... And the Integrity of Creation

by Fr. Darrel Rupiper,OMI

"There is no concern these days more important than the environment.. not gun control, violence in the media, refugees or the curing of fatal diseases." That single, stark sentence is taken from TIME's special Spring edition.

Nothing is more important because the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat as well as the earth from which it springs is being poisoned. The network of cosmogenetic forces that brought us into being and sustain us are being choked to death by our human behavior. What we do to the environment we do to ourselves. We are of one piece. We are nature.

That fact presents us with a challenge that must not go ignored but embraced. The challenge has been directly presented to us in the Vade Mecum that was given to us by the General Administration.... "And the Integrity of Creation" is now seen as an absolutely essential part of our missionary challenge. Engaging in the working for Peace and Justice and the Integrity of Creation is not optional but a requirement. Space-ship Earth is our home. She (we) are in serious danger. We are the crew members. The alarm has been sounded. All hands on deck!

If the challenge is to be met, we must, first of all, udergo a profound transformation in our way of perception. We must begin to see all living beings not as objects to be used but as subjects to be respected. Each plays a role in the cosmogenesis that has given us birth and sustains us. Basically the challenge is this: to understand who we are, how we came to be and to find our proper place, as the poetess Mary Oliver writes, "... in the family of things." Or as Fr. Thomas Berry puts it: " We are here to become integral with the larger Earth community." The Earth now groans under the weight of our behavior. Furiously she signals warnings with her climate changes.

The transformation of perception will hopefully lead to the transformation of our behavior. Crew members of space-ship earth will recycle, realizing there is nowhere to throw things away or pour things out that will not effect the air, the water, the land. Turning out lights will reduce pollutants in the air. Car-pooling will do the same. Being careful with water usage during showers or washing dishes, vehicles, watering lawns, etc., cutting back on junk mail and using the other side of unused paper, using less soaps, sprays, chemicals and fertilizers, challenging the major corporate polluters, all are ways to help save the Earth.... but first comes the transformation of perception. That is the biggest challenge of all.