Theme: TO HOPE AND ACT WITH CREATION
“There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” – Wendell Berry
The XXVI General Chapter conceived the image of the missionary of hope who walks in the footsteps of the Redeemer as the paradigm that describes the Redemptorist in today’s world. It is in this world, particularly marked by the climate crisis, that we are called to live the redemptorist mission, a mission that bears joyful witness of hope (cf. 1Pt. 3:15; Const. 20).
The Season of Creation is thus presented as an opportunity to reimagine the Redemptorist charism, as the last General Chapter requested, this time in the face of the current ecological crisis. The Season of Creation is an ecumenical celebration that takes place every year, beginning on September 1 (World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) and extending until October 4 (feast of St. Francis of Assisi) and seeks to direct the attention of the Christian community on the need for contemplation and action for our Common Home. For the Redemptorist family, the Season of Creation allows us to align ourselves as a missionary body, with the growing awareness about climate change and environmental issues, both within and beyond the Church. It is also an opportunity to deepen the ecumenical journey with other Christian denominations while deepening our understanding that everything and everyone is connected and working together for the care of our Common Home.
The response of some sectors of society to the environmental catastrophe caused by human beings is one of denial, indifference and rejection. Such attitudes even persist among believers and some ecclesial circles, who consider that the environmental issue has nothing to do with the religious or spiritual sphere. It is possible that in some places the commitment to care for the Common Home is seen as an ideological action incompatible with living the faith. What is certain is that care for Creation is an expression of our Christian faith, as well as a moral and spiritual responsibility, and these cannot be separated.
In conformity with the motto of the sexennium, the motto of the Season of Creation calls us to “hope and act with Creation“. Indeed, hope is not passivity or quietism but moves us to action as a form of anticipation of the future we hope and want to build. The Season of Creation calls us to assume the heritage of our rich charism and to connect it with present history so that the world may partake in the abundant life of the Redeemer (cf. Jn 10:10). We pray, reflect and act because we have hope, and we hope with a hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5), with the joyful hope of those who know in whom they have placed their trust (2 Tim 1:12). Therefore, as a Redemptorist family, we need to ask ourselves: at what extent our Redemptorist charism bring hope to the Earth, affected by global warming, deforestation, pollution and overexploitation of its resources? How does the Redemptorist charism inspire the Care of Creation?
The care of creation is a theme that touches us all as a human family because we all share not only this same Common Home but also the same destiny. By caring for creation, we express the sense of family that embraces the entire human race, but also the other created species with which we share the same origin and the same destiny.
Scientists agree that we live in a world that is undergoing radical changes, which affect the poor most severely. This is not a problem with merely political or moral implications, but also spiritual ones. It is for this reason that as Redemptorists we are called to reimagine our identity in light of this reality. Each year we reach new peaks in global warming, and newscasts inform us of increasingly prolonged droughts, floods, and other natural disasters that have their direct causes in human action; what do environmental catastrophes have to do with our Christian faith and ministry as Redemptorists? some might ask. The answer may seem quite obvious, but in reality, it is not. Not infrequently distorted theological conceptions, with a strong anthropocentric orientation of dominion, have justified the exploitation of nature, or even inaction.
A careful approach to the theology of creation and redemption may foster healthy relationships with nature and solutions to the serious problems of environmental pollution, deforestation, species extinction, etc. One of the most difficult things to understand is that the natural world, as created and sustained by God, has its own right to exist. Our redemptorist spirituality has the potential to correct in the minds and hearts of our communities some of our misconceptions regarding the natural world. Our planet Earth, our Common Home as embedded in a unique economy of salvation, is also a beneficiary of abundant redemption.
During this Season of Creation, we would like to continue our exercise of reflection and exploration on the ecological dimension of our charism. We know that the potential is great, but we have to discover it for ourselves. Based on the invitation of the XXVI General Chapter to re-imagine, we feel called to a kind of “theological-spiritual re-socialization” at the individual and community levels; this “social re-adaptation” implies to overcome the anthropocentric attitude of domination and, instead, adopt a theocentric spirituality that takes seriously the created world, the reality of ecological sin and the urgency of ecological conversion. Here, the prefix “theo“, refers to the Trinity as the source of existence and life; we could also refer to a biocentric spirituality, as long as our idea of “bio” points to that fundamental Source of life which is the Trinity. Part of this theological-spiritual “resocialization” also implies a Christological actualization that acknowledges the whole of creation as beneficiaries of the redemptive work in Christ. In our spiritual tradition, the reading of the mystery of the incarnation offers us fascinating points of encounter with environmental reality. It is thus a reimaginative effort that seeks to articulate a genuinely Redemptorist spirituality that promotes abundant life to the whole created world.
On the other hand, our apostolic ministry as disciples of the Patron of moralists and confessors involves identifying and differentiating good from evil. We all live integrated into a global economic system that has made the destruction of the planet a business that is not only profitable but legally and morally acceptable. The conscience of our society is numbed and often makes us see as good what is fundamentally not. Our generation has not been sufficiently accountable for the care of the Common Home, thus compromising the welfare of future generations. It belongs to us as followers of Christ the Redeemer, to make adjustments at the level of our theological understanding. Our great responsibility is to be good ancestors of future generations (Jonas Salk). Therefore, as Redemptorists, we want to make our contribution to the building of that better world we all want.
