Participants engage in creative activities during workshop. Photo: Fr Dan Troy SSC
In his much-acclaimed encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis wrote that “the history of our friendship with God is always linked to particular places which take on an intensely personal meaning; we all remember places, and revisiting those memories does us much good” (LS 84).
One part of the Columban response to promoting Laudato Si’ in China has been the running of ecology workshops. During these workshops participants study the encyclical and use hand lenses and microscopes to look at the beauty of small flowers and even the insects that live in those hidden spaces of a totally other dimension within the flowers. Through these experiences the participants begin to see the beauty and mystery of God’s creation in a new way. It also leads to understanding God from a slightly different perspective.
These workshops also provide space for participants to respond to the invitation of Pope Francis to revisit the memories that are linked to their own friendship with God. Artwork has been our chosen pathway to move back in time to savour those memories. Participants are asked to think about the places in the natural world that have shaped their lives from an early age. Then they have the opportunity to explore those memories with colours or to make paper models with the artistic materials that are available to them. As they take part in this creative activity, a joyful atmosphere develops as childhood memories are given expression in a wonderful variety of forms.
One part of the United Nations response to the environmental crisis of modern times has been to declare June 5th each year to be World Environment Day, a day that encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment. This day is also a way to communicate the stark fact that any authentic response to the environmental crisis must involve people from all parts of the world. A collective effort is essential.
The encouragement given by Pope Francis in this area of life makes a deep connection with the life of St. Francis of Assisi, the wonderful saint who lived in Italy more 800 years ago and regarded the sun as his brother and the moon as his sister.
Participants at the creative workshop. Photo: Fr Dan Troy SSC
A feature of the life of the Church is that it can reach back in history to identify sources within its tradition that provide direction for the future. Those sources of hope can be brought to the fore in modern times and reinterpreted for the new challenges the world is required to face.
As the world celebrates World Environment Day this year, it does so within a few weeks of the death of Pope Francis. Despite of his sad passing, his commitment to the cause of protecting our Common Home will remain part of the Church’s ongoing efforts in this area of shared concern for all of humanity.
In our ecology workshops in China, the artwork eventually provides the opportunity for participants to talk about their memories. Participants gather together in groups of five or six. They take turns to show their artwork to each other within the small group. They speak about the colourful representations and the small details in the artwork. In speaking about their artwork, they become visibly happy and animated. As they speak, they remember more and more about the place that is represented, whether this be a tree that was climbed during childhood with brothers and sisters or a narrow stream that was a special place of recreation for family and friends. Participants gradually realise that those places of childhood memory continue to hold importance for them in adult life, a realisation that the memories are deep and embody part of their relationship with God, a delightfully unexpected insight and affirmation.
In recent decades, a growing concern for the environment has emerged as an urgent issue in the life of the world. Each year World Environment Day is part of how the United Nations places the issue on the international agenda. The Church can also make its contribution to this dialogue. Pope Francis has invited us to be open to an “ecological conversion”, pleading with us to see our Common Home in the way that God sees it, a place that has been created out of love for all living creatures, a place that can continue to nourish life if we give it the time and the space that it needs to express itself fully.
Pope Francis has encouraged us to reflect on how our early experiences of the natural world have shaped our lives and are part of our friendship with God. If we can appreciate how those memories are still precious to us, we will naturally seek to protect our Common Home out of a deep concern for God’s creation rather than solely based off laws that seek its protection. A generous response to protecting our Common Home will ensure that the joy we experienced in the natural world during childhood will also be a possibility for those generations yet to be born, those who in their own time will also be nourished by the beauty of the natural world in ways that will be foundational for their relationship with God, the Creator of all.
Columban Fr Dan Troy lives and works in China.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin
