This Season of Creation is a time to meditate, pray, and respond to the cry of Creation. The Columban Mission Centre invites students attending Catholic primary and secondary schools in Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia to enter the 2025 Columban Season of Creation Art and/or Essay Competition, held in September.
This annual competition offers a platform for the prophetic voices of young people to reflect deeply and creatively through artwork, essays, or poetry, as they explore and express what it means to care for and restore God’s creation.
In a time when violence and war ravage our world, and the environment suffers ongoing exploitation, this year’s theme, Peace with Creation, calls us to action. God invites each of us to participate in the healing of our planet and the restoration of relationships - among ourselves, with the environment, and with our Creator.
Drawing inspiration from Isaiah 32, we see a vision of hope: a ruined creation transformed into a fruitful forest by the outpouring of God’s spirit. This biblical image reminds us that peace - Shalom - is more than the absence of war. It is the wholeness that comes from harmony, restoration, and justice.
Yet, human actions continue to wound the earth through deforestation, pollution, unsustainable industries, and conflict. In order to truly bring peace and healing, humanity must reconcile its relationship with the natural world.
For over 107 years, the St Columbans Mission Society has worked for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation across the globe. From planting mangroves in Fiji and hosting interfaith peace pilgrimages in Myanmar, to running eco-retreats in England and lobbying for climate justice in Korea, Columban missionaries serve as peacemakers.
In Myanmar’s Kachin State - where civil war has endured for nearly 70 years - the Columbans operate a rehabilitation centre offering care and hope to young people struggling with addiction. In Fiji, Columban lay missionaries lead clean-up campaigns and educate youth about ocean health. In Australia, they promote Laudato Si’ in schools. In every corner of the world where they serve, Columbans work to restore peace -with people, with God, and with Creation.
BE PART OF THE MOVEMENT
As Isaiah envisioned, and the Columbans now live, peace begins when the spirit of God renews the earth - and when we, as stewards of creation, respond with courage, compassion, and creativity.
This year, we ask students to reflect on what “Peace with Creation” means by responding to one of the following questions through a drawing, piece of artwork, an essay, or a poem:
1. What does “peace with creation” mean to you?
2. What are some practical ways to be at peace in creation?
3. How can we reconcile our relationship with creation from destruction to peace?
Let this Season of Creation be a time where young voices lead the way, and together we transform today’s wilderness into tomorrow’s fruitful field of justice, hope, and peace. This Season of Creation, help restore God’s Shalom. Together, through the Spirit, let’s bring peace to our world - one voice, one brushstroke, one word at a time.
Don’t miss the submission of your response by September 1, 2025!
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - June 2025
