and practices. She reflects: “First, you’ve got to look at yourself, examine your conscience. Are you really joining in, are you doing what you say, practising what you preach?”
In this Advent season, like Violeta, let’s put our prayer into action, opening ourselves to God working in and through us.
Advent prayer
Faithful God,
your word is our firm foundation.
May we listen to your word
and act on it,
using our gifts in your service.
Amen.
Act
Act – Find out more about Laudate Deum, the Pope’s new apostolic exhortation on the care of creation.