2022-03-21 GENERAL HOUSE

21 March: International Day of Forests

Life breaks through“. This was the title of a friend’s photograph.

We start from the premise shared by many of us. Life is making its way, even against our will, or against our actions, or against our “lack” of actions.

The International Day of Forests is celebrated every year on 21 March since 2012, although this theme has been taken into account previously in reflections on the environment.

This article, like others we have written, joins the main objective of this celebration, which is to raise awareness of the necessity of nature, of forests, for the life of all living beings including humans.

Fortunately, in recent years, we have witnessed a growing awareness that has led to concrete measures being taken to protect our natural spaces. These concrete measures come from individuals, associations, civil society groups, organisations linked to Christian life, and even from governments and supra-governmental bodies themselves. In number 58 of Laudato Si, Pope Francis speaks to us about the positive practices that are already being developed, although he also points out that there is still a long way to go (as we find in numbers 146 and 192 of the same encyclical).

The existence of these great natural spaces, the forests, is a necessity for all of us. The lives of hundreds of plant and animal species depend on them. The lives of millions of people depend directly on them (providing food, medicine, energy…). Forests balance the ecosystem throughout the planet, and therefore the lives of those of us who also live far from these natural spaces. Forests are necessary for the present and indispensable for the future.

The Marists of Champagnat, for some years now and in many places of the Institute, have been especially committed to the care of “our common home”, and this also implies the care of natural spaces. Many Provinces, and many local Marist realities, have already begun to implement action plans to care for the planet and to promote sustainable development.

Recycling, responsible consumption, the installation of renewable energy systems, energy saving… are some of the measures that favour the care of nature. Joining plans and projects led by other organisations and networking will make our concrete actions more significant.

Just a few days ago, during the General Conference that is taking place in Rome during this month of March, we presented a brief information on Laudato Si to all the Provincials gathered here. It was a time to further deepen our reflection on integral ecology, and a time to dream together about how to grow in this theme in the Institute, in the Provinces, and in our communities and works.

Indeed, life is opening up. The question for us, Marists of Champagnat, could be: How, in a concrete way, do I allow life to break through? Let us make our spaces and environments, throughout the Marist world, a place where “life breaks through”.

Let us join, then, in the Pope’s invitation to “collaborate as God’s instruments for the care of creation, each one from his or her own culture, experience, initiatives and abilities” (LS 14).

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Br. Ángel Diego – Secretariat of Solidarity

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