Beyond the Clouds by Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, S.A.C. | Page 40

medical care, whereas for others, they only reach the Eternal faster. How
beautiful a blessing it is to see those who grow old gracefully with no regrets or
complaints, be they rich or poor. At the end of it all, naked we came from the
womb of the mother, and naked we shall return.
In many ways, it is something like global climate change; hence why Pope
Francis has set precedential standards for the papacy and its role in the
environment. For example, the effects of carbon emissions in one country are
not merely limited to its geographical boundaries. Rather, the damage is
shared by the entire globe. Borders are what man created on a map, to which
nature does not follow.
This is precisely why Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si- Caring for our
Common Home- says, “we are faced with two separate crises, one environment
and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social
and environmental… we must regain the conviction that we need one another,
that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being
good and decent are worth it.”
The higher we go, the greater the horizon before us. Those who live in the
valleys do not see the lake on the other side, but if you scale the mountain,
you are given a new world. The more you transcend the limitations, the more
universal you become- both as a human being, and as a believer in the
Almighty.
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I was born in a very small, hilly village. We lived at the foot of the hill. To
reach my Church of the Little Flower, in a place called Ayyampara, we had to
climb 3k. As a seminarian, when visiting home for the holidays, it would take
me 45 minutes. On a good day, I could see the lighthouse out at sea, 80kms
away. What was once unseen at the bottom, now stretched 100km wide.
When I was a child, I could catch a plane flying overhead once in a blue moon.
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