LUMUGAR KA, MAY PAGLALAGYAN KA: INTERROGATING A SENSE OF PLACE AMID ENVIRONMENTAL DISPLACEMENT

Abstract

Seven years after the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology, Laudato Si (On Care for Our Common Home), the Church observes that the great treasure of Laudato Si’s wisdom needs to become far more deeply known and effectively put into practice. Its message is still not known, and the environmental crisis of our common home has worsened drastically as humans are increasingly becoming aware of the extinction, devastation, and destruction they have caused. Hastened by globalization and the Western ideology of transitory ways of living that resulted in the ‘displacement’ of many, humanity became dislocated and displaced. The yearning to be somewhere, to have a place called home is a deep and noble quest. Concerned with the intersection of culture, ecology, and spirituality, the study documented the different place meanings the locals ascribed to their place. The locals offered dominant narratives about their place as home, source of beauty, mother, and abundance which are equated with their identity and history. Reflections about “place” helps build relationships and provide contexts for dialogue about important issues within a community. The study highlighted the meanings of places as spaces for people to voice stories of discontent or communally imagine new stories for the kind of future their place is to have. The Filipino adage, Lumugar ka at may paglalagyan ka, exhorts humans to rediscover a sense of place amid ecological crisis and displacement which is often ignored yet unavoidable. It challenges the churches to recover a sense of place as a foundational dimension of reflecting Jesus’ incarnation and the Spirit’s inhabitation on Earth.