Integral Ecology and the Mass for the Care of Creation

Pope Francis' encyclical letter Laudato si' is entitled "On care for our common home". There is also another term, used within the text of the encyclical, that might also have provided a subtitle for the encyclical.  This is the term "integral ecology", and it indicates that the encyclical does not advocate for a kind of ideological environmentalism.

When we speak of the “environment”, what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it. ... We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.

After exploring ideas of environmental, economic and social ecology, of cultural ecology, and of an ecology of daily life Pope Francis addressed the principle of the common good. Towards the end of his account of an ecology of daily life, Pope Francis wrote:

Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of an “ecology of man”, based on the fact that “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will”. It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. ...

The texts for the Mass for the Care of Creation are reflective of this sense of an integral ecology. (The translation from the Latin is mine.)

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands (Entry antiphon)

Father, who in Christ, the first born of all creatures, called the universe into existence, grant, we pray, that docile to your Spirit the breath of life, we may in charity care for the work of your hands. (Collect)

May the sacrament of unity that we have received, Father, increase our communion with you and our brothers, so that, looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, we may duly learn to live at one with all creatures. (Prayer after Communion)

Placing this new Mass formulary in the context of the Jubilee 2025, the Prayer for the Jubilee contains the following:

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth ...