The final paragraph of “Before Nature Dies” (1971), Jean Dorst’s writes, “Human has enough objective reasons to safeguard nature. But in the last analysis it will only be saved by our hearts. It will only be saved if human loves it, simply because it is beautiful… . For that, too, is an integral part of the human soul” (Dorst 1971, p 329). Along this narrow path, Pope Francis wrote an urgent appeal in his Encyclical Laudato Si’ (LS), “I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet” (LS 14). He gives a clarion call to join the strategic actions that are already being done by individuals and peoples’ organizations. He says, “Following a period of irrational confidence in progress and human abilities, some sectors of society are now adopting a more critical approach” (LS 19).

It is along this trajectory that the first Laudato Si’ Integral Faith Ecology (LIFE) Retreat aka LSR was realized last January 7-12, 2023 in Sacred Heart Retreat House, Quezon City. There were eight participants who were all women coming from Ateneo de Naga University (5), Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (1), Sisters of St John the Baptist (1) and the Loyola School of Theology (1). The flow of the entire five-day retreat is centered on the theme: “The Spiritual Path of ‘Oneing’” (Julian of Norwich). It was a holistic personal retreat with God, Sister Earth, self and neighbors with daily guided reflections and spiritual accompaniment by Dr Pinky Valdes, Fr Jojo Fung SJ and Fr Jose Mari Manzano SJ, president and board of directors, respectively, of “Sacred Springs: Dialogue Institute of Spirituality and Sustainability” of the Loyola School of Theology.

There is no genuine stewardship if it does not start from the stewardship of the self. In fact, it is not a question of ‘stewardship’ from without, as if the human race is apart from the earth. It is more precisely a ‘role’ we play from within the cosmos because of our level of consciousness. If seen from a non-dual perspective we are one with the cosmos. Taking care of earth is specifically, taking care of creation of which we are a part. 

During the first part of the LSR was Dr Pinky Valdes brought the retreatants through an exercise which emphasized a reality which is often forgotten. More often than not, Christians believe that their first duty is to love God.  However, this is not possible until we embrace the truth that we do not need to ‘deserve’ God’s love. God’s love is unconditional regardless of who or what we are: “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” (Jer 31:3). It is the fountain of a healthy state of mind and spirit with that basic awareness that God loved us first, period! The facilitator helped the participants gain this vital skill of mental awareness through the Ignatian consciousness examen that helped with their mental clarity.

The retreat house’s unique setting amidst avenues of towering trees almost a century old became a sacred oasis for deep personal and spiritual dialogue to take place through meditation and contemplation. Pope Francis has encouraged everyone to the spiritual exercise of regular consciousness examen, “Those who contemplate in this way experience wonder not only at what they see, but also because they feel they are an integral part of this beauty; and they also feel called to guard it and to protect it.” It is often said “we become what we contemplate.” Contemplation as a long loving look is an extremely important skill and devotion to cultivate. It is the rich soil in which ecological conversion can grow and be sustained. Every soil needs preparation by allowing the busy mind to settle down through quiet reconnecting with nature and disconnecting from the too fast paced world. The so called naturalists, the ones imbued with naturalistic intelligence, are often particularly sensitive to this mental overload, and become drawn towards nature as a way to restore a more calm, clear and creative state of mind.

One of the highlights of the first part was “The Journey of Six Sacred Steps” which became a brought forth a consciousness in each retreatant of all acts of cruelty mostly due to entanglement with their false-self. The “Six Sacred Steps” led the group to a deep sense of gratitude, of forgiveness, of reconciliation with and acceptance of their true-selves. This true-self is a specific incarnation of divinity that each one is to live and develop. “Every act of cruelty towards any creature is contrary to human dignity” (LS 92) and that includes self-inflicted cruelty. She drew attention to the image of the earth to which the retreatants reconnected through reverential bowing gestures in six stages or steps.

The second part was given by Fr Jose Mari Manzano SJ who made use of the image of water. The symbol coincides with the liturgical feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan as the first of three ways of baptism or ritual washing in God’s divine plan. The first way of baptism is not only the usual view of baptism that binds us or makes us belong to the kingdom of God. When Jesus answered Nicodemus “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” he was pointing to a baptism that “births” and brings human beings forth “of water and of the Spirit.” God allowed John the Baptist to immerse God’s entire being into the water in Jesus Christ Himself who came to us in the flesh and not of the flesh, hence, no washing was necessary for Him.

One of the important skills in every Ignatian retreat is the application of the senses that deepens sensory awareness. One of the retreatants, after she was guided through a contemplation accompanied by water, said that she never thought before how significant such an awareness of water was. After going through the water meditation she said that water with its trickling sound will no longer be the same to her eyes, to her ears, to her taste and to her touch. The story of water is followed by the second way—back into the beginning of time during the Genesis way of creation. To put order into the world ancient Near Eastern civilization placed east at the tops of their maps not north. It meant logically where everything rises not only the sun but the moon, planets and stars as the earth spins or spirals toward the east, the source. The way of water is dynamic and not fixed or static. That is why nature likes spirals, a movement of water not only seen on earth but also in the galaxies of stars. These words are not just mere words, they are tied to the properties of God who is properly the source and Giver of life. Water, as formless element, is one of the first to be created (Cf Gen 1:1-3) for it is the element, symbol or sacrament of life. The Creator God is a living God who brings forth life. The God of the Israelites even had a first name replete with life. His name means the One Who Is, the I AM, the Beginning and the End implying that God includes all that can be. The third way of baptism is Jesus’s act of washing the feet of his disciples. It is the greatest act of tenderness among all and through all times. It is an action of lowering oneself to the ground, bending, kissing not the forehead or cheeks or lips or hands but the feet. It is an entirely new act of not just hovering or spiralling above the waters but a drawing close—the closest that a person could be—embodying, stirring, touching, bending, wiping, kissing, shedding, overflowing, etc.

The third and final part was given by Fr Jojo Fung SJ, using the image of “spirit” or “rûah”. The facilitator took the participants to have guided contemplation in the field under the trees. One of the participants expressed how she was feeling more reconnected to the world around her through the guided sessions. The theme largely focused on the fourth week of the Spiritual Exercises (SE) of St Ignatius of Loyola, i.e., Contemplation To Attain Love. “This is to reflect how God dwells in creatures: in the elements giving them existence, in the plants giving them life, in the animals conferring upon them sensation, in humans bestowing them understanding.  So God who dwells in me and gives me being, life, sensation, intelligence; and makes a temple of me, since I am created in the likeness and image of the Divine Majesty” (SE 235). By becoming aware of the Creator-God who corporealizes Godself in creation and indwells in all lifeforms is likened to Rachem (womb in Hebrew) who “births forth” Trinitarian Life that sustains God’s Cosmos and God’s Earth and raises all lifeforms and humans as new lifeforms, persons, together with the New Earth and New Heaven. The guided contemplation enabled them to experience God’s omnipresence in the cosmos, in the plural galaxies, milky ways, the stars and planets, and on earth, in the birds, the sheep, the trees, the plants and flowers, the blue sky and the clouds. At the same time, the retreatants deepened the moments of closeness to the struggles of Mother/Sister Earth to love her and grieve with her. The experience of interconnectivity and one-ing enabled the participants to draw healing from the sun, the earth and learn to relate to all lifeforms with deep respect or reverence. This deep one-ning has capacitated the participants to be more sensitive to listen and respond to the cries of the earth and the poor. One deeply touching insight came from one of the participants who said, “The human being is the only one who can destroy and disrespect nature among all created beings.” However she was quick to add, “the earth can well exist even without us!”

On the last day, there was an early morning liturgy of missioning in the open for each of the participants to offer themselves through the symbol of flowers to the Blessed Virgin Mary who is considered the true model of a fellow human being who worked and labored with God. “This is to consider how God works and labors for me in all creatures upon the face of the earth, that is, God conducts Godself as one who labors. Thus, in the heavens, the elements, the plants, the fruits, the cattle etc, He gives being, conserves them, confers life and sensation, etc” (SE 236). The retreat culminated with a short excursion at the La Mesa dam plant nursery and eco-park. Thanks to the hospitality and generosity of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) for giving to each of the participants a tree seedling to adopt and grow. The LSR team has whole-heartedly decided to continue giving the LSR at the beginning of each year at Sacred Heart Retreat House for other individuals and groups courageous and magnanimous enough to be encountered by the Triune God through creation.