Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus firmly believed that each of us has a mission on the earth — and so it is! Each one of us, from our own context, has a specific mission. God has chosen to share his Spirit with each of us and has made us sharers in his gifts and qualities; and it is our task to pool them together in order to make the Kingdom of God possible and visible.
Saint Paul, in the New Testament, in the Letter to the Romans, says that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). Saint Marie Eugénie of Jesus also believed in a social Kingdom, where Christ would reign in the midst of society. And what does it mean for Christ to reign, if not that society be just and caring? But today that justice must also reach our common home: creation.
As a society, we live immersed in a culture of consumerism and of throwing away, as Pope Francis reminded us, in which neither the human being nor creation is valued. From that culture, the market invents needs that lead us to discard, all too easily, the resources we have and consider out of fashion. Thus we fall into the temptation of changing our phone every year for the newest model; of buying shoes according to the colour Pantone sets for the season; the single-use clothing that ends up forgotten and, finally, thrown away; the plastic bottles that drinks companies promote according to the trend of the moment; and other things that end up dumped in the streets and rivers, adding still more to the pollution that destroys the soil, the rivers and the life they shelter.
Our planet is crying out for help and, sadly, those who hold in their hands the destiny of nations and the power to change the situation seem to have their backs turned to this reality, with noise-cancelling headphones that make them indifferent to this call the planet is making.
But not everything depends on those in positions of power. We young people are not strangers to these ecological needs. From our own reality and within our sphere of action — as Saint Marie Eugénie says — we can make a difference. How can we make the Kingdom of God visible, through an ecological gaze, from within our youth? We do not need to become great activists — which is never amiss and is, indeed, necessary — but rather to become aware of our responsibility for our ecological footprint and to decide to take small actions such as:
These are small actions within our reach. When we pray the Our Father, we ask God for his Kingdom to come; perhaps we should change the wording a little and ask him to make us artisans of his Kingdom, to help us live coherently and in harmony with creation, so that we may live a Kingdom in which God is recognised not only in every human being, but in creation itself, which is the work of his hands.
Eliette Quintero
Central America and Cuba