ECOLOGICAL CONVERSION: A CALL TO LIVE AN ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY (Rule 9a)

Action on behalf of justice, peace and the integrity of creation is an integral part of evangelization. Rule 9a

“Some years ago, I read an article reflecting on our dehumanising pace of life. According to the author, a monk, this way of living causes a triple rupture: rupture with God, with creation and with others. The monastic life proposes a humanising rhythm of life that is marked daily by an encounter with God, with all that is created through work, with the community and with the poor. The conclusion, which we can make our own, is that in order to humanise our society we must promote the experience of reconnecting and growing in these dimensions which, besides being deeply interconnected, serve as communicating vessels.

The fact that we are used to looking at the world through the eyes of the crucified (C.4), enables us to listen with our hearts to the cries of the poor and the groaning in travail of all creation waiting to be delivered from corruption (Rom 8:18-23). We have to recognise that many of these painful cries are provoked by us, by our actions and by our omissions. This is what Patriarch Bartholomew has called the sin against creation, something we must repent of and correct. At the General Chapter, we acknowledged our inadequate efforts. Each of us could make our own examination of conscience.”

Fr L. Rois Alonso, Superior General, (https://www.omiworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Letter-of-the-Superior-General-Havana-Cuba-August-15-2023.pdf)