Creer y actuar para renacer

40 actas del sexto congreso católicos y vida pública may have more in common than you can see at first glance. I will try to make some links between the two so we can feel for each other, in our common struggle for liberation. I want to build a case in favor of turning the parts of our environment and ourselves that seem like trash/garbage into something that gives us new life – From Garbage to Compost. From Death and Destruction to Resurrection! How we respond to a hurricane or personal tragedy, as it is when being thrown into prison, is very important. Do we blame someone, cower in fear, rage in despair, pray, act helpless and expect someone else to save us, or take some responsibility? Whether we are powerless in prison or our island’s power grid is shut down, our response is crucial to how we will survive and thrive. Let’s look at some current background to situate ourselves: America is coming apart, divided into two nations – one with high education levels, stable families and good opportunities, and the other with low education levels, unstable families and bad opportunities. This quote from David Brooks appeared in the New York Times in 2013. We must do something to acknowledge these “two nations,” which are growing more and more apart every day. It isn’t just America. It is the whole world, isn’t it? Where is Puerto Rico in this division? Caught in the middle? This division is played out in the struggle over our care for the environment. Pope Francis explains it to us in his teaching, Laudato Si . He says that how we care for the environment is very much related to how we care for the dignity of every human person, including ourselves. Our Common Home! Pope Francis urges us with great passion to a wholistic concern for our ecosystem, and not just because we have been smashed by hurricanes. In other words, we, who are Christians, must not trash our own bodies, our neighbors’ bodies, poor peoples’ bodies, or the earth itself and say that we are following God’s commandments. When we pray in the psalms, Have mercy on me, O God, for my sin is before me always , what sin are we speaking of? For most of us, I doubt if it is for abusing the earth. And yet, we are created from the earth and we shall return to the earth someday (Gen. 2:7) On Ash Wednesday, we receive ashes on our foreheads in the form of a cross. The priest says as he does this, “Remember that you are from