Blog #3, written by Bridget Sperduto
(Art by Mary Southard, CSJ – Weaving the Energies of Love)
Our 2 Hemisphere Season of Creation prayer continued this week with the theme: Peacemaking as Home Building. Kathy Sherman gave the reflection suggesting that peacemaking is restored relationship with God, one another, Earth and all her beings. When we live out of this space, it’s possible for all of life to flourish.
Here are her words:
‘Peace’ is at the heart of the Gospel and at the heart of our spiritual longing.
We live in a fractured world, where relationships between people, nature and God are deeply broken and there is great need of healing and reconciliation which is the only hope for a lasting and genuine peace in any home.
In the Hebrew scriptures the concept of ‘Shalom’, often translated as ‘peace’, reflects restored relationships in every dimension: with Creator God, with self, all neighbors near and far, and with Earth and her creatures. It is an integrated vision of ‘the fullness of life’ (or one might say Integral Ecology) that combines faith, justice, and peacebuilding. In Proverbs 31 we witness a woman of God who ensures that it’s possible for everyone and everything to flourish together: her family, the poor, the land, the economy! The inclusion of all leads to the flourishing of all!
Our tendency is to think that the idea of peacemaking pertains solely to the human community. However, the more we understand AND experience the ravages of climate change and species extinction, the more we realize that peace within the human community is contingent on making peace with nature…The two are inextricably connected.
For example, we know that already there are conflicts regarding access to water. According to Innovative Energy and Research, the following water sources are stressed enough to raise concern about possible conflicts in the future. The River Columbia (conflict between Canada and the US). The Colorado River (conflict between Mexico and the US). The River Senepas (conflict between Ecuador and Peru).
By 2040, the global demand for freshwater resources will exceed availability according to The National Intelligence Council’s report on Global Water Security (2012). The report acknowledges that large-scale water wars are unlikely to happen within the next ten years, but water-related challenges such as shortages and sanitation are already increasing smaller-scale conflict and instability within and across national borders.
Peacemaking is Whole-making…Peacemaking is the graced desire in our individual and collective soul to build up, in Greek, the Oikos-this One interconnected household that is home to each being called by name and loved by a tender and compassionate Creator. Peace FOR all will come only when ALL in the Circle of Life are included in the peacemaking dreams and actions.
Kathy ended her reflection with the refrain from her song “Gather the Dreamers”:
Peacemakers gather and teach forgiveness. Link hands through all lands in a circle of peace.
Peacemakers gather, a new day is dawning; the time is now and Earth is calling our name.
May we find time to pause and consider the following:
Do you hear Earth calling your name? How will you respond? What actions will you take?
What relationships are you being called to restore?
How is the Holy inviting you to participate in peacemaking for the flourishing of life?
We humans are at the edge of a new birth for the planet and all life that dwells on her. As Teilhard de Chardin noted and we affirmed in our gathering, “The noosphere is coming to birth in us!”
Will you join in the collective movement toward restored relationships?
This week, please join us for our 4th session of this series, for the Equinox. On Thursday, Sept. 23 (or Friday if you are in the southern hemisphere). https://csjthewell.org/programs/2-hemisphere-equinox/