By Josh Noem ’98, ’05MDiv
Editor, FaithND 

In his most recent encyclical confronting the ecological crisis facing our culture, Laudato Si, Pope Francis calls us to embrace a way of life that looks smaller on the outside, but is much more expansive on the inside. This fall, FaithND will be encouraging people to “Live Smaller with Laudato Si.” We’ve asked folks from every part of the Notre Dame family of faith to adopt one small action from the encyclical—one change to their lifestyle—and to share a story about how that practice touched their lives. 

The Pope’s encyclical is a sweeping document that critiques the systems that endanger the earth and authentic living, and it is easy to get overwhelmed by the immensity of the problems he identifies. One way to make his call more approachable is to focus on actions that can be taken up in our day-to-day living—actions that foster a change of heart, sustainable habits, and a new openness to God, our neighbors, and creation.

“Realities are more important than ideas,” declares Pope Francis, so we’ve sourced the document for direct calls to action. They are grouped below into what might be described as “ecological virtues”—wonder, generosity, simplicity, and building common good.

We invite you to adopt one of these calls to action for one week—make the call your mantra, post it on your refrigerator, incorporate it into your prayer, talk about it with your family—and then act on it in whatever way seems right. Perhaps you will notice realities that change in your life—both in your external lifestyle and in your interior dispositions—and decide that these actions are worth a longer commitment. (If you have a story to share from this experience, feel free to share it with us!)

As Pope Francis states in the encyclical:

“We must not think that these efforts are not going to change the world. They benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread. Furthermore, such actions can restore our sense of self-esteem; they can enable us to live more fully and to feel that life on earth is worthwhile” (#212).

Virtues of an Integrated Ecology with Calls to Action

Wonder
• Create and contemplate beauty—learn to see and appreciate beauty, learn to stop and admire something beautiful. (#112, #215)
• Cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature, in prayer. (#223)
• Develop an openness to awe and wonder. (#11)

Generosity
• Foster a spirit of generous care, full of tenderness. (#220)
• Do not miss out on a kind word, a smile, or any small gesture that sows peace and friendship. (#230)
• Approach life with serene attentiveness, which is capable of being fully present to someone without thinking of what comes next, which accepts each moment as a gift from God to be lived to the full. (#226)

Simplicity
• Grow in moderation and the capacity to be happy with little; learn familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them. (#222, #223)
• Be spiritually detached from what we possess, and do not succumb to sadness for what we lack; shed unsatisfied needs. (#222)
• Replace consumption with sacrifice. (#9)

Build the Common Good
• Show concern for a public place (a building, a fountain, an abandoned monument, a landscape, a square), and strive to protect, restore, improve, or beautify it as something belonging to everyone. (#232)
• Replace wastefulness with a spirit of sharing. (#9)
• Care for creation through little daily actions that reflect a generous and worthy creativity. (#211)