The Call to Discipleship

Invocation
We join with the Earth and with each other.

We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery for the healing of the Earth and the renewal of all life. Amen.

Reflection
Science is discovering anew the enchanted world that mystics of different religious traditions have written about; one that is dynamically alive and interconnected.

Yet in these times we are in danger of tragically losing it to ecological and social injustices. Never has the time been so crucial for us to stay alert; to honestly hear the clarion call to read and respond to the signs of the time.

Throughout the history of Catholic Social Teaching, we have seen increasingly urgent calls to Christians to enter into a new consciousness of creation, revitalized environmental responsibility and partnerships with all peoples for the flourishing of the planet.

Most recently Pope Francis, in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’, called on “all men and women of good will” to understand that the dignity of human life and the care for the environment are inseparable and both are integral to the engagement of advocacy of creation care to build a just society and economy, and a flourishing planet.

To continue deepening our personal conversion to this Integral Ecology, the Canadian Bishops have written Living Out Laudato Si’ which offers a practical guide with insightful reflections, questions and resources for action through a four step approach of See, Learn, Pray, Act.

Relationships of love are at the heart of creation care and discipleship. Most importantly, we must fall in love with the Earth. To walk this path takes courage.

Pope Francis acknowledges this as he challenges us to, “become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus discover what each of us can do about it”. We cannot do this alone.

As the sign says, we are "better together" if we dare to hope that we can love the world this much.

Prayer
Numinous Life, richly layered and always partly hidden from us...
Give us your eyes so we may see you.
Exuberant and Whispering Life, when you seem like a dull roar to us…
Give us your ears so we may hear you.
Thick and Wondrous Life, when we fall into only two dimensions,
Give us the desire to touch
and know you with depth. Amen

• Carol Watson, reprinted with permission

By Sisters Betty Lou Knox, Mary Mettler and Janet Speth, CSJ