Vida Ascendente (Colombia) on the way to "Laudate Deum!"

In Assisi, in front of the Porciuncula Chapel, Antonio Caschetto, animator of Laudato Si', sang the Canticle of the Creatures in Umbrian, an old Italian from the Umbrian region. The melody corresponds to the hymn that the saint patron of peace and those who cultivate ecology sang at dawn, in which, almost blindly, he praised the Creator for his creatures.  To travel back in time, let the "poverello" caress your soul, with this song that  gives its title to the encyclical that the Pope signed at Pentecost 2015 to invite believers and non-believers to take care of the planet, our common home.

My wife Andrea and I had participated in the Meeting of Life Ascending in Madrid a few weeks earlier. This is why it was very enlightening to know that the name "Assisi" (Assisi) is etymologically linked to the ascent of the mountain on which such a beautiful place is located, but also metaphorically to " asceticism", the spiritual path of every Christian! Eureka! Assisi is a symbol of Ascending Life.

Certainly, we have all climbed a mountain at some point and felt God present like Elijah, Moses, or Mary. The Mount of Sermon, the Mount of Transfiguration, Golgotha, scenarios to recreate the life, passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord. Today, the Church invites us to walk together, to walk, in company, on this path of ascent to the Fullness. It is the hour of Syn-Odos: a path to holiness, having the same sentiments as Christ Jesus. (Phil 2:5).

How to articulate Life Ascending with Integral Ecology? The care of the Common Home begins at home. Let us register our "Local Churches" in the  Laudato Si' Action Platform. And let us strengthen the spirituality of intergenerational dialogue to move from a culture of waste (LS 22, 43, 123, 158) to a culture of care (LS 229, 231). A thorough reading of the numbers 159 to 161 of Laudato Si' will help us understand the logic of self-giving as the key to Life Ascending.

In the synodal rhythm of liturgical Advent, which coincides with the Advent of all creatures who hope that COP28 in Dubai will "honor and ennoble us as human beings" (GL 59), we can ask ourselves: what kind of grandmother or grandfather do we want to be?  The one who irresponsibly squanders the goods of creation and leaves the world with a vast repository of filth (LS 21)? The one who embodies wisdom among indigenous tribes and Afro communities? (LS 146) Let us remember that Pope Francis is called "the white grandfather" among some Amazonian peoples, and that the word "priest" is precisely associated with this moral authority of those who teach how to live well.

Let us be grandparents on the path of "integral ecological conversion", renewed like Nicodemus by the Water and the Spirit to take on the mission with responsibility and the joy of the Gospel, because " each generation must make its own the struggles and achievements of past generations and lead them to even higher goals. This is the way. Goodness, as well as love, justice and solidarity, are not achieved once and for all; they must be overcome every day" (LD, 34)

To deal with climate change, we need human change and for that, we need cultural change that can only come from deep spiritual change. Let us continue to rise, step by step, leaving to our grandchildren the seeds of wisdom so that the garden of the world may flourish! Laudate Deum! Let us praise God by caring for one another as the Good Shepherd cares for us.

Alirio Cáceres Aguirre

Permanent Deacon (Archdiocese of Bogotá), Councillor of the Vida Ascendente in Colombia, Advocacy Assistant for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Laudato Si' Movement