Sisters of the Presentation of Mary

This Lent, our community is choosing to reflect on how our lifestyle impacts the world and other people with whom we share it. Following articles from www.lent45.org, we are looking at how our daily and habitual choices affect creation, as well as consider what changes are being required of us. The "45" refers to a calculation that if the usable area of the planet was divided evenly so that each of us receives a fair share, every person would be entitled to 4.5 acres. In other words, this is what our "Global Footprint" should be. Unfortunately, the average person in Canada requires 14.2 acres to sustain their lifestyle!

As it says on the site, "the ultimate goal of Lent is metanoia – a conversion of heart – leading you into a deeper commitment to walk in the footsteps of Jesus who lived in right relationship with creation, others, and God." Lent 4.5 challenges us to journey on this way to metanoia and right relationship, and offers guidance and suggestions through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. This week, for example, it directs us to look at living simply, and buying and eating food responsible. Also, watch "Home," an extraordinary movie about our planet on the site. It is beautiful (and daunting)!

Pope Benedict XVI told us that "if you want to cultivate peace, protect creation" (2010 World Day of Peace). Anybody else joining me in this challenge?

Check it out: www.lent45.org! Let's embrace gospel justice, protect God's creation, and transform our huge Global Footprints into the gentle tread of Jesus Christ!

As Catholics, we often hear that "God is within us," or that we are members of the Body of Christ. But did you know we could say "the universe is within us"?

In her book Radical Amazement, Judy Cannato reminds us of this reality. In the beginning, with the "Big Bang," there was the miracle of the fiery birth of the world, and our birth as well. We can say it was our birth because "all matter was formed in that initial bursting forth...[and so] we must each be formed out of the primordial dust that became the stars." (Cannato, 43)

Incredible, isn't it? Realizing we come from stardust gives a whole new meaning to the passage from Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..." or St. Paul speaking to the Corinthians: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?"

So, according the theology of the cosmos, "we are all one (with the universe), connected and contained in a Holy Mystery." (Cannato, 44) You and I are connected to all that has been, is now and is to come. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to God, to the universe!

The more we become aware of the miracle and wonder of creation, and how we are connected to and one with all, the more we will be concerned with the salvation of all creation. We respond with reverence and compassion to the universe who has given us life.