Laudato Si - Some questions.

1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.[1]

2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. Pope Francis; Laudato Si (1 and 2)

The pope has recently released an encyclical entitled Laudato Si.  For those who do not know, a Papal encyclical is a personal letter concerning Catholic doctrine sent by the Pope addressed to bishops, patriarchs, primates, archbishops who are in communion with the Holy See.  Encyclicals are not edicts in themsevels, but when they are issued on controversial issues, such as this one on environmentalism, including climate change, make this the "last word," as it were, on the issue.  They indicate high Papal priority at the time of release. 

I am not going to debate here the much about the environmental issues per se in the encyclical, but rather concentrate on some key points as I see them.  The mumbered references used point to the

Mother Nature alchemists woodcarving.

relevant paragraphs listed in the encyclical

The opening stanza of any publication generally sets the theme of the article.  I want to pick up one thing here: Francis refers to, "Mother Earth."  He quotes from St Francis of Assisi who also used the term , "Mother Earth."  I find the use of this term alarming because this Mother Earth synonymous with Mother Nature which traditionally refers to a female deity of nature given various names.  Some of these are the Greek, Gaia and the Mesopotamian, Ishtar.

So by itself, Mother Earth and Mother Nature have strong pagan ties.  So let's look at some interesting quotes:

As a friend of the poor who was loved by God's creatures, Saint Francis invited all of creation – animals, plants, natural forces, even Brother Sun and Sister Moon – to give honor and praise to the Lord. The poor man of Assisi gives us striking witness that when we are at peace with God we are better able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is inseparable from peace among all peoples." Pope John Paul II (December 8, 1989). "World Day of Peace 1990".

Pope John paul II is now Saint John Paul II, and he referred to St Francis's Canticle of all Creatures

...Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,

St Francis of Assisi

especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.....

Brother Sun and Sister Moon.  Immediately I see a common occult theme of dialectic opposites.  A dialectic is finding truth is contradictory opposites.  Yin and Yang is a dialectic.  Up/Down, Black/White, god/goddess, God/Satan.  Additionally here the Sun and Moon are personified, the Sun being masculine and the moon feminine.  The moon is often portrayed as a feminine deity, although not exclusively, especially in European pagan circles.  It was seen that a lunar cycle is very close to a menstrual cycle.  The moon's cycles corresponded to cycles in nature. Interestingly, Allah is also known as the moon god.


Do be fair, St Francis is not actually declaring the sun, moon, wind, air and water as deities per se, however, there is some sense of nature glorification here that has deeper connotations, so but one could be forgiven for thinking that praising God through nature is heretical.

But this is where it gets interesting and the reason why I believe there is something profoundly significant in this encyclical that may well be a precursor for more.  There is a slavic deity called Mother Earth, known as Mat Zemlya. Mat Zemlya was a principal deity in the early middle ages, before time of St Francis, but following the christianization of slavic lands, Mother Earth (Mat Zemlya) catholics tried to associate her with Mother Mary, although this was not widely adopted.

Mat Zemlya

Mary, the Mother who cared for Jesus, now cares with maternal affection and pain for this wounded world. Just as her pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus, so now she grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power. Completely transfigured, she now lives with Jesus, and all creatures sing of her fairness. She is the Woman, “clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1). Carried up into heaven, she is the Mother and Queen of all creation. In her glorified body, together with the Risen Christ, part of creation has reached the fullness of its beauty. She treasures the entire life of Jesus in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,51), and now understands the meaning of all things. Hence, we can ask her to enable us to look at this world with eyes of wisdom. Pope Francis Laudato Si (241)

[Rev 12:1 actually refers to Israel and has a cross reference in Genesis 37:9, so Francis is misinterpreting scripture there, but how he links sun and moon with Mary is not lost]

At her side in the Holy Family of Nazareth, stands the figure of Saint Joseph. Through his work and generous presence, he cared for and defended Mary and Jesus, delivering them from the violence of the unjust by bringing them to Egypt. The Gospel presents Joseph as a just man, hard-working and strong. But he also shows great tenderness, which is not a mark of the weak but of those who are genuinely strong, fully aware of reality and ready to love and serve in humility. That is why he was proclaimed custodian of the universal Church. He too can teach us how to show care; he can inspire us to work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us. Pope Francis Laudato Si (242)

Mary and Joseph?  Could Joseph be represented as Brother Sun?

If we consider this in light of the desire of the Catholic Church to head towards ecumenism (uniting of the world religions) under a One World Church, it will first need to break down the Mary problem.  A main reason why Anglicans broke away was over glorifying Mary and in fact, not just Anglicans but Protestantism in general.  The big three barriers preventing unity between Catholics and Protestants would be (1) Praying to or worshipping Mary (2) Adoration of saints (3) partaking in Mass (transubstantiated communion).    However, since it is highly unlikely that the protestant churches will unite with catholicism over Mary, they will unite over "Mother Nature."  The ruse here is that Mother Nature and Mary are symbolically linked.

This is clever stuff by Francis who is uniting religion over nature.

Gaia is another goddess who is represented as a personification of Earth.

Gaia was the great mother of all: the primal Greek Mother Goddess; creator and giver of birth to the Earth and all the Universe; the heavenly gods, the Titans, and the Giants were born to her. [Wikipedia accessed 21/6/15]

Gaia

This ties in nicely to the Encyclical. Since a popular scientific theorum is the Gaia Hypothesis which forms much of what the modern day Climate Change theorists claim.  In fact the fourth Gaia Conference in 2006 tackled the link between Gaia and Climate Change. Broadly speaking, the Gaia Hypothesis receives a great deal of criticism and so has evolved over time since it's proposal by Lovelock in 1995.  Nevertheless, a term known as, "Influencial Gaia" is now popular as stating that the biotic (living) world affects the abiotic (non living or physical) world, that is, we humans affect things like climate.

Gaianisim can crudely be considered as evolving out of Gaia worship and Lovelock's scientific hypothesis.  Gaians believe that referring to the earth as Gaia helps encourage practitioners and others see the planet as a living organism with an intrinsic personality that expresses itself through evolution.  Gaianism has New Age traits.  Followers typically honor the earth, reduce or soften the human impact on the earth, and are be respectful of all all forms of life on earth (plant, animal, or human) and followers will often try to maintain a close relationship with the planet in order to strive toward world peace, and find inner fulfillment.

Gaians believe that referring to the earth as Gaia helps encourage practitioners and others see the planet as a living organism with an intrinsic personality that expresses itself through evolution

Although change is part of the working of complex systems, the speed with which human activity has developed contrasts with the naturally slow pace of biological evolution. Pope Francis Laudato Si (18)

The unique thing about Gaianism is that it is a common spiritual viewpoint in eastern religions (hinduism, buddhism) and paganism, and now, Catholicism as Pope Francis demonstrates in this encyclical.

We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.  Pope Francis Laudato Si (2)

Mother Nature (or Mother Earth) may well be the doctrine that unites the world religions.  The Pope is on very dangerous ground.

Now go back to the Exodus.  Remember the seven plagues.  Consider how the ten plagues were not so much attacks on the Egyptians physically, but more an atack by God against their gods. 

Nile turned to Blood- the Egyptian magicians also did this (by incanations to Khnum (guardian of the Nile), Hapi (spirit of the Nile), Orisis (god of the underworld))
 
Frogs - magicians replicated this too (incantations to Heqt (associated with fertility and childbirth)) but only God, through Aaron killed them all, Heqt could not.  Those two are the only two that the magicians could replicate
 
Dust of the Earth turned into Gnats or Lice  -  Geb or Seth (Earth god and god of the desert and detestable things) failed to prevent
 
Flies - Kephri (god of theSun and reproduction - head of a scarab beetle) failed to prevent
 
Death of Livestock - Apis (The Bull god) and Hathor (The Bull goddess) failed to prevent.

Boils or Sores - Imphotep (god of Healing) Thoth (god of healing and magic) and Isis (goddess of medicine) afiled to prevent

Hail - Nut (godess of the sky) failed to prevent
 
Locusts - Seth (god of crops) failed to prevent

Darkness - Ra (god of the sun and the Egyptians' chief god) failed to prevent

First born sons - Pharaoh (regarded as a god) failed to prevent

Just as God demonstrated his majesty and power over the Egyptian gods, so too God will demonstrate his majesty and power over anything we hold up equal or above Him.  So note this, and consider Brother Sun and Sister Moon:

Rev6 (12)When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,

Rev 21(22)And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (23)And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

2Pet 3(10)But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (11)Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, (12)waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! (13)But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 

 An interesting parallel for which the two Francis's should be aware. 

Nevertheless, the majority of the 1.2 billion Catholics will accept Francis's encyclical with reverence and it will be read across the world from every pulpit.    Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, New Age, Gaians, Wiccans, Shamans, envrionmentalists and lots of others will largely agree with what he says ... but not the elect.  Francis is very cleverly uniting the world by targetting something that has spiritual, physical, scientific and economic interests. 

People who speak against this encyclical will be seen as heretics by Catholics, Protestants and other religions, rebels and troublemakers by politicians, anti-environmentalist by scientists, polluters by environmentalists, and haters and bigot by the secular world and will as a result be persecuted because of it. 

And so we begin....the end. (This requires a mind that has wisdom)