BY  CAROL GLATZ, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Humanity has failed to take care of the earth and its inhabitants, sinning against God and his gift of creation, Pope Francis said.

Celebrating Earth Day, which fell during the "Easter season of renewal, let us pledge to love and esteem the beautiful gift of the earth, our common home, and to care for all members of our human family," he said during his livestreamed weekly general audience from the Vatican.

The pope dedicated his catechesis April 22 to a reflection on the human and Christian responsibility to care for the earth, humanity's common home. The day marked the 50th Earth Day, which was established in 1970 to raise public awareness and concern for the environment and its impact on people's health and all life. This year also marks the fifth anniversary of the pope's encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

In his catechesis, the pope said Earth Day was "an occasion for renewing our commitment to love and care for our common home and for the weaker members of our human family."

"As the tragic coronavirus pandemic has taught us, we can overcome global challenges only by showing solidarity with one another and embracing the most vulnerable in our midst," he said.

God is good and always forgives, the pope said, however, "The earth never forgives: if we have despoiled the earth, the response will be very bad."

"Because of our selfishness, we have failed in our responsibility to be guardians and stewards of the earth," the pope said. "We have polluted and despoiled it, endangering our very lives."

The pope expressed his deep appreciation for the many international and local movements and initiatives that have been created in an effort to raise awareness and stir people's consciences and he said it will still be necessary "for our children to take to the streets to teach us the obvious: we have no future if we destroy the very environment that sustains us."

"We have failed to care for the earth, our garden-home; we have failed to care for our brothers and sisters. We have sinned against the earth, against our neighbors and ultimately against the Creator, the benevolent father who provides for everyone and desires us to live in communion and flourish together," he said.

It is imperative that people restore "a harmonious relationship" with the earth and with the rest of humanity, he said.

Perhaps one way of answering this question is to take our grief and search for the grace that resides within it. Let us mourn what we have lost, of course, and let us even sing an angry lament to God. But let us also remember, as St. Paul tell us, "that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

Our God is not the sort of God who abandons us to isolation, or who shrugs and gives up when circumstances throw up an obstacle to our usual means of grace. As a Catholic who draws my life and my faith from the sacraments, I have to believe there is grace here because, in the end, there is grace everywhere.

The Eucharist itself is not confined to the tabernacle or to the time we set aside for liturgy. How could it be? In the sacrament of Christ's body and blood, God is reaching out to all of us, to all of history, and bringing it to share in his life. At the altar of Communion, we give the whole world to God and receive it back as a new world: as the promise of eternal life.

The threat of disease may keep us from that altar and prevent us from embodying our side of this wonderful exchange in the usual liturgical way. But it can hardly keep God from bestowing his gifts on us. No obstacle can ever keep Christ from being present to us and among us. Indeed, so long as the memory of Jesus, who gave himself entirely to God and entirely to us, lives among us by the power of the Holy Spirit, so too does the grace of the Eucharist.

SUNDAY APRIL 26 FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNCIL

 Bishop McGrattan in Calgary will be live-streaming the Mass from St. Mary's Cathedral on Sunday, April 26th at 11:00 and has agreed the Mass could be offered for the intentions of the Honourary Life and Life Members of the League.  Father Jonathan Gibson, the Calgary Diocesan Spiritual Advisor will be his server.

Anyone wishing to view the Live-Streamed Mass can do so by clicking on the following link  https://www.catholicyyc.ca

A second option would be to attend a mass at Saint Mary.  THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAINT BONIFACE IS GOING TO ANNOUNCE ON FRIDAY THAT THE CHURCHES CAN HAVE UP TO 9 PEOPLE TO ATTEND ANY MASS.  At Saint Mary, it is easy to do physicial distancing.  If you are still not feeling safe, there is always the upstairs choir pit to partake in a holy mass.  The church mass schedules have not changed during the pandemic.  Alcohol hand wash, minimal touching of objects (ie no procession, no collection at the pews, no music etc., only one reader  etc.)  Please see the bulletin at stmoloh.ca for information this weekend.

ROSARY  REMINDER:  As per last week's bulletin, I am reminding you to pray the rosary every day at 11:00 in solidarity with other parisioners at Saint Mary and Our Lady of Hope to "come together".   "WE KNOW OF THE POWER OF PRAYER AND THAT IN THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD AND OUR MOTHER, WE HAVE THE GREATEST INTERCESSORS." 

The CCCB issued its response to Bill C-7 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) which tabled on Monday, February 24, 2020

In response, the bishops expressedconcern with Bill C-7 which “seeks to expand the eligibility criteria for euthanasia and assisted suicide by removing the “reasonable foreseeability of natural death criterion in the Criminal Code and by loosening some of the existing ‘safeguards’ allowing patients whose death is ‘reasonable foreseeable’ to waive final consent to receiving euthanasia by making an advance directive”

In voicing strong opposition to the proposed legislation, the bishops call upon “all Canadians who also oppose the new Bill to make their voices heard” and urge members of Parliament to acknowledge the giftedness of life as an inalienable right not to be taken away by others, the importance of compassion for the ill and dying, as well as the responsibility to protect the most vulnerable.”

Archbishop Richard Gagnon (Winnipeg), president of the CCCB, asks the League to encourage members to send individual letters to their members of parliament. This need not be a complicated affair.  A convenient platform is available on the Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience website, canadiansforconscience.ca. An electronic letter to one’s respective member of parliament automatically generated after the required contact information fields are filled.

Marielle Rigaux

Provincial Chairperson/Christian Family Life