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2025 Season of Creation: “Seeds of Peace and Hope” Reflection #6 October 1st, 2025
(By Maurice Lange, Justice & Peace Director at Presentation Sisters & founder of the Oblate Ecological Initiative)
“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.” (Laudato Si #84)
READ: 6th part of Pope Leo’s letter for the 2025 Season of Creation (view PDF)
Maurice tills his garden
REFLECTION: “The biblical texts…tell us to ‘till and keep’ the garden of the world.” Pope Leo quotes or references Pope Francis’ legacy 10 times in this letter! Here we read from Laudato Si (paragraph 67-Reflection Page 2) about tilling and keeping. When I till my garden, I am working with it. I know that neither I nor my garden would exist without microbes.
That kind of recognition humbles one. > (humbles = humus = brought back to Earth)
Thomas Berry calls for humans to be in a mutually-enhancing relationship with Earth. Francis and Leo both set forth Thomas Berry’s call as implied in the sustainable wisdom of the Bible.
ACTION: Tyrants don’t consider microbes. We should! If we are to be effective in our ecological vocations, tilling and keeping, we should engage in wonder and awe at the billions of microbes in one teaspoon of healthy soil. Learn what is literally beneath your feet, and what you owe your life to, by watching this short video from the BBC: “Why Soil is One of Most Amazing Things on Earth”.
(Image 1: Garden: Maurice Lange)
(Image 2: Soil on a Farm: by Meganelford0, Pixabay)
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Visit the Presentation Sisters, US Province’s WEBSITE
READ MORE OF MAURICE’S WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
- Week 1: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 2: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 3: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 4: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 5: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 6: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 7: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection – COMING SOON
- Week 8: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection – COMING SOON
- Week 9: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection – COMING SOON
Faith Meets Mining: Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI, Among Speakers at PERUMIN 37 September 23rd, 2025
Fr Séamus Finn, OMI participated and was a panelist at PERUMIN 37 https://perumin.com/perumin37/public/en in Arequipa, Peru as a member of the Mining & Faith Reflections Initiative ( MFRI ): https://mfri-global.org The Mining and Faith Reflections Initiative (MFRI) begins with an acknowledgement of their common humanity. The churches have heard the calls from communities around the world for mining companies to work for the common good.
The Mining Summit of PERUMIN 37 brought together national and international leaders with a shared goal:
to set Peru, the region, the mining industry, and Peruvians on a path toward a more prosperous and sustainable future.MEETING INFO: https://perumin.com/perumin37/public/en
Ministry in Motion: Fr. Talang & Br. Chiran Travel to Khasi Indigenous Village September 12th, 2025
Fr. Valentine Talang, OMI and Br. Jacob Chiran, an Oblate seminarian, walk 3 hours to Balarma Punjee, a Khasi indigenous village in Bangladesh to offer a Funeral Mass. Oblates run the parish in Sylhet Diocese.
2025 Season of Creation: “Seeds of Peace and Hope” Reflection #3 September 5th, 2025
(By Maurice Lange, Justice & Peace Director at Presentation Sisters & founder of the Oblate Ecological Initiative)
“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God” (Laudato Si #84)
READ: 3rd part of Pope Leo’s letter for the 2025 Season of Creation (view PDF)
Image by Adriano Gadini, Pixabay; Tatiana S. , Pixabay
REFLECTION: “…the prophet contrasts justice and law with the desolation of the desert …”. Indeed, Isaiah contrasts these quite well: justice provides peace and fecundity while injustice ravages and desolates. You’ve heard of “desertification”? (cf: Laudato Si #89) It is a process of ecological degradation in which fertile land becomes arid and loses or reduces its productivity. Much of Earth is currently undergoing a process of desertification due to human factors including climate change. Pope Benedict XVI once observed that: “the external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast”. What is fostering internal desertification?
ACTION: While working with the soil of my garden, I’ve thought that if more people had direct contact with Earth, they would be healthier. For God’s caress to be felt in our world, Pope Leo reminds us that together with prayer, both determination and concrete actions are necessary. *
“…reducing water consumption, planting trees, reusing…all of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings.” (Laudato Si #211)
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Visit the Presentation Sisters, US Province’s WEBSITE
READ MORE OF MAURICE’S WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
- Week 1: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 2: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 3: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 4: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection – COMING SOON
- Week 5: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection – COMING SOON
2025 Season of Creation: “Seeds of Peace and Hope” Reflection #2 September 2nd, 2025
(By Maurice Lange, Justice & Peace Director at Presentation Sisters & founder of the Oblate Ecological Initiative)
“Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.”(Laudato Si #246)
READ: 2nd part of Pope Leo’s letter for the 2025 Season of Creation (view PDF)
Image by Alexa, Pixabay
REFLECTION: “…a spirit from on high will be poured out on us…”. Like those unexpected seeds that blossom next to roadways, Pope Leo tells us that we too are seeds: of peace and hope. With God’s help I’ve created several fertile gardens over the years. With first some imagining and then digging, that which was seemingly lifeless sprang into fruitfulness. (Well… the addition of a little manure helped as well!) So too, God’s Spirit is poured onto us for fertilization. Those gifts within us which lie dormant are enabled to bear much fruit. The possibilities within our seed-ness are realized: the building of God’s reign of justice and peace
ACTION: Sept. 1 was the World Day of Prayer for Creation and the beginning of the Season of Creation. Just as the life within seeds is coaxed forth by soil, warmth and moisture…we pray for the creation of positive and healthy environments, so that the goodness of many people may be evoked.
“The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn becomes ‘a seedbed for collective selfishness’ … …a change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power.” (Laudato Si #204,206)
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Visit the Presentation Sisters, US Province’s WEBSITE
READ MORE OF MAURICE’S WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
- Week 1: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 2: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection
- Week 3: 2025 Season of Creation Reflection – COMING SOON
