May 23.   Response to the cry of the earth.  Reflect, share and act. CAFOD, Witness from Brazil.   Davi Kopenawa Yanomami is founder and President of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, which defends the rights of the threatened Yanomami and Ye’kuana indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon.  “Our country, Brazil, is very beautiful,” says Davi Kopenawa passionately, “full of harmony, trees, it has lots of clean water. But the Brazilian Government does not want to protect and preserve nature. It wants to take the wealth from the land. It will destroy the forest, it will destroy the indigenous people… So that is why I am worried and angry, very angry.”  Small-scale illegal gold miners and farmers have repeatedly invaded our Yanomami indigenous territory, burning down the forest and polluting rivers. On top of this, the Yanomami and Ye’kuana people are increasingly feeling the impacts of climate change, affecting their health and environment. Like all his people, Davi is deeply attuned to the natural world, and the changes he perceives are profound. “We, indigenous communities, are saying, “look at the sky, it’s changing, the sun is changing, the rain is changing.”  Davi warns that the world will suffer if the rainforest is destroyed. “The people in the cities, we want them to listen and believe us. They don’t see how things are changing.” From his home in Watoriki, ‘The Mountain of the Wind’, he urges us to act: “Think of the earth. It is life. The forest is life. Water is life.”    Can you relate this story to your own environment in any way?   What action could you take?

Reflect, share, act. Scripture.  The Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me, and you also are witnesses. They will put you out of the synagogues, indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.   John 15:26-27.   Pope Francis:   It is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions.  When they remain on the land they care for it best.  LS146.   Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness.  LS12 Pray the daily Laudato Si’ prayer.

DAILY LAUDATO SI’ PRAYER:     Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you.  Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made.  Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined to everything that is” (LS 246). Mary Queen of creation, pray for us.