MSOLA on the road to Integral Ecology: Gitega experience
Sr. Maite Oiartzun and Fr. Bernard Lesay, MAfr. By Sr. Maite Oiartzun, Gitega Community, Burundi I’m delighted to share with you that in Gitega (Burundi) we continue the project to plant Artemisia, a medicinal plant to prevent and cure malaria. I’m working in collaboration with Fr. Bernard Lesay, MAfr., agronomists and farmers in Gitega. I’m also part of a network called “La Maison de l’Artemisia” www.maison-artemisia.org which runs awareness-raising workshops in 28 African countries. In Gitega, I’m involved with the “Ecole Sociale” and the “Ecole d’Art”, where the students are boarders. The entire education community is involved, and they’ve given us plots of land to cultivate. Every school year, together with the students and teachers, we plant the Artemisia plants prepared by the farmers. In 4 months, we harvest plenty of Artemisia for the whole year. Students and teachers take the tea 3 times a week to boost the…
Let Justice and Peace flow
From the Rome community, Italy The Season of Creation runs annually from September 1 through October 4. It unites the global Christian family around one shared purpose, that of caring for the Planet. It invites us to celebrating prayer services and engaging in a variety of actions to care for creation. This year’s theme is inspired by the Prophet Amos. He cries out: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24) And so we are called to join the river of justice and peace, to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity. In this sense, many of us MSOLA in Rome, General Council, generalate community and juniors participated in two activities. On 9th September we prayed with our brothers, the Missionaries of Africa, the brothers…
Season of creation prayer 2023
Creator of All, From your communion of love life sprung forth like a mighty river and the whole cosmos came into being. On this Earth of overflowing love, the Word was made flesh and went forth with the life-giving waters proclaiming peace and justice for all creation. You called human beings to till and keep your garden. You placed us into right relationship with each creature, but we failed to listen to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the most vulnerable. We broke with the flowing communion of love and sinned against you by not safeguarding the conditions for life. We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats, we grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished, and we ache at the sight of an economy of death, war and violence that we…
Opening the Season of Creation
The Season of Creation starts on the 1st of September and our Congregation and our brothers Missionaries of Africa are starting the celebration with a letter from our superiors Here is the link to download the PDF 2023 0729 SoC_En
Towards Integral Ecology
In December 2022 many sisters and communities from the 2 African entities participated together in the webinar on the Journey to Integral Ecology (JIE). Sr. Begoña presented the point we have reached on this Journey, inviting us to go further. She proposed elements of Ignatian spirituality and of African tradition that can help us to include the ecological aspect in our apostolic Ignatian spirituality. We continued with the new ecological vision, the sacredness of all created beings and our human responsibility to care for the Earth, our common home. The process of ecological conversion demands of us to transform all our relationships and our lifestyle, doing without what is superfluous, “living simply so that others can simply live”. The ecological spirituality makes us aware of our communion with nature and the spiritual connection between humans and all beings of the Earth. It opens us to contemplate nature and to…
Trees as a source of joy and fraternity
Sr Marie Ange, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, joins on a mission to bring trees to schools. Here is her report. On Thursday, 24 November 2022, I woke up when it was still dark to start the four-hour drive to Boghe. I had a cold and was unable to speak, but my heart was full of life. I wanted to finally realise a project developed for almost a year with three young men from the Association Soleil des Enfants: Yahya, Abdoul and Dawda, who were ready with their backpacks. It was cold that morning. Before we left, we made sure that each of us had a bottle of water as the journey was long. One after the other, the three young people said “Bismillah” “In the name of God” and we set off on a beautiful adventure. Along the way, they explained why it is important for them to plant trees.…
When the Bishops get involved!
Sr. Vicky Ciharhula, in Bamako, Mali, tells us about how the Bishops got involved in her work for the environment and against human trafficking. Environment Animation in the Diocese of Sikasso In October 2021, the Justice-Peace-Integrity of Creation – Interreligious Dialogue (JPIC-DI) (a workshop of the Union of Catholic Religious of Mali, of which I am a member) received a request from the diocese of Sikasso to animate two days in the week of the Diocesan Pastoral Days. The theme given by the diocese was: “Laudato Si’: The question of the environment in a pastoral perspective”. On the appointed day we went to the centre where the pastoral agents were gathered. The welcome was very warm and the atmosphere was relaxed. We started by pointing out the theological basis of the environmental issue in the Scriptures and in the social doctrine of the Church. Then “Laudato Si’” received special attention.…
The seeds of “Laudato Si”
Since July, two “Laudato Si” circles have begun to sprout in our community, one for adults and one for young people. The beginning is weak and humble. We do not yet see the path clearly but moved by our conviction “… that Africa has an important contribution to make to the world, we choose to participate in making it a reality” (excerpt from the MSOLA’s raison d’être), and trusting in God, we launched the call. The response was a nice surprise, people came. The young people asked to meet every two weeks and the adults once a month. The young people came on the 21st and the adults on the 27th of August. We are nourishing the ‘listening to creation’ with the resources from our congregation and different organisations, in a special way with the letter of Pope Francis for the time of creation and the Encyclical “Laudato Si”. In…
The Earth is for all… be happy!
Each year in Nouakchott, the “Maison du Quartier” organises a summer camp for 3 weeks. This year’s theme was: “The Earth is for all… be happy! “. This camp aims to help children improve their knowledge by doing several activities with them. This year, we were lucky enough to experience this event because in previous years, it had been cancelled due to Covid 19. The “Maison du Quartier” committee, in collaboration with our community, organised activities that could help these children. There were volunteers who offered to give the children various activities such as: embroidery, crochet, computers, decorating bottles, singing and patchwork. Everyone contributed where they could. We welcomed about thirty children and we put them in groups so that they could participate in all the activities in turn. Through these activities, we taught the children to save nature by recovering and using everything that had to be thrown away,…
2022 Season of Creation Prayer
Creator of All, From your communion of love your Word went forth to create a symphony of life that sings your praise. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of creatures who praise you in their being. You called human beings to till and keep your garden. But we turn in on ourselves and away from our co-creatures. We fail to listen to the cries of the poor and the needs of the most vulnerable. We silence the voices of those who hold the traditions that teach us to care for the Earth. We close our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the Scriptures. Creation cries out as forests crackle, and animals alike flee the fires of injustice that we have lit by our unwillingness to listen. In this Season of Creation, we…