“Understand creation if you want to understand the creator” – St Columban. Photo: St Columban's Mission Society
County Wicklow in Ireland is known as the Garden of Ireland. It is here that we Columban Sisters have our Motherhouse. Living here, I am surrounded by the beauty of Mother Nature in her different forms of glory all year round. One day while out walking, I saw a bee lying on the ground on its back, struggling to right itself. Finding a small twig, I very gently turned him over. After a few seconds, he flew away, and I thought, ‘I saved a bee.’ It was an experience which, several years later, still fills me with a sense of awe.
From my childhood living in a small town in Scotland, I have always felt very close to nature and can easily identify with the reminder of Pope Francis at the very beginning of his world-famous encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’, “our common home is like a sister with whom we share life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us”(LS #1). With a father who grew up on a small farm and a mother who was a keen gardener, it may have been natural for a love of nature to develop in me and help shape who I am and, hopefully, how I live. Then, as I began my journey as a Columban Sister, I discovered that our patron also lived his life constantly aware of and respectful of nature. In her book, ‘Saint Columban A Pioneer of Western Civilisation ’, Marguerite Marie Dubois describes him, ‘making his way slowly through the forest, his soul wide-open to the divine inspiration. Kneeling on a fallen tree, he would open the leather satchel which hung from his shoulder and, taking out the book of the Gospels, read the words of Christ aloud.
An audience he had not foreseen immediately gathered round: twittering birds who ceased their nest-building to listen, whilst there came to hang from his robe the frolicking squirrels he knew so well, since in his boyhood he had often tamed them.” With experiences such as these, it is no wonder that Columban urges us to, ‘Understand Creation if you want to know the Creator’.
Unfortunately, as many of us know, the situation in our world is not as idyllic as described above by St. Columban. Fr. Sean McDonagh SSC often shares his deep concern at the destruction of biodiversity and shocks his audience with his statement that “we are living through the 6th greatest period of extinction since life began 3.8 billion years ago.” Pope Francis also reminds us that “This century may well witness extraordinary climate change and an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems, with serious consequences for all of us.” (L.S. #24). Faced with this startling reality, it can be very easy to feel overwhelmed at the enormity of this situation and to question, “What can I do to remedy this situation”?
As an individual, it can be easy to just give up, but I am convinced that there are many small measures that can be taken by each one of us. Now recognised as one of the most powerful ways we can restore ecosystems, ‘Rewilding’ is a ‘project’ we can easily adopt through participating in ‘No Mow May’, whereby in this part of the world we are encouraged to wait till after the month of May before mowing the grass. By doing this, the bees can have access to the nectar in the bountiful crops of dandelions which blossom at this time of year. This does not come without criticism, however, as we discovered when neighbours would offer to cut the grass for us when our dandelions were left to flower. And then at the end of our summer, we can leave seedheads of the flowers that have brightened the months that have passed so that the birds and small mammals can feed on them. Small steps yes but ones that can contribute to preserving our beautiful planet.
And so, as we celebrate the Season of Creation this year, let us take even one small step and join with the Laudato Si Movement to ‘renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion and commitment together’.
Columban Sr Ann Gray lives and works in Ireland.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban PEJ eBulletin.
