PRAYER

O LORD, Creator of the heavens, who is God,
The designer and maker of the earth who established it,
Not creating it to be a waste, but designing it to be lived in.
You have said: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I have not spoken from hiding nor from some dark place of the earth,
And I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Look for me in an empty waste.’
I, the LORD, promise justice, I foretell what is right.”
(cf. Isaiah 45:18-19)

Where we have ignored and resisted your design,
Enlighten us, Lord.
Where we have created a waste in the earth you established,
Bring healing, Lord.
Where we have hidden your justice,
Tell us what is right, Lord.
May we seek no other Lord but you,
And find in you eternal life.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

FASTING from packaging and waste

God’s creativity produces abundance without waste. St. Francis forbade his followers to cut down a whole tree so that it might grow up again; today, less than 20% of Earth’s original forests remain, with the greatest losses occurring within the past four decades. With attentive eyes, we begin to see our wastefulness everywhere. There are innumerable opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle the waste with which we burden and poison “Sister Mother Earth,” as Francis called our home.

We can avoid waste by reducing what we buy. By repairing existing items and saving our money for products built to last, we can offer an alternative to a culture of endless consumption driven by products intended to wear out quickly. We can choose cloth over paper for napkins, towels, and bags. We can abstain from shopping bags by bringing our own. We can buy loose rather than packaged fruits and vegetables, and look for bulk bin options (such as grains and nuts).

We can prevent waste by reusing as much as possible. We can compost from our kitchen and gardens, thereby turning what some consider garbage into nourishment for the earth. We can even reuse bags for loose produce and bulk bin items.

We can turn waste into something new by recycling. Recycling reduces landfill space, demand for raw materials, energy consumption, air and water pollution, and waste-disposal bills. Recycling one metric ton of paper saves 17 trees. It takes 40 - 95% less energy to produce goods with recycled aluminum, glass, plastic, or paper than it does to manufacture them with raw materials. We can participate in our local recycling programs and encourage our town or city to expand the range of recyclable materials. We can buy recycled products, especially those with more than 50% post-consumer content.

Like Paul, let us leave our wasteful behaviors behind and strain forward to what lies ahead, the new order of God’s abundance. May our repentant embrace of responsibility for creation encourage others to seek such reconciliation.


ALMSGIVING

When Sr. Julie Mulvihill, OSF joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia in 1962, she did not imagine that she would some day live in Nairobi, Kenya, on a property with its own well, pigs that eat kitchen scraps, vegetable garden, and solar-powered water heating.

Sr. Julie explains what she has learned as volunteer coordinator at Nyumbani Children’s Home: “When we talk about caring for God’s creation, I think about God’s children, especially poor, neglected children. I’ve cared for them for many years in inner city Philadelphia and now I care for them in Kenya at Nyumbani Children’s Home for HIV+ orphans. I never expected to be ministering to children in Kenya but this is where God’s call has placed me for the last six years. We have 110 children most of whom were thrown away but Nyumbani recycled them by providing shelter, food, medical care, and plenty of TLC. We view them as normal children who just happen to have a chronic disease. They are God’s gift to us. We have also recycled thousands of children in our Lea Toto Program in the slums of Nairobi and now almost 600 orphans and 60 of their grandparents in Nyumbani Village in Kitui.

If you think about caring for God’s creation here in Kenya, you have to think about recycling. Everything is recycled. Everyone has pre-owned clothes. Every empty bottle or jar can be used for storing something like water, oil, sugar, etc. Plastic bags can also be used to store things in or to make handbags that can be sold to get money to buy food or pay for rent. Old magazines can be made into necklaces, bracelets and handbags. Even old flip flops can be washed, compressed and sculptured into animals, mobiles, curtains, wine stoppers, etc. Soda and beer cans are made into mobiles, tin cans can be flattened to use as insulation for a fence and banana leaves are used to make beautiful greeting cards.  Anyone and anything can be recycled if loving, caring people want to do it. Aren’t we all called to recycle God’s creations so we can preserve and cherish God’s gifts to us, especially the gift of a child?”

The same spirit of care for children and creation thrives at Nyumbani Village, which was established in rural Kitui, Kenya as a community of grandparents caring for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Sr. Frances Cassidy, OSF and Sr. Rose Monica, OSF run a high school there. Although Kitui is known for its aridity, Nyumbani Village residents and volunteers are transforming their 1,000 acres into an oasis. Household gardens and livestock raised communally provide organic food for the community; human waste (“humanure”) collected from innovative toilets fertilizes acres of agro-forestry set to achieve self-sustainability for the Village by 2018. Hollow logs hanging from trees provide a habitat for bees, whose work supports human agriculture and produces organic honey for home use and local sale. Sand dams, storage tanks, and drip-line irrigation put water to use when rains come, and solar panels power water pumps, homes, and other community facilities. Franciscan gratitude for the gift of life and respect for the interconnectedness of all creatures finds creative expression throughout Kenya.