ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY AND OUR CHARISM (Rule 9a)

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

“I do not believe that cultivating an ecological spirituality is in contradiction with our charism; on the contrary, I hope it can help us to grow. As missionaries, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ who chose to announce the Good News from the poor and invited us to trust in God’s Providence by speaking to us of the lilies of the field and the sparrows.

To make us understand the transforming power of the Kingdom that we proclaim, he spoke to us of the seeds that grow into great bushes and how they grow in secret and how they bear fruit according to the soil in which they are sown. Jesus invites us to discern the signs of the times as we do the winds that announce warmth or rain. Creation is shaken when Jesus dies on the cross and his rising from the tomb on the third day causes the dawn of each new day to renew our hope in the new humanity and new creation born in his resurrection. He directs history by sending his Spirit to complete his work of recapitulation so that God may be “all in all” (Eph 1:10; 1 Cor 15:24-28).

The hopeful contemplation of creation from the perspective of redemption and definitive recapitulation leads us to love God more, to identify with him, to let him live in us (Constitution 2) and to serve him as his co-workers (Constitution 1). Our relationship with Jesus, carefully cultivated, leads us to discover the Incarnate Word, through whom everything was created and in his creation we discover his presence. We praise that presence every day when we pray the Psalms as we praise him present in the poor. Authentic ecological conversion will lead us to grow in intimacy with Christ and will also lead us to action and commitment, for in communion with Christ even the simplest actions take on a transformative dimension beyond all expectations.”

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