Laudato Si: Caring for Our Common Home.
The Encyclical Letter On Care For Our Common Home by Pope Francis
Laudato Si’ mi Signore’’, these were the words in the beautiful canticle spoken by Saint Francis of Assisi. “Praise be to you my Lord” remind us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother that opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you my lord, through our sister Mother Earth who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs”.
The sister now cries out because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. The planet earth is in turmoil from the symptoms of sickness present in our soil, water, air and all forms of life. Our mother “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our bodies are made up of her elements, we breath her air, and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.
Saint Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was the guide and inspiration for Pope Francis. He believed that Saint Francis was the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology. He was concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and out cast. A mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in harmony with God, with others, with nature, and with himself. He shows us how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace. 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. “Through the greatness and beauty of the creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker” (Wis 13:50)
Saint Francis of Assisi (Saint Francis of Assisi, 1591.) Andrea Andreani
El Jardin de San Francisco
There is an urgent challenge to protect our common home, this includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development , for we know that things can change. Locally, our common home, our ancestral lands, provide the resources that sustained our communities. The early settlers of the Rio Culebra Villages were guided by their faith, hard work and commitment to maintaining the spirit of place. The first sacred spaces were Oratorios and Moradas. Later as the communities were established mission churches were built of adobe and wood.
The San Francisco Morada established in the late 1800’s continues to function as the home base for La Sociadad de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno or the Hermano Penitentes. Saint Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of the Morada. It is therefore, very fitting that the hermanos carry forward the message of Pope Francis Laudato si Encyclical Letter through the teachings and philosophy of Saint Francis of Assisi via the San Francisco Morada. For generations the morada has provided spiritual support to the Rio Culebra communities. The morada continues to serve local residents especially during the observance of Lent. In order to extend the holy season of lent and honor Saint Francis and care for our common home El Jardin de San Francisco was created by the hermanos with the guidance of Father Emmanuel and Sangre de Cristo Parish. This group focuses on prayer, contemplation, reading scripture, and living out the Gospel based on Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si through gardening and beautification of the sites and structures of the parish. The San Francisco Morada will be developing a peace garden with a statute of St, Francis of Assisi and plantings of flowers, shrubs and herbs.
El Jardin de San Francisco is meeting every two weeks to study the readings of the Laudato Si. and to work on gardening and plantings. The meetings are held at El Convento at 5:00 PM. The next meeting will be on June 24, 2026.
A copy of the Laudato si’ can be downloaded via the Vatican website:
For more information on the meetings, please contact Hermanos Arnold Valdez at 505-690-8924 or Richard Olivas at 719-580-3689
