All spiritual life meets us within natural life. Reverence for life, therefore, is applied to natural life and spiritual life alike. In the parable of Jesus, the shepherd saves not merely the soul of the lost sheep but the whole animal. The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger also grows that for spiritual life.
– Albert Schweitzer
The mystery of redemption is expressed in the letter to the Ephesians in terms of the “recapitulation” of all things, things in heaven and things on earth (Eph. 1:10), of which Christ is the head (Eph. 5:23-33). This understanding allows us to perceive redemption not only as a supernatural or exclusively human reality, but as a binding reality. Our way of being in the world is Trinitarian, and this means fundamentally that it is relational. Understanding ourselves as the image of a Trinitarian God who is not enclosed in his unity leads us to recognize that our vocation is not to live enclosed in our individuality, as we participate in this complex and mysterious network of relationships of the whole created world.
The ministry of the Redemptorists, “as helpers, companions and ministers of Jesus Christ in the great work of redemption” (Const. 6) is directed to bring man to participate in the very nature of God; that is, in the abundant life that flows from the Triune God and is communicated through the Redeemer. We understand that we have received a relational charism, and we have been called to be in the most abandoned places, especially among the poor of the peripheries where they find themselves excluded and left to their fate. Since the mystery of the Incarnation is at the heart of our spirituality, Redemptorists have developed a great sensitivity not only to the poor, but also to their environments. The Word made flesh who pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14) is the model that justifies why, since the beginning, Redemptorists have placed not only their homes but also their hearts among the poor. Growing ecological awareness also leads us to pitch our tent in situations of emerging poverty where life is threatened by a sin that today is beginning to be defined as ecological sin.
In the early days of the Congregation, a large portion of the poor lived in rural areas, especially around the mountains (like in Scala), where nature provided them with food and that vital space to survive. Many of them spent much of their lives herding flocks of sheep and goats in daily contact with the awe-inspiring landscapes of southern Italy. St. Alphonsus and the early Redemptorists may not have been able to articulate the links consciously and directly between the redemption of the poor and the redemption of the environment as we do today; indeed, the environmental problems of their time were not as acute as they are today. But what is certain is that they were able to appreciate the relationship of the poor with the land as an expression of that loving relationship of a caring God. When St. Alphonsus went to the Amalfi coast to rest from the fatigues of his apostolate in Naples, he did it not by accident; he had been captivated by the cool sea breeze and the splendid view of the fields and escarpments. Arriving at Scala he found these landscapes, and with them also the poor and abandoned; the story that unfolds from this moment on is already well known.
The first Redemptorists somehow managed to sense what the Magisterium of the Church today describes as: “the intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet, the conviction that everything in the world is connected ” (LS 16). It was the will of St. Alphonsus that the first houses should have a garden, a space for meditation in touch with nature. In many of our houses today we can appreciate these gardens. In our history, they have been highly appreciated not only as places for rest, but also as spaces for meditation and contemplation.
If the first Redemptorists were able to identify in the shepherds and peasants the preferred recipients of the Good News of Redemption, we Redemptorists of today are called to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, incorporating our Common Home among the beneficiaries of the work of Redemption. The justification for this is clear: “the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22)” (LS2).
A Charism that drives us to Reimagine and Act
Our scientific understanding of the world allows us to place ourselves today in a new angle from which we can interpret reality and our apostolic ministry as Redemptorists. So, our theological tradition on redemption is enriched by the new insights of today’s science. Our task, as preachers, includes reformulating the ecological narrative that emerges from science to integrate it into our spiritual and moral perspective. It would be a mistake if our Redemptorist spirituality, with its strong emphasis on the incarnation, failed to articulate the reality of the created world within the mystery of redemption.
St. Alphonsus loved contemplation and taught that God creates and redeems us out of love. If Love is the force and the reason for all that exists and for all that God-Father-Creator has done for us through Jesus Christ the Redeemer, then we can affirm that God and the world do not exist in relations of competition but in mutual interdependence. God manifests himself in the dynamics of the natural world, and in his infinite will, he wants all his creatures to have life and life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), and to reach the specific potential that this Love bestows on each of them.
This means that every creature is not only the object of the Creator’s love, but also a dynamic expression through which God continues to re-create the world. In each person, and in each creature, God the Creator rejoices and continues to reveal himself as Love. This should lead us to think then, that by the mere fact of existing, each creature possesses an intrinsic dignity and value that derives from its Creator and that must be appreciated and respected.
An inadequate theology of creation and redemption may have justified the human war of domination against nature. However, the God of Jesus Christ the Redeemer is not a God whose power is coercive and manipulative. On the contrary, he is a God who creates and re-creates by the power of Love so that in every creature life may be manifested in all its splendor. A proper theology of creation and redemption must lead us to also reimagine the dignity of every creature, and to overcome that vision of a natural world to be conquered, colonized and commodified. Our faith and ministry should never endorse this despot mentality that fragments and subjugates.
How to Converse Continually and Familiarly with God
St. Alphonsus
When you contemplate countryside, riversides, flowers, and fruits, which with their scent and color recreate your senses, exclaim: How beautiful creatures God has made to give me and captivate my love!
St. Therese, looking at the hills and meadows, said that such beautiful creatures threw in her face her ingratitude towards God. Abbot Rancé, founder of the Trappist monastery, said that such a variety of beings reminded him of the obligation he had to love God. Heaven and earth,” exclaimed St. Augustine, “are telling me to love you, my God”. Refer to this propoxy (sic) that a solitary devotee, walking through the countryside, would strike the grass and flowers of the meadow with his cane, saying: “Be quiet, be quiet, do not blame me for my ingratitude towards God; I understand you: be quiet, be quiet.”
When you look at the great rivers or the gentle brooks, think that just as those waters run without rest until they discharge their weight into the sea, so you must fly towards God, who is your only good….
When you see a puppy who, for a small piece of bread, is so faithful to his master, think how much more faithful you must be to God, who, after having created you, preserves your life, provides for your needs, and fills you with benefits.
When you hear the song of the little birds, you can say: Do you not hear, my soul, how these little animals praise God? And what do you do? And then try to sing to him songs of love…
When contemplating the valleys, fertilized by the waters that flow down from the mountain, consider that this is how the waters descend from heaven that, sliding down the slopes of proud souls, go to stop in the valley of humble souls.
When from the shores of the sea you contemplate its immensity, bring to mind the greatness and immensity of God.
(St. Alphonsus. On the Family Dealings with God. 5th Edition, Seville).
Questions for dialogue
- How can we integrate the ecological element into our preaching and apostolic ministry?
- Contemplation of the mystery of creation is also part of an ethical concern. How contemplation (prayer) and theological reflection (as hallmarks of St. Alphonsus’ heritage) is related to the Care of the Common Home?
