What Is Good for the World

At the end of her presentation at the 2017 Monastic Institute, Franciscan sister Michelle L’Allier asked the participants to consider how we presently feel called to communion, conversion, and global solidarity in light of our study of the encyclical Laudato Si. This question made me think of the following observation by Wendell Berry, which was mentioned in a homily at St. John’s Abbey:

“We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world…. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.”

Asking what would be good for the world on a regular basis and adjusting my life accordingly would certainly lead me to a greater communion with the body of Christ, deeper conversion, and a greater degree of global solidarity. It would also lead to a life of deeper integrity, because if I am truly in love with God and the world, my actions will reflect that love. Fortunately, it starts with the simplest of steps: standing in awe at the mystery and beauty of God’s creation.