Every Family, Every Home – Caring for Creation – St Augustine Feast Day Celebrations
Updated: 6 days ago
Integral Ecology in the life of the Family (a document issued by two Vatican Dicasteries) means nurturing harmony among people, Nature, and daily habits. In the document, Pope Leo invites families to care for Creation through mindful consumption, shared rituals, and mutual respect, fostering a home where love, responsibility, and sustainability grow together.
Coming from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, this communication from Pope Leo XIV exhorted and inspired the members of the St Augustine Community (Community No. 1, OLSC, Dadar) to truly bring alive the theme for the Feast Day celebrations.Starting with the community prayer and song, in the presence of the Spiritual Director of the SCC, Fr Joseph Pimenta, followed by an exuberant marchpast and games, joyous dancing and a sumptuous lunch, the day’s celebrations saw a lot of bonhomie and engagement amongst the members.
Building on the theme, they participated in various fun activities that were both informative and entertaining. For instance, matching modern day environmentally friendly activities with references from the Bible. For instance, “Say the Grace before meals and do not waste food” links to “And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces of bread and fish.” (Mark 6:43)
Other activities focused on understanding the impact of our actions at home on the environment and marginalised communities. When we do not segregate waste and mixed waste goes into landfills, the methane emissions from landfills accelerate global warming, resulting in erratic weather, thus impacting slum areas with flooding.To instil a sense of responsibility in taking corrective action, each family was presented a pledge card with actions that can be undertaken at home to demonstrate a care for Creation; spot prizes were potted plants; a small packet of seeds was handed out to every person attending the event.With a pledge taken by every family attending, all members of the St Augustine’s community now strongly believe in the apt quotation made by St Augustine - “For the Christian, it is enough to believe that the cause of all created things… is nothing other than the goodness of the Creator, who is the one and true God.” (Handbook on Faith, Hope and Love 3)
Comments