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May – Heartfelt Reflections from OMI Novices May 1st, 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.
A Dialogue with Earth by Edwin Silwimba
Over the past seven months at La Vista Ecological Learning Center through the classes we had with
Sister Maxine, I had an opportunity to talk to Earth and learn from Earth how to care for him/her better, how to love him/her and how to be a better steward for the gifts Earth gives me. The task is to carry this enlightenment to wherever I go in my ministry as a Missionary Oblate of Mary immaculate. My article is written in the form of a personal conversation between Edwin and Earth.
Edwin: I feel different now. I mean… I will see you differently. For the longest time, I looked at you from afar; your trees, rivers, animals, beautiful, yes, but distant. I never really heard your voice.
Earth (smiling): And now?
Edwin: Now I hear your sighs when I walk on dry, cracked soil. I feel your joy in birdsong and your grief in polluted skies. Seven months ago, I wouldn’t have noticed. But La Vista Ecological Learning Center changed me.
Earth: Tell me about it. What did they teach you?
Edwin: They taught me to pay attention to listening with more than just ears. I learned how ecosystems breathe together like a single body. I learned about sustainability, conservation, native plants, and waste reduction. But more than facts, they taught me relationships. That I’m not outside of you… I’m part of you.
Earth (gently): And you came all the way from Zambia for this?
Edwin (with a smile): Yes. I came from the heart of Africa, where the soil is red and warm, where the rain nourishes maize fields, and where I played barefoot as a child. I loved you then, but I didn’t know how deep that love could go. I didn’t know how much you needed me to care for them with intention.
Earth: You’ve always belonged to me, but now you’ve chosen to belong with me, and that’s different.
Edwin: Exactly. Stewardship isn’t just about duty anymore. It’s about kinship. I’ve started seeing my small daily actions as seeds. What I throw away, what I plant, how I use energy, it all speaks to how I love you.
Edwin (nodding): Yes. That’s what Laudato Si’ says, right? “Our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.”
Earth (softly): I have always been both sister and mother. And yet many forget.
Edwin: I was one of them. But now, I’ve begun to see you not just as ‘environment,’ but as a sacred presence. I’ve stopped asking, “What can I take?” and started asking, “How can I give back?”
Earth: Then you are living integral ecology where care for creation is one with care for people and with the life of the spirit.
Edwin: Yes. I still have much to learn, but I know now that to be a good steward is to walk humbly, love deeply, and act wisely. Now I’ll plant consciousness with a new heart. I want to share what I’ve learned with my brothers, my community. I want to walk more gently and help others see that you are not just a backdrop to our lives, but a sacred companion.
Earth (softly): That is enough to begin healing.
Edwin: Thank you, Earth for your patience. For never giving up on us.
Earth: And thank you for listening.
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Reflection on January’s Ecological Conversion Field Trip with OMI Novices February 10th, 2025
We visited a most unusual building to learn about about another aspect of ecological conversion; from throwaway construction to a life-sustaining built environment. The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in East Alton, Illinois is LEED Gold certified, so it has demonstrated commitment to sustainable practices; for example, all the materials to build it were sourced within 500 miles and recycled materials were used throughout the construction including 100% recycled material in the rubber floor tiles, in the glass countertops, insulation made from recycled newspaper and paper, and 90% of construction-related waste was recycled.
Our tour guide Erica proved to be a marvelous educator, not only teaching about the building, but also helping us to understand the research and conservation outreach mission of the Center. In the picture above, Erica explained a project she created: kits for classrooms that contain tools and activities to teach youth about our living landscape. So, we learned about yet another aspect of ecological conversion: from treating landscape as static scenery to engaging with it as it changes and supports a range of wildlife, where plants and animals interact, functioning as a thriving ecosystem.
We continued our education on the green roof which grows native plants familiar to us on the bluff top at the Novitiate. In the photo Erica is explaining the roof’s construction which is made up of many layers and is handicap accessible! With its green roof, native landscaping and limestone walls, the building complements the surrounding environment, minimizing visual intrusion on the landscape.
In Laudato Si, Pope Francis encouraged “the construction and repair of buildings aimed at reducing their energy consumption and levels of pollution.” We were impressed with this example of green building as it shows one way to a sustainable future.
Reflection on December’s Ecological Conversion Field Trip with OMI Novices January 14th, 2025
Contributed by Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director of Oblate Ecological Initiative
We visited Treehouse Wildlife Center mid-December to experience a community dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured wildlife. TreeHouse exemplifies the spirit of Laudato Si which calls us to shift from the exploitation of other species to treating them as beings “with intrinsic value, apart from their usefulness to us”. Anyone can bring an injured animal to this center, and it will be treated as “brother or sister” in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.
Introducing a Champion Tree at the Missionary Oblates Novitiate November 26th, 2024
- Visit the National Register of Champion Trees to find one in your area: https://www.americanforests.org/champion-trees/
Reflection on May’s Laudato Si Field Trip June 14th, 2024
Contributed by Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
Advocacy was our theme in May, and so the OMI Novices and I, representing La Vista Ecological Learning
Center, traveled to our local Sierra Club Office where we met with Virginia Woulfe Beile, Co-director of the Three Rivers Project.
Virginia shared a guide their members use called the Jemez Principles. It occurred to us that any faith leader could also take these admonitions to heart:
– Be inclusive
– Emphasis on bottom-up organizing
– Let people speak for themselves
– Work together in solidarity and mutuality
– Build just relationships among ourselves
– Commit to self-transformation
Next, we enjoyed a Zoom session back at the Novitiate with Father Daniel LeBlanc, OMI, another advocacy hero! Father Dan has been a non-governmental (NGO) representative at the United Nations in New York for OMI and VIVAT International for twenty years.
Fr. Daniel LeBlanc, OMI US Province, Representative to United Nations
When asked what was challenging about his work with the UN, Father Dan offered this sage advice: you need patience to do this work because it takes many years to accomplish change at the UN. In response to a question about how to prepare for a ministry like his, he encouraged the novices to broaden their education, learning all they could! He is an example of this, for he speaks 6 languages and studied law while pastor of a parish of 130,000 in Peru.
To say we were inspired by his life and advocacy work as an OMI is an understatement. We all felt gratitude for our conversation with this remarkable Oblate!
