Daughters of Jesus and Associates, along with Sisters from other communities living at Providence Centre joined together on Saturday, April 26 to celebrate and learn more about our beautiful planet, both its fascinating history and how we are called to preserve it.

Cosmic march

Sr. Denise Lirette, fj from Moncton, reverently and creatively presented the history of our home according to science and Sacred Scripture. She laid out a Cosmic Walk in the form of a spiral with key moments of our planet’s history and evolution highlighted along the way.

Evolution and change

We learned, for example, that the first animals and plants were created 425 million years ago. With more numbers that are both astounding and hard to grasp, we learned that modern humans first appeared around 300,000 years ago. Sadly, warfare originated 5,200 years ago and continues to plagu humankind. Different religions sprang up, perhaps in response to our inhumanity towards each other, 5,000 years ago. By God’s grace, the Exodus, a pivotal moment in salvation history, occurred 3,200 years ago. The key moment in the entire history of the world was the coming of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

His message of forgiveness and love from His Father penetrated all people and all physical matter.

Climate crisis

Because of the hope Jesus brought us in His teaching that God is with us and all around us, the climate crisis that haunts us does not need to lead us to despair.

Together and with others, we Daughters of Jesus, and Associates, commit ourselves to go further in our response to the call of Laudato Si’. By living a common project – Daughters of Jesus and Associates, concerning water…

The charism we hold as Daughters of Jesus and Associates continues to move us forward: we profess to honour the Sacred Humanity of Jesus in all of creation, namely in all of nature and in all our brothers and sisters.

Pope Francis and Laudato Si

Pope Francis addresses in Laudato Si the need to relate to all three relationships that are intrinsic to human life, namely, our relationship with God, our brothers and sisters and the earth itself. He stresses that climate change has led to an ecological crisis in which we have forgotten who we are and where we come from (adapted from Paragraph 217).

Sr. Denise carried his idea further by stressing that our acts, no matter how small, can help remediate the present state of affairs. Reactions to this session by participants ranged from marvel at the wonder of earth’s history to scratched heads caught up in the astounding numbers involved.

Water has a message

After lunch and, for some, a reflective walk in the warm sun, Sr. Denise opened the afternoon session with a prayer beseeching the Lord to impress on us the urgency of acting in order to save our planet.

We learned that Earth’s most precious resource, water, is a living mystery. All forms of life are derived from it and contain it. It is suffering currently trauma caused by waste and pollution.

In turn, water can host harm to other parts of nature. We are called to treat this sacred gift from the Lord as just that-sacred.

Our time of prayer and reflection this beautiful day in April was indeed a gift that, with God’s grace, will bring forth fruit for all of God’s creation.

Maxyne Bohémier, Associate FJ.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada