How great it is to be small!
This exclamation could perfectly be a phrase of St. Francis of Assisi and of his brothers and sisters of all times. You and I can also make it our own. Smallness is a way of being in life and before God, to which we urgently need to return today as well. Franciscan spirituality offers us a path of hope in the midst of our conflict-ridden reality and the environmental crisis we are going through.
Everything is connected. Everything affects us.
Our world is enduring too much. Just open our eyes and look around us: there are more than fifty armed conflicts going on right now. Everywhere we hear about the environmental problem (of which Pope Francis has spoken so much in recent encyclicals). And what about the politics of our countries with so much injustice and exploitation and the same families going through their own ordeal.
All this is affecting our homes and our religious communities. St. Francis of Assisi said that our convent is the world, that we cannot close ourselves in the four walls of our houses because the world needs to hear a different word. Do you really believe that you can continue to live on an island, without being affected by the suffering of others, of families, of the planet? Everything is connected and you cannot escape.
The ecological conversion we need
Franciscan spirituality invites us to live in harmony with nature and to recognize the interdependence of all living beings. St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology, showed us the way to a respectful collaboration with the environment, even though in his time, the planet was not threatened as it is today. His love for creation and his deep connection with nature inspire us and invite us to rethink our relationship with the world around us.
Technology and progress, which we all seek so much, is an ambiguous good. On the one hand, it allows us to live more comfortably on many levels; it brings us closer to each other, as it allows us to be connected to any place on earth, it helps us in the fields of health, education, communication and so many others. But, on the other hand, it is a great danger. In order to continue “progressing”, we need raw materials and these are being extracted from Mother Earth in an abusive way, exploiting indigenous peoples in many cases. Yes, we all, or almost all of us, have internet connection, but more than ever we suffer from loneliness. We can enjoy certain comforts, but at what cost to the planet?
The relationship between the abuse of our Common Home and the lack of peace in the world is evident. It is enough to see the conflicts caused by the exploitation of mines or monocultures, or the wars incited only because there is an interest in selling weapons, or the serious problem of the waste, the garbage, produced by the most developed countries and transported, sold to other continents and causing environmental disasters. Not to mention the situation in so many countries, where corrupt governments steal money dedicated to recycling or improving infrastructure. As a consequence, the garbage is flooding our rivers and fields and affecting the poorest.
Do not think that these things are the fault of the great ones of this land. It is everyone’s responsibility. There is such a thing as ecological sin, of which Pope Francis speaks in the Final Document of the Synod of the Amazon (DF 82): it is an action or omission against God, against one’s neighbor, the community and the environment; a sin against future generations, which manifests itself in acts and habits of pollution or destruction of the harmony of the environment. We urgently need a conversion!
The power of the small
Now the same question that St. Francis of Assisi once asked God arises: Lord, what do you want me to do? I invite you to reflect on the lifestyle you lead and its consequences for the environment. There is always something you can do: recycle, reuse, repair things instead of throwing them away, do not waste water or electricity, give your support to those who fight to protect the earth and the poor, denounce injustice, participate or give training to change our mentality and our bad habits, pray for ecological conversion and social justice.
Start with your own home, your neighborhood or your village: is there a step of closeness or reconciliation that I can take so that we can live a little better?
From our spirituality we believe that the small has a transformative power for the world. And we still harbor hope.
Sr. Marta Ulinska