[Photo of students from Nazareth Convent High School, Vasai, celebrating World Environment Day, 2023.]
REFLECT
(This reflection was taken from an essay written by Meredith McCarthy, former operations director for Heal the Bay, a non-profit organization dedicated to cleaning up the coastal water of Los Angeles, California.)
“Each year my faith tradition gives me the gift of a 46-day reflection period called Lent. I think of it as a spring cleaning of the soul… Fasting is also [a] big part of Lent. Going without feasts has its roots in early Christian tradition. As a child in Chicago, I’d often have to give up candy, making it a truly miserable month…
But divine inspiration came from appropriate places this year – the Creation Care teams at Holy Family in Pasadena and American Martyrs in Manhattan Beach. I had been asked by the Catholic congregations to give a talk about plastic’s impact on our oceans. The parishes are encouraging their congregants to go on a Styrofoam fast and give up single-use plastic for Lent.
As Director of Operations at Heal the Bay, I have stood hundreds of times ankle deep in plastic on our beach. It’s moved me to tears at times. All this plastic waste laying siege to our shorelines doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the sad byproduct of our daily ‘feast’ of convenience. As a working mother of two, I too often partake in this feast. I am busy and tired most of the time. Using the handy excuse of harried motherhood, I have tried to absolve myself. But my faith and my planet require more. There may be no better way to renew my relationship with Mother Earth than to take responsibility for my lifestyle and the harm it may cause.
‘We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic,’ Pope Francis said in Laudato Si’, his encyclical on the environment. ‘Our active commitment is needed to confront this emergency.’
So in order to be an agent of love, my family and I are giving up single-use plastic for the next 46 days. We have our metal sporks, plates and reusable coffee cups ready to go. I’ll be toting a lot of reusable items for the family with me now. I think we’re going to need a bigger handbag!”
ACT
SCNs have a goal to move towards eliminating single-use plastics in our lives. This Lent, let’s challenge ourselves to take account of where and how we use plastic. Are there single-use plastic objects we use that can be replaced with reusables? Are there better options available that will not harm the planet? What changes can we make this Lent to our consumer habits that could be permanent?
PRAY
Listen and look to the earth, to the gift of Creation. In spite of present cold and the darkness, the winter will be nearing its end, and the light will warm us again, as we move through Lent toward the Light who is our salvation.
Even now in the dark earth, hidden seeds are growing, moving, reaching toward the hope of a Spring, just as Easter moves us forward, calling us to the work of inner renewal so we may be strengthened for the work of our day, the renewal of hearts, the renewal of community, the renewal of our common home.
Guide us in these weeks ahead, loving Lord of resurrection; draw us forward despite our pain and fear, may we learn, like the barren trees, to blossom again, to bear fruit, to praise you by our lives, continuing the great work of justice, of peace. Amen.
[Prayer by Jane Deren, Ph.D., for the Ignatian Solidarity Network]