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May – Being in Solidarity with the Poor, OMI Novice Br. Eliakim Mbenda, Reflection 3 May 13th, 2025
Introduced by Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
La Vista joins all those on our planet who are feeling the great loss of Pope Francis who heard the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor and acted on what he heard in a most remarkable way.
This Novitiate year we have been immersed in his words as they come to us in his encyclical Laudato Si. As we ended our time together here at Immaculate Heart of Mary Novitiate in April, the Novices offered to share their thoughts about ecological conversion as described in Laudato Si. May their words honor the memory of Pope Francis.
Being in Solidarity with the Poor by Br. Eliakim Mbenda
My novitiate period here in Godfrey, Illinois has been a wonderful experience. Siter Maxine has been of great help in giving us classes on Ecological Spirituality and helping us understand the importance of taking care of our environment (our property). She also took time to explain to us the encyclical document Laudato Si of Pope Francis, which I dearly love and respect.
(Br. Eliakim Mbenda)
What we call our common home is quite simple and natural. These are plants, animals, water, land and air. Taking care of our common home is our primary purpose of being on earth. God created us so that we may care for nature and in return nature may also care for us. It is a fact that we as human beings are sustained by the common home, which we neglect to care for and protect.
The common home is being damaged by ourselves due to lack of care and concern. And so, the same treatment is what we are transferring to ourselves, which is lack of care for one another. When we are damaging the common home, we are causing harm to the poor, our brothers and sisters.
This is happening because we are putting profit at the center of our journey. Instead, profit should not be at the center, but stay sustainable without causing damage to the water, land, air, plants and animals. This means that we should learn how to live wisely as a society not as an individual and learn how to work jointly with others. because when we do things just to feed our ego, we make our brothers and sisters who are less privileged to suffer more and more. Giving care to the land, water, plants and air is giving care and support to the poor.
(Image Ennaej from Pixabay)
It will be of greater help if we shift our mindset for something greater or for a mission. This means that we should avoid selfishness, because selfishness leads to the evaporation of the notion of the common good. We should change our mindsets from knowing everything to the mind that is able and willing to learn from other people. There is greater knowledge in learning from others. We should shift our minds of individual interest to the minds of the common purpose. We should move from being strong to the minds that shows vulnerability, compassion and humility. This means that we should give respect to the environment where we live. When the environment and everything that surrounds it is respected, then every person, poor or rich, is respected and protected as well.
READ E News and Eco-spirituality Calendar NEWSLETTER: https://bit.ly/4iVI0m3
Visit La Vista Ecological Learning Center‘s Website: https://www.lavistaelc.org/
(Stay tuned for Reflection 4 by Br Alfred Lungu)
Teamwork & Service: Mount Mary Students Lend a Hand at Lavista Ecological Learning Center March 31st, 2025
(Contributed by Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director La Vista Ecological Learning Center)
On March 6 and 7 La Vista hosted four young women from Mount Mary University, a School Sister of Notre Dame sponsored university in Milwaukee, WI. They spilled out of their car ready to work, and work they did! I was amazed at their enthusiasm and willingness to do hard, dirty tasks.
They dug and tugged, and succeeded in pulling out several tires that had been tossed into the Oblates’ Nature Preserve and buried for years in the soil. They weeded and mulched a garden and cleared a stone wall of debris. Then they cleaned out a storage area that had been neglected for years. When I asked if they needed a rest, together they said, “No, we want to work!”
Beyond the significant amount of work they did, what was even better was what they learned about themselves. “I didn’t know I am strong!” “I never get my hands dirty, but this feels great!”
I was also impressed with how they became a team as they addressed challenges, collaborated on solutions, and succeeded in their tasks.
Working with them was a learning experience and a true pleasure for them and for me.
READ La Vista’s E News and Eco-spirituality Calendar
Laudato Si in Action: Br. François Balga Goldung, OMI, Manila, Philippines March 31st, 2025
“We want to welcome Br. François Balga Goldung, OMI to the OMI Laudato Si Action Platform team and to celebrate his work and his garden while he is studying theology in Manila, Philippines.
We are excited to learn about his commitment to caring for the planet, his ecological conversion and his work to apply the recommendations of the encyclical Laudato Sí in his local community.”
(Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI)
Preserving Nature: Ecosystem Restoration in Action at Oblates Woods Nature Preserve March 18th, 2025
(Contributed by Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director La Vista Ecological Learning Center)
Final – 2024 Season of Creation – “To Hope & Act with Creation” October 1st, 2024
(By Maurice Lange, current Justice & Peace Director at Presentation Sisters & founder of the Oblate Ecological Initiative)
Reflection #7: September 29 – October 3
READ:
7th part of Pope Francis’ letter for the 2024 Season of Creation (next page) “The Spirit of God has filled the universe with possibilities and therefore, from the very heart of things, something new can always emerge.” (Laudato Si #80)
REFLECTION:
Constant accompaniment. That’s the abiding nature of the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis has continually referred to the Spirit throughout his message for this Season of Creation. In this time of polarization, what could ever come along to “radically change the way we think”? Francis writes that such a change would result from our listening to (“obedience to”) the Holy Spirit. We are called to leave behind “arrogant, intoxicated” notions of
(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)
ourselves, relating to Creation as “predators”. It would be radical to think of ourselves in the West instead as “tillers”. Can we avail ourselves to “the link between matter & spirit” that physics is revealing for us? My sense is: within that link is precisely the constant accompaniment of the Spirit. In response to such abiding, why not listen…and till?
READ FULL REFLECTION
ACTION: Listen to the Spirit … heed your “ecological vocation”. * Encourage and evoke the same from others. Why not become an ecological vocation director?! As far as tilling goes (working with Earth) … have some first-hand, conscious, direct (not virtual) experience of Earth this week: dig into actual soil, prepare a meal of mostly locally-grown foods, take a hike and feel the leaves of Autumn…
“Holy Spirit, by your light you guide this world towards the Father’s love and accompany creation as it groans in travail. You also dwell in our hearts and you inspire us to do what is good. Praise be to you!” (Laudato Si 2nd closing prayer #246)
