In An Ecological Theology of Liberation: Salvation and Political Ecology (2019), theologian Daniel P. Castillo articulates a theological vision that responds to the interlocking atrocities of ecological degradation and social injustice. He refers to his project, which emerges at the intersection of the fields of liberation theology and ecological theology, as an, “Ecological theology of liberation” (xxvi). Throughout his book, Castillo illuminates the convergence of God’s preferential option for the poor, especially in the Beatitudes, with God’s preferential option for the earth, and promotes the active enfleshment of these intertwining priorities (3). 

For Castillo, the necessary intersection of work for social justice with work for environmental well-being is grounded in human society’s embeddedness in the natural world. Castillo points to Pope Francis as articulating a resonant worldview in his 2015 encyclical Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Castillo writes that Francis captures the, “Underlying unity between history/society and nature” (52). Environmentalists and ecotheologians frequently point to this false dualism as underlying practices and systems that degrade the earth. Francis’ sensitivity to the enmeshment of culture and nature feeds into his vision of integral ecology, which will require a radical transformation of the systems that stabilize our unjust and unsustainable status quo. Castillo observes that, for Francis, enacting the ideals of integral ecology requires a, “Paradigm shift away from the politics, economics, and cultural formations that now structure the global system,” (53). 

 In today’s readings we find the Beatitudes, which Castillo highlights as, “Key to understanding the character of the reign of God,” a reality that disrupts the operation of the global system and replaces it with a pattern of justice (127). He argues that the Beatitudes, “Articulate the vision of a time when the garden of the world is no longer numbered by the logic of the domination system but organized in accordance with the wisdom of God” (127). While Castillo suggests that each particular Beatitude crystallizes a vision of God’s renewal of the earth, he particularly highlights the ecological importance of the Beatitude unique to Matthew’s gospel, which we find in today’s reading: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (127). 

Castillo proposes that a proper interpretation of meekness (Greek: praus) does not imply weakness, resignation, or timidity, but instead, “A sense of active nonviolence” (127). For Castillo, meekness, “Stands in contradistinction, not to confrontationality, but rather to pride and the lust for domination” (127-128). With this in mind, Castillo proposes that Jesus’ vision of the reign of God, which coincides with the inheritance of the earth by the meek, “Appears not only as good news for the meek but for the earth as well” (128). When God’s reign manifests, the community of life that is our earth is stewarded to by nonviolent humans; both humanity and the wider earth community are liberated from the global system of domination. Castillo notes that this New Testament vision echoes that of the prophet Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, in which humble humans, “Organize the political ecology of the earth” (128). In the peaceable kin-dom we find human beings skillfully wielding plowshares and pruning hooks rather than weapons of violence. 

While Jesus powerfully conveys the reign of God, he palpably enfleshes the wisdom of the parables in his life and ministry. Castillo notes, for instance, that the Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus himself as “meek” (128). Throughout the gospels, Jesus is depicted as one who lives in radical accordance with the will of God. He is, “Obedient to God’s will and the call to serve and care for the garden of the world” (129). Jesus is moved by his meekness to actively, “Confront and denounce the forces of the ‘anti-reign’—the forces that devour the earth and crush the poor—even at the consequence of suffering an unjust death on the cross” (129). The cross therefore operates as both a condemnation of the radically unjust systems of domination and an unveiling of God’s reign. 

Guided by Castillo, we might approach the Beatitudes as a crystallization of the reign of God. When the meek inherit the earth and the global system of domination is subverted, an integral ecology will be established for the benefit of the poor and the earth, the human community and the wider community of life.   

Spend some time contemplating the significance of Jesus’ teaching that the meek shall inherit the earth, and think also about Daniel P. Castillo’s interpretation of this teaching. How might our own movement into meekness lead us into a deeper sensitivity to the goodness and beauty of creation, as well as a deeper sensitivity to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor? How might our own movement into meekness lead us to honor our embeddedness in creation while also actively resisting and transforming the systems of domination in which we are embedded? 

In addition to drawing inspiration from Castillo, we might draw inspiration from Robin Wall Kimmer, biologist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. In her essay “Returning the Gift,” Kimmerer suggests that the active practice of, “Paying attention to other beings…is humbling and leads inescapably to the understanding that we are surrounded by intelligences other than our own” (22). We are, for Kimmerer, “Surrounded by teachers and mentors who come dressed in foliage, fur, and feathers” (22). For Kimmerer, the centrally significant work of paying attention to the more-than-human world can generate deep wonder and joy, but it can also inspire a greater sensitivity to suffering. She writes, “Open and attentive, we see and feel equally the beauty and the wounds, the old growth and the clear-cut, the mountain and the mine” (2

Leonardo Boff is a widely influential liberation theologian who has devoted his career to theological reflection in the service of social justice and environmental flourishing. He is an Emeritus Professor of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and Ecology at Rio de Janeiro State University. Born in Brazil in 1938, Boff entered the Franciscans in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1964. He received his doctorate in theology at the University of Munich in 1970. In 1985, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith silenced Leonardo Boff for one year for his criticisms of the Catholic Church in the name of liberation theology, in his book Church: Charism and Power: Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church. In 1992, the institutional church threatened to silence Boff in order to prevent him from participating in the Eco-92 Earth Summit. Because of this, Boff left the Franciscans as well as the priesthood. In addition to devoting his career to articulating a liberating theology conducive to sustainability and justice, Boff has been outspoken on the issue of church reform. For instance, in 2012 Boff contributed to a Jubilee Declaration composed by Catholic scholars on the need to reform authority in the Catholic Church. 

For more information, view: 

https://liberationtheology.org/people-organizations/leonardo-boff/ 

Benincasa Community is a lay Catholic community located on six acres of land in Guilford, CT. The community is named after the 14th century mystic and reformer St. Catherine of Siena, whose family name was Beinincasa. Benincasa Community is inspired by and committed to three key streams of influence within the wider Catholic context: the Catholic Worker Movement, the Thompson Street Jesuits, and the Dominican Sisters of the Northeast. Benincasa’s rootedness in faith actively informs their work for sustainability and justice. The community is, “Grounded by faith, an emerging understanding of the new cosmology, the development of new economic models in our world, and the need for deepening relationships with the land and one another.” Their current intention is to develop a “green monastery” for lay people that draws inspiration from Peter Maurin’s vision of “agronomic universities”–places where working on the land is a place of learning–as well as the numerous ecological learning centers and farms founded by Catholic women religious. Benincasa pursues eco-social justice with a deep sensitivity to the interweaving of ecological degradation with social injustice. The community notes that, “We pursue Earth Justice by participating in intersectional activism addressing the exploitation of the land and individuals based on their geography, gender, race, and class.” 

A. Vonn Hartung, a practitioner of “Catholic Sacred Art” has lived in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico since 1984. Hartung writes, “I dedicate my life and art to a search for the spiritual dimensions of human nature as well as God’s beauty revealed in Creation.” Through his art, he aims to, “Reveal the Light within.” He describes his painting, “On Heart as it is in Heaven” as, “Rhetorical in concept,” and as a painting that, 

Presents us with two possibilities: one in harmony with God’s Creation, a future of justice, peace and sustainability. The other of plunder, chaos, endless war and an ultimate collapse of nature and life on our planet home as we know it. Earth is painted in the form of an egg, metaphorically symbolizing the fragility of Earth’s ecosystem as well as her natural abundance and fertility. The painting asks the question of the viewer, each one of us, whatever our religion or beliefs, which future do we want to live in, leave to our children and future generations?

Hartung notes that he painted “On Earth as it is in Heaven” in 1992, partially inspired by the deteriorating ecological conditions in Puerto Rico, the, “Thoughtless over-development and pollution that was going on, and the destruction of local communities.” He notes that Pope Francis’s Laudato si’ ultimately, “Spelled it all out completely.” 

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Image description: In space, above the Earth, Jesus rises up from the earth surrounded half by blue water and sky and half by brown and red earth. On both sides below him is human civilization, the blue side full of water, life, and flowering plants, the brown earth side full of chaos and sharp angles.