Hope for Creation

By Amy Stockinger, Formation and Resource Coordinator, Province Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry

The theme for this year’s Season of Creation is “Peace with Creation.”

I was struck by the following sentence in the theme’s description: “To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but to act, pray, change, and reconcile with Creation and the Creator in unity, metanoia (repentance), and solidarity.” (seasonofcreation.org) This reminds me that I cannot live my life in a passive hope, waiting for something to change. All of my hopes need to be grounded in God, personal conversion, and action. All of us are called to work as instruments of God in achieving our many different hopes.

In this jubilee year, we have been challenged to reflect on what hope means for each of us personally and as a Church. Now we are called to reflect more deeply on hope, particularly what is our hope for Creation and how are we willing to allow God to use our lives to bring about this change.

Some suggestions of where to start:

• Organize prayer moments that increase awareness among the young and other members of the community;
• Support politicians and policies that promote environmental care that affects the poor;
• Partake in service experiences that benefit the community and environment; and
• Create action steps that have a positive personal impact on the environment, e.g. reduction of consumerism and waste.