An Active Participant in Creation from the Illinois River Valley

Global warming surpassed the 1.5 deg C (2.7 deg F) level in 2024. This increase is measured over the last 100 years and caused primarily by humans burning fossil fuels. 1.5 degrees Celsius was the limit set by the United States and 194 other nations in Paris, 2015. We promised ourselves to reduce carbon emissions enough to stay below 1.5 C. We have failed that goal, but the world can still make changes. The policy and personal lifestyle choices need to be strengthened so this trend can be halted and reversed. What was global warming when you were born? It was about 0.5 degrees if you were born in 1960. What will it be for your grandchildren? That is up to every one of us. It is frightening and daunting to imagine how I, as a single person could make a difference in this trend that has been happening for over 100 years, before even any of our great grandparents were born. Each one of us can reduce our own carbon emissions, thereby taking that proverbial first step on the jour...

During the Christmas season Christians visit the 1st Chapter of John to know that "The Word became flesh".  A recent reflection by a homilist at church focused on this word and that this word is LOVE.  Jesus taught there were really two commandments, LOVE God and LOVE your neighbor as yourself.  This homilist proposed that all that could be said about living and all rules and any other commandments could be distilled to the word, LOVE. Creation is really LOVE, as also stated by John, "In the beginning was the Word; the Word was in God's presence, and the Word was God."  Creation is that first breath of God, which made the universe.  We breath in and out in the unfolding of creation, the Word of God, LOVE. Our breath, in and out, is not the only creation.  In Laudato Si (8) Pope Francis quotes Patriarch Bartholomew regarding "sins against creation: For human beings ... to destroy the biological diversity of God's creation; for human beings to degrade the...